New Delhi, April 23: A new bill to put bureaucrats under the scanner is set to be tabled in Parliament.

The draft of the bill, to be known as the Public Service Bill, spells out a code of ethics and punishment for errant officers.

While making appointments to public services transparent, the bill moots a performance management system that sets benchmarks for public servants.

In his speech on Civil Services Day on April 21, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had hinted that the government was looking at reorienting the role of bureaucrats as their job profile was changing from administrator to service provider.

Officials involved in the drafting of the bill believe that if enacted in its present form, it can answer the questions the Prime Minister had raised during his speech.

“The questions that require addressing are ? are the civil services adequately equipped to address the emerging challenges? Are the performance assessment and appraisal methods appropriate for preparing civil services for the emerging demands on them and the government?” Singh had said.

Drawn up on the directions of the cabinet secretariat by the department of administrative reforms and public grievances, the draft of the bill was discussed in detail last month by a core group on administrative reforms headed by cabinet secretary B.N. Chaturvedi.

The ministry of personnel and training will take a final look at the draft bill before it is introduced in Parliament. It is now with the second administrative reforms commission headed by Veerappa Moily, which was set up in August last year.

“In all likelihood, the bill will be introduced either in the second half of the budget session beginning on May 10 or in the monsoon session. If passed in its present form, it can make a great difference in the way of governance,” said an official.

The bill also deals with subjects like values of public service and their periodical reviews, drawing up of a public service management code for promoting government policies on good governance, and bringing out an annual performance report by each government department.

To ensure that all provisions in the bill are adhered to, the draft talks about establishing an independent central public service authority that shall advise the government.