MODERN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ISSUES OF IMPROVING THE DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC BODIES AND SERVANTS

This article focuses on modern state management and administrative reforms implemented in this field, improvement of public service, development of requirements for modern civil servants. This topic is analyzed on the basis of ongoing legal reforms and legal documents.On the basis of scientific and legal sources, modern state administration, the main functions of civil servants and the mechanisms of their implementation have been scientifically and theoretically researched.Opinions were expressed on the implementation of a unified personnel policy, rules on the elimination of corruption and conflicts of interest in the activities of civil servants, as well as the implementation of digital technologies, meritocracy, and career models in the civil service.Proposals and recommendations have been developed for the improvement of public service.

VOLUME 4 ISSUE №1 E-ISSN: 2181-1024 MAR Volume C H 1 2(2023) 4, Issue 022 TSUL Legal Report 1

12.00.02 – CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. ADMINISTRATIVE LAW. FINANCE AND CUSTOMS LAW

FIRUZ MAKHMUDOV Modern public administration: issues of improving the duties and functions of public bodies and servants ...............................................................................................7

12.00.03 – CIVIL LAW. BUSINESS LAW. FAMILY LAW. INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE LAW

ABDUMUMIN YULDASHOV Dispute resolution in the field of intellectual property law in Uzbekistan ........................... 15

DALER VALIJONOV Problems of international legal cooperation against corruption ......................................... 21

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MODERN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: ISSUES OF IMPROVING THE DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC BODIES AND SERVANTS

Makhmudov Firuz Bakhtiyar ugli, Deputy Director of Professional Training Center under TSUL, associate professor of TSUL, PhD E-mail: firuzbek2015@mail.ru ORCID: 0000-0001-9036-0277

ARTICLE INFO Keywords: modern public administration, public service, development strategy of the new Uzbekistan, meritocracy, career models, conflict of interests, unified personnel policy, smart management system, mobile control, restrictions.

ABSTRACT This article focuses on modern state management and administrative reforms implemented in this field, improvement of public service, development of requirements for modern civil servants. This topic is analyzed on the basis of ongoing legal reforms and legal documents. On the basis of scientific and legal sources, modern state administration, the main functions of civil servants and the mechanisms of their implementation have been scientifically and theoretically researched. Opinions were expressed on the implementation of a unified personnel policy, rules on the elimination of corruption and conflicts of interest in the activities of civil servants, as well as the implementation of digital technologies, meritocracy, and career models in the civil service. Proposals and recommendations have been developed for the improvement of public service.

The rapid growth of globalization processes in the world requires the improvement of management systems based on the “smart management system” of the country, as well as the creation of a compact, mobile and efficient state management mechanism. In these processes, it is important to ensure the implementation of adopted normative

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legal documents, to increase the efficiency of the executive authorities, which play a central role in the regulation of administrative relations, to optimize their tasks and functions, and to effectively organize the activities of civil servants who perform them with high quality.

In addition, in recent years, large-scale reforms and practical measures have been implemented in state bodies and organizations to train modern civil servants who will carry out effective labor activities, to create a new generation of them. In this regard, the analysis of scientific and legal issues in the field of modern state administration, the research of the requirements for public servants who perform effective work in this process on the basis of national and foreign experience is of great importance.

Legal reforms. Today, the Republic of Uzbekistan has started a new stage of reforms to optimize the state management system and create a “mobile management apparatus”. In particular, on January 28, 2022, the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026 was approved by Decree № PD-60 of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026”. It defines 100 priority goals aimed at further development of the state and society, the 4th goal is to transform the activities of public administration bodies based on the principle of directing them to serve citizens, and the 5th goal is to create a compact, professional, fair, high-performance state management system. implementation, and as the 6th goal, the compacting of the administrative apparatus and the optimization of work processes in the state management system were envisaged [1].

It should be noted that the initial administrative reforms in the implementation of these defined tasks have begun. In particular, the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated December 21, 2022 “On Measures for the Implementation of Administrative Reforms of New Uzbekistan” № PD-269 created a compact public administration system that meets modern requirements. In particular, the structure, number and main tasks of the executive authorities were determined, and the legal status of the state administration bodies was determined. From January 1, 2023, the number of independent republican executive authorities was reduced from 61 to 28, including the number of ministries from 25 to 21 [2].

In addition, the decision № PD-447 of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated December 21, 2022 “On measures to effectively organize the activities of the executive authorities of the Republic within the framework of the administrative reforms of New Uzbekistan” duties, duties and responsibilities, division of functions, reduction of repetitive functions, maintenance of register of functions, increase of openness level of public administration and other new mechanisms were defined [3].

It should be noted that the legal reforms within the framework of the implementation of the administrative reforms have also started with the relevant documents. For example, the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated January 25, 2023 “On the first organizational measures to effectively establish the activities of the executive authorities of the Republic” № PD-14 specific criteria for the organization of positions were created, their state units were approved, organizational aspects of the organization of a compact and mobile state administration were created [4].

Scientific and theoretical analyses. Effective legal and economic development of the country depends to a large extent on the created system of public administration, personnel capacity and timely and quality performance of powers and duties. In this regard, as President Sh.Mirziyoev stated, the principle that “the state agencies should serve to our people, not the people should serve the state” serves as the main idea in the state-legal reforms.

As noted by the scientific community, the tasks and functions of state administration

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bodies have been changing in recent years. This in turn requires each country to incorporate elements of modern public administration into its administrative management system. According to western legal scholar E.N.Gladden, there are three characteristics of modern public administration: it must meet the functional goals for which it was created; it must be able to meet long-term needs that may arise due to changes in administrative methods or changes in the social environment; it must be in accordance with the centralized plan and meet specific requirements [5].

Simply put, in today’s state administration, the response of the state administration system to solving emergency and changing problems, along with the effective functioning of administrative bodies, their activity direction is social protection of the population, defense, peace and security, as well as economic, social, and political regularity. should be in development.

It should be noted that today the awareness of citizens of the country about their rights and government duties is increasing. The role and functions of state administration bodies are also very dynamic and are constantly developing based on the changing demands and needs of society. If we focus on world practice, the experience of Singapore in the modern public administration system is quite popular. This can be seen from the economic potential of the country, the standard of living of the population, the structure and activities of administrative bodies. A study by Knight Frank and Citi Private Wealth shows that Singapore ranks 1st among the countries with high per capita income and the process will continue until 2050. on a 10-point system for sustainability, Singapore has 9.5 points) [6].

In this regard, steps are being taken to popularize Singapore’s experience in Uzbekistan in the context of the country’s current administrative reforms and modernization of the public administration system. In particular, during the visit of President Shavkat Mirziyoev to Singapore, the public administration system is one of the main directions of cooperation with this country in the near future. Cooperation on the training of civil servants also allows for the qualitative implementation of the established public administration strategies.

As long as the state civil service is carried out by qualified civil servants, competitive training of qualified personnel with all qualities and advantages, professionalism, including spiritual, moral and patriotic qualities, gradual development of work in this regard, effective management of employees and development of human resources, in a word, the implementation of the unified personnel policy is one of the important tasks before us [7].

It should be noted that regardless of the political situation in the country, persons in public service must follow the established restrictions and prohibitions, fulfill their obligations in any situation, and must not go beyond the limits and prohibitions.

In Article 2 of our General Dictionary, it is legally established that the state expresses the will of the people and serves its interests, and that state bodies and officials are responsible to society and citizens.

In this regard, it is a priority for civil servants to serve the interests of the people and society, not for the interests of certain political circles, individuals, or a direct or superior body (official). After all, Article 7 of our Constitution stipulates that the people are the only source of state power, that state power in the Republic of Uzbekistan is exercised only by the authorities authorized by the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the laws adopted on the basis of the interests of the people.

It should be recognized that in today’s practice, there are cases of nepotism and familiarity, being in a close business environment, conflict of interests, favoritism, promoting the category of single persons

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in the appointment and nomination (recommendation) of civil servants.

In addition, although the practice of hiring civil servants on the basis of open competition has been established, there are cases of giving priority to certain candidates at commission meetings, pre-arrangement or appointment to closed positions (based on internal procedures).

In this regard, it is necessary to objectively evaluate the individual professional qualities of a person, strengthen the recruitment system based on an open competition, involve public representatives and mass media in the selection process, and broadcast all processes on the Internet.

It should be noted that issues in the process of implementation of public service should be under the control of every citizen and the public. The political activity of citizens should be increased, not to be indifferent to the illegal actions observed in the field, the right to complain to the court about the illegal actions of state bodies, officials, and public associations, which is strengthened at the level of the Constitution, should take center stage.

Although the practice of applying the principle of meritocracy, which provides for the admission of the most suitable and capable persons to the state civil service and their promotion through the ranks of the service, based on a fair and objective assessment of their professional qualities and special services, the implementation of these norms in practice is not satisfactory. The career model of the state civil service, which implies a step-by-step transition from the positions, should be introduced into the activities of every state civil service body.

In the training of modern civil servants, his personal qualities (manners, ethics, compliance with position and career instructions, as well as the internal procedures of the civil service body), optimization of tasks and functions using digital technologies in his professional activities, saving excess funds and exercising powers in a manner free from the human factor should be taken into account. Including, it is appropriate to note the above-mentioned indicators in the indicators determined for the evaluation of the efficiency of the state civil servants.

In determining the legal status of civil servants, it is important to determine the main characteristics of civil service. In the legal literature, there are several specific opinions aimed at revealing the essence of public service. In particular, according to Y.A. Dmitriev, public service differs from other labor activities based on the following characteristics:

Public service is a professional activity. Civil service is the main activity of a civil servant. It is not allowed to perform the public service on the basis of the position. Civil servants may not engage in other remunerated labor activities, this is allowed only in cases provided for by law; Competence. Civil servants should be suitable for the position (job), performance of service obligations, in terms of knowledge, work experience and level; Implementation of public service within the framework of pre-defined public service position(s). The status of a civil servant arises after a person occupies a specific position (position) in the civil service [8].

Analyzing the above points, it can be said that public service is an important activity related to the implementation of public duties and functions, and the limitation of other labor activities performed by public servants during the service ensures the high level of public service functions.

Some scholars note the content of stateservice relations - the rights, obligations, responsibilities, prohibitions, restrictions of legal subjects, and the legal status of civil servants - the rights, freedoms, obligations, restrictions and responsibilities established by law and guaranteed by the state.

In addition, some experts emphasize that civil servants have not only rights and obligations when entering the public service, but also certain restrictions and prohibitions

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can be imposed on their activities by legislation, and they say that the restriction of the rights of civil servants is characterized by the implementation of their public functions and service powers. It should be taken into account that in order to ensure that the main functions of civil servants and their effective implementation are not affected, and to prevent the occurrence of situations related to corruption and conflicts of interest in the field, various obligations, restrictions and prohibitions are established in the legislation against civil servants. In this regard, the scientific community also expressed an opinion, and legal scholars E. Khojiev and T. Khojiev defined the prohibitions related to public service as norms defined and established by the current legislation, which prohibit public servants from performing this or that behavior during the service, as well as outside of it. and state that the following can be included in the restrictions and prohibitions established for civil servants: firstly, the civil servant cannot engage in other remunerated labor activities (except for pedagogical and scientific activities); secondly, it is forbidden for civil servants to engage in business activities either personally or through others. Civil servants, personally or through others, cannot engage in production, sale of goods and other products, performance of work for profit or provision of paid services; thirdly, the public servant cannot represent third parties, that is, the public servant is prohibited from representing third parties who are in the public service and subordinate to him in a certain way; fourthly, the civil servant is prohibited from using material, technical, financial and informational means, other property of the state and service information during off-duty time; fifth, civil servants are prohibited from receiving any rewards and gifts from individuals and legal entities related to the performance of official duties;

sixth, it is prohibited to go on a business trip or a foreign trip at the expense of individuals and non-state legal entities; seventhly, it is not possible for a civil servant to organize public associations (except for a trade union) in state bodies using his official authority, or to act in his interests, etc [9]. It is also noted that civil servants adhere to the following obligations without forgetting their duties and functions before the state and society: - civil servants should not illegally use their official positions for personal or financial interests of themselves or their families; - not to have any financial, commercial or similar interests in the performance of duties and functions; - report personal, commercial or financial interests arising during the service in the prescribed manner and try to eliminate conflicts of interest; - not to use the information and service secrets known to them during the performance of official duties for illegal purposes; - even after leaving the post, they must act in accordance with the law or administrative regulation, and must not abuse the previous post [10]. In our country, it is established at the level of the Constitution that the state performs its activities based on the principles of social justice and legality, aiming at the well-being of people and society, and in order to perform the public functions of public servants, public welfare, social justice and legality should be the main idea in their professional activities. In the implementation of state tasks and functions, it is important to effectively perform the functions assigned to each state body and its employees. Adoption of laws by the parliament that actually serve the interests of the people, timely and effective execution of the tasks of executive bodies, and judicial bodies making fair decisions in cases of violations of the law ensure the full functioning of the state mechanism.

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Today, the majority of civil servants are the Cabinet of Ministers, including the employees of ministries and departments, and government officials. At the level of the constitution, the following most important tasks and functions are assigned to this body and its employees:

1) is responsible for effective economic, social, financial, monetary policy, developing and implementing programs for the development of science, culture, education, health care and other sectors of the economy and social sphere; 2) implements measures to protect economic, social and other rights and legal interests of citizens; 3) coordinates and directs the work of state and economic management bodies, ensures control over their activities in accordance with the law; 4) ensures the implementation of laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan, decisions of the Oliy Majlis, decrees, decisions and orders of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan; 5) submits annual reports to the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the most important issues of the socio-economic life of the country; 6) Exercises other powers provided for by the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Article 100 of our Constitution assigns the following tasks to local authorities: ensuring legality, law and order and security of citizens; economic, social and cultural development of regions; formation of the local budget and its implementation, determination of local taxes, levies, creation of extra-budgetary funds; management of local communal economy; environmental protection; ensure registration of acts of civil status; adoption of regulatory documents and implementation of other powers that do not conflict with the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the laws of the Republic of Uzbekistan [11].

In this regard, it can be concluded that those who perform the above-mentioned tasks on behalf of the state are directly state employees, and the extent to which the tasks are performed and the result depends on them. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly train qualified civil servants and increase their professional potential.

In addition to the above, the professional and personal qualities of the civil servant occupy a special place in the organization of an effective public civil service, including the prevention of various forms of corruption in the public civil service. After all, if the civil servant does not have dedication to his profession, exemplary behavior, morals and universal qualities, neither the introduction of international standards nor the adoption of laws and regulations will be effective. On the other hand, due observance of moral standards by civil servants allows the level of corruption in the country to be in a positive state.

At this point, if we focus on the international experience on the ethical issues of public civil servants, the International Code of Ethics of Public Officials [12] adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 12, 1996 and the Code of Conduct of Public Servants [13] adopted by the Council of Europe in 2000 recommendations are the international basis and standard for determining the standards of ethics of state civil servants.

The accession of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the United Nations Convention against Corruption in 2008 [14] (October 31, 2003, New York), as well as to the Istanbul Action Plan on Combating Corruption [15] (September 10, 2003, Istanbul), adopted within the framework of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2010, is also a state imposes duties on proper implementation of standards of ethics in the civil service.

Conclusions and recommendations. Based on the content of the above-mentioned scientific and theoretical

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opinions and legal norms, the following suggestions can be made regarding the improvement of the activities of civil servants in the country:

1) on the basis of Singapore’s experience, on the basis of the adoption of the Law “On the Legal Status of Public Civil Servants”, the establishment of professional standards of modern government personnel and the precise determination of the legal status of civil servants; 2) Implementation of the system of training, retraining and advanced training of civil servants based on the experience of Singapore and other developed countries, legal regulation of this system based on the adoption of relevant normative legal documents 3) Development of indicators for evaluating the performance of civil servants and ensuring wide public participation in their evaluation and control; 4) To increase the procedure and transparency of open competition in the recruitment of civil servants, including the full disclosure of the process to the public, the establishment of evaluation indices, meritocracy, the implementation of career models and the prevention of conflict of interests in this process, the Law “On Conflict of Interests” legal regulation of these processes based on acceptance; 5) It is necessary to eliminate the practice of interfering in the activities of civil servants, assigning them redundant tasks that do not fall within the scope of their service activities, as well as saving the workload and state funds for their professional activities, optimizing tasks, and improving the mechanisms of social incentives for civil servants who have applied digital technologies in the field and achieved positive achievements.

We believe that, based on the requirements of administrative reforms in the field of modern public administration, the improvement of the public service based on the established suggestions and recommendations will serve the development of the sector, to create a new generation of civil servants who think modernly and work in accordance with the requirements of law and justice in our country. And also gives an opportunity to create a public administration office that truly serves the people.