Supreme Court to the aid of IAS: Verdict will act as shield, add steel to the frame
In a landmark order which will go a long way in insulating bureaucracy from political pressure, the Supreme Court on Thursday said bureaucrats will no more take oral orders from their political bosses. Seeking an end to their frequent transfers, the court also suggested a fixed tenure to protect them from political interference.
The verdict comes close on the heels of controversies surrounding alleged persecution of Uttar Pradesh IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, senior Haryana cadre IAS officer Ashok Khemka and more recently former coal secretary PC Parakh.
Khemka, an upright IAS officer who took on the Haryana government over suspicious land deals between Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and real estate major DLF, has been transferred 44 times in his career spanning 20 years. While Khemka alleged he was facing death threats and that the state government was planning to file 10 chargesheets against him, some of his fears came true as two chargesheets were filed against him. One of these accuses him of failing his responsibilities at the Haryana Seed Development Corporation (HSDC). During his tenure as the managing director at HSDC also, he had found corruption and requested for a CBI inquiry.
As Haryana's Director-General of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration, where he had a mere 80-day stint, Khemka uncovered land deal corruption in Gurgaon and around for conversion of commercial land which involved the realty giant DLF and Robert Vadra.
Persecuted by the political bosses for his honest ways, Khemka has been honoured by the civil society. In 2011, Khemka was awarded the S R Jindal Prize for "Crusade against Corruption". In 2009, he had received the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust Commendation on Public Works.
Young IAS officer Durga Shaktri Nagpal who was posted as the sub-divisional magistrate in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh was punished for launching a massive drive against corruption and illegal sand mining. The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government suspended her for allegedly demolishing an illegal mosque wall in a village in Greater Noida. The charge was considered flimsy and the state government drew flak for its irrational action. After much hue and cry, her suspension was later revoked.
The naming of the former coal secretary PC Parakh, who was called the whistleblower in the infamous Rs.186 lakh crore coal block allocation scam in the CAG report, in the CBI's latest FIR is being looked askance and lamented in bureaucratic circles prompting fears of a fresh wave of policy paralysis. On October 15, the CBI had booked industrialist Aditya Birla, Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, and the former coal secretary for alleged irregularities in the allocation of two Odisha-based coal blocks to Birla's private firm, Hindalco, in 2005.
While most bureaucrats maintained that Parakh's career had been unblemished, a former CAG official who pleaded anonymity told The Hindu, "This is nothing but an attempt to deflect the focus from the real persons involved and this can hardly be the case. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report does not laud Mr. Parakh as its reports do not imply or attribute any opinion or judgement. However, it was Mr. Parakh who pushed for the entire transparency drive in coal allocation after observing volatile prices and possibility of windfall gains."
On October 16, Parakh said if he was being punished for being in office, then PM Singh who headed the coal ministry then should also be booked. Talking to mediapersons, Parakh said, "If there is a conspiracy, then there are different members in this conspiracy. There is KM Birla who made the representation, he is one conspirator. I, who examined the case and made a recommendation, I can be another conspirator, and the Prime Minister, who as the coal minister took the final decision, is the third conspirator. Therefore, if there is a conspiracy, all of us should be made accused."
There is a growing clamour among bureaucrats who want to be free from their unscrupulous political bosses. More so since the political leadership has a shorter tenure and they are rarely held accountable for the wrongs committed during their tenure, bureaucrats in many scams become the fall guys. The growing trend is also affecting the global image of Indian bureaucracy. In a survey conducted in 2012, the Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy ranked the Indian bureaucracy as the worst in Asia, saying its officials are rarely held accountable and were the root cause of the mistrust felt by companies towards the government.
The verdict comes close on the heels of controversies surrounding alleged persecution of Uttar Pradesh IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, senior Haryana cadre IAS officer Ashok Khemka and more recently former coal secretary PC Parakh.
Khemka, an upright IAS officer who took on the Haryana government over suspicious land deals between Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and real estate major DLF, has been transferred 44 times in his career spanning 20 years. While Khemka alleged he was facing death threats and that the state government was planning to file 10 chargesheets against him, some of his fears came true as two chargesheets were filed against him. One of these accuses him of failing his responsibilities at the Haryana Seed Development Corporation (HSDC). During his tenure as the managing director at HSDC also, he had found corruption and requested for a CBI inquiry.
As Haryana's Director-General of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration, where he had a mere 80-day stint, Khemka uncovered land deal corruption in Gurgaon and around for conversion of commercial land which involved the realty giant DLF and Robert Vadra.
Persecuted by the political bosses for his honest ways, Khemka has been honoured by the civil society. In 2011, Khemka was awarded the S R Jindal Prize for "Crusade against Corruption". In 2009, he had received the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust Commendation on Public Works.
Young IAS officer Durga Shaktri Nagpal who was posted as the sub-divisional magistrate in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh was punished for launching a massive drive against corruption and illegal sand mining. The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party government suspended her for allegedly demolishing an illegal mosque wall in a village in Greater Noida. The charge was considered flimsy and the state government drew flak for its irrational action. After much hue and cry, her suspension was later revoked.
The naming of the former coal secretary PC Parakh, who was called the whistleblower in the infamous Rs.186 lakh crore coal block allocation scam in the CAG report, in the CBI's latest FIR is being looked askance and lamented in bureaucratic circles prompting fears of a fresh wave of policy paralysis. On October 15, the CBI had booked industrialist Aditya Birla, Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, and the former coal secretary for alleged irregularities in the allocation of two Odisha-based coal blocks to Birla's private firm, Hindalco, in 2005.
While most bureaucrats maintained that Parakh's career had been unblemished, a former CAG official who pleaded anonymity told The Hindu, "This is nothing but an attempt to deflect the focus from the real persons involved and this can hardly be the case. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report does not laud Mr. Parakh as its reports do not imply or attribute any opinion or judgement. However, it was Mr. Parakh who pushed for the entire transparency drive in coal allocation after observing volatile prices and possibility of windfall gains."
On October 16, Parakh said if he was being punished for being in office, then PM Singh who headed the coal ministry then should also be booked. Talking to mediapersons, Parakh said, "If there is a conspiracy, then there are different members in this conspiracy. There is KM Birla who made the representation, he is one conspirator. I, who examined the case and made a recommendation, I can be another conspirator, and the Prime Minister, who as the coal minister took the final decision, is the third conspirator. Therefore, if there is a conspiracy, all of us should be made accused."
There is a growing clamour among bureaucrats who want to be free from their unscrupulous political bosses. More so since the political leadership has a shorter tenure and they are rarely held accountable for the wrongs committed during their tenure, bureaucrats in many scams become the fall guys. The growing trend is also affecting the global image of Indian bureaucracy. In a survey conducted in 2012, the Hong Kong-based Political & Economic Risk Consultancy ranked the Indian bureaucracy as the worst in Asia, saying its officials are rarely held accountable and were the root cause of the mistrust felt by companies towards the government.
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