Examine the relevance of the following in the context of civil service:

Fairness and justice

Question

Examine the relevance of the following in the context of civil service:

Fairness and justice

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Fairness and justice are central to civil service because fairness makes administrative procedure legitimate and justice makes outcomes right for the disadvantaged. Article 14, read with Maneka Gandhi (1978), demands just, fair and reasonable procedure in every decision.

**Introduction**

Fairness is impartial, non-arbitrary treatment through a just procedure; justice is the right outcome, giving each person what is due. The Preamble puts justice, social, economic and political, first, and civil servants deliver it.

**Relevance of Fairness in Administrative Procedure**

1. **Non-Arbitrary Decisions**: Article 14 forbids arbitrariness, and Maneka Gandhi (1978) requires every procedure affecting liberty to be just, fair and reasonable.
2. **Natural Justice**: Hearing the affected party (audi alteram partem) and avoiding bias (nemo judex in causa sua) make orders on licences, land or discipline lawful and legitimate.
3. **Merit in Recruitment**: Paper leaks destroy faith in fair competition, prompting the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024.
4. **Equal Access**: Transparent beneficiary lists and grievance portals such as CPGRAMS remove the speed money that favours the well-connected.

**Relevance of Justice in Outcomes**

1. **Substantive Equality**: Articles 15(4) and 16(4) permit special provisions, and Indra Sawhney (1992) upheld OBC reservation, so that formal equality does not freeze old disadvantage.

SKETCH: mindmap | Rawls: Justice as Fairness
- Veil of ignorance
- Equal basic liberties
- Difference principle
- Fair equality of opportunity

2. **Serving the Last Citizen**: Gandhi's talisman and **Antyodaya** guide targeting, as in the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (2000) for the poorest households.
3. **Trust and Social Peace**: An administration seen as just lowers alienation, while perceived injustice feeds unrest and erodes **social capital**.
4. **Directive Principles in Practice**: Article 38 directs the State to secure a just social order, which the civil servant turns into daily decisions.

**Conclusion**

Fairness makes the administrative process legitimate and justice makes its outcome right. An officer guided by Rawls's justice as fairness and constitutional morality keeps the state impartial without being indifferent to the weakest.

Examine the relevance of the following in the context of civil service: Fairness and justice

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