Babus in the Dock

Today, bureaucracy is under tremendous pressure because of corrupt politicians. We have seen so many instances where IAS officers have been made scapegoats to shield some corrupt minister. The Supreme Court’s decision to fix the tenure of IAS and IPS officers comes as a welcome move. Otherwise, honest babus would always be transferred and

Clarification

With reference to the article “Futures Shock for Shah” (November 18), Motilal Oswal, chairman of Motilal Oswal Financial Services, has clarified: “He (Shah) told me that he is a technocrat. He also claimed before me that he relied on people and those people had integrity issues. However, if you look back at the whole situation now, it becomes difficult to believe him. All evidence shows that he knew the facts much before the issue became public. He has to lead from the front, take the blame and see that investors’ dues are settled fast.” In our November 18 issue, we had carried the quote as: “He is a technocrat. He relied on people and those people had integrity issues.” There is no denying the fact that due to policy paralysis, our economy has got stuck in a vicious cycle. Things have become worse with the CBI acting in haste and in a partisan manner. The agency has named honest retired civil servants in FIRS without getting to the bottom of the cases. This has not only led to a trust deficit but unfortunately, it also shows CBI’S inability to nail the real accused. given new postings to prevent them from taking tough decisions. The fear of frequent, arbitrary transfers and the fate of bureaucrats such as retired telecom secretary Siddharth Behura, who was in jail for 14 months for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum scam, and former coal secretary P.C. Parakh, who is facing CBI inquiry after retirement, is making the bureaucracy reluctant to take tough decisions (“The Indecision Makers”, November 18). The Government should look into the demands of Andhra Pradesh IAS Officers Association to amend the law and provide the bureaucrats protection under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.