Privy Council

It has been one of the advisory bodies to the King. It has lost relevance because of the emergence of the Cabinet in the recent times. Cabinet decisions are the decisions of the Privy Council. It has some supervisory role w.r.t. University of Oxford, Cambridge etc. It also has some role in resolution of disputes related to the Church as well as a Court of Appeal in some admiralty cases.

Permanent Civil Servants/British Bureaucrats Indian bureaucracy is modeled on the British bureaucracy. Some features:

♤ Bureaucracy in Britain is generalist.

♤ They are expected to be politically neutral.

♤ They are recruited through the competitive exams.

♤ They enjoy a lot of immunities.

♤ It is said that the British bureaucracy is not representative and is still elitist in nature.

♤ Bureaucrats are known as New Despots.

♤ It is said that the Bureaucracy thrives behind the cloak of ministerial responsibility.

♤ It has also been compared with Frankenstein’s monster (overpowering the Ministers).