What does ‘accountability’ mean in the context of public service? What measures can be adopted to ensure individual and collective accountability of public servants?

Measures to ensure individual responsibility:

→ Promote and instill sense of ethical accountability

→ Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct to guide behaviour

→ Decide priorly the work standard, quatity and timelines expected of their job and make them responsible

Eg: In Income tax dept, a tax refund has to be granted within 30 days. This makes officer responsible.

Collective Responsibility

→ As an Organisation, simple, clear and enforceable citizen charters ensures collective responsibility

→ Performance based appraisals (Eg: Result Framework document etc.)