Bureaucrats unhappy with coal convictions, say honest punished

‘Bureaucrats will have to get out of the colonial-Congress promoted hangover that they are above law. ‘

Bureaucrats have told The Sunday Guardian that they will “stand against” the conviction of former coal secretary H.C. Gupta along with two serving IAS officers, K.S. Kropha and K.C. Samria, for their alleged involvement in the coal scam. They said they would raise their voice against the special court’s decision by writing opinion pieces in newspapers, taking to the social media, and raising their grievances with the political leadership of the country. Sources in the political establishment, however, say that bureaucrats will have to come out of their belief that they are above the law.

The previous UPA government had closed the coal scam case after the CBI, under former director Ranjit Sinha, filed a closure report in March 2014, in the run-up to the general elections. The case was opened after the NDA government came to power, as the new political leadership felt that the case was closed due to “external factors”. It permitted the prosecution of the two serving IAS officers, Kropha and Samria.

“We are seriously thinking over the events that have happened in the last few days. Honest officers are being punished on technical grounds. In the recent case, there was no malice, yet one of the most honest officers that we know was convicted. This way the bureaucracy will be crippled and if someone believes that the government of the day can function without the support of the bureaucracy then so be it. We will make our concerns heard through every way possible,” a senior IAS officer posted in Delhi said.

Some bureaucrats took to Twitter after the judgement was pronounced. Anil Swarup, who is working in the Secretary rank at the Centre, tweeted “We need to seriously ponder over the impact of Harish Chandre Gupta judgement on gov- ernance in the country.” He shared multiple articles and opinion pieces that were in support of his idea. Dr Sumita Misra, an IAS officer posted in Haryana, tweeted articles and editorials in support of Gupta.

Gupta was the Coal Secretary between January 2006 and November 2008, along with two others who are out on bail, but have been asked to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh each by 5 June. They were convicted under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code. The case was pertaining to the recommendation of the allocation of a coal block in Madhya Pradesh to Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd (KSSPL).

“There is a lot of anger against this. How are we supposed to work? There are so many things that a bureaucrat has to keep in mind while taking a decision and the factors that were there at the time may not be the same later on. If one starts looking for an error, it will always be found. This kind of fear psychosis is going to hurt the implementation of good governance in the country,” an IAS officer posted in one of the states said.

However, sources close to the political leadership of the country stated that the government was not in the mood to get cowed down by the bureaucracy, which till now has run the country without any accountability.

“Most of the bureaucrats are hard working and honest, however, there are more than a few who do not fall under this classification and it is against them that the government is going to act, come what may. Corruption has become synonymous with the bureaucracy and the top political leadership cannot let things function as they are. Tackling corruption in bureaucracy is one of the primary objectives that the political leadership is looking at right now,” a senior source, who is aware of the development, said.

“The bureaucratic lobby’s argument that the conviction will impact the morale of the bureaucrats holds no water. Do they want that the bureaucrats should be given total immunity? There is a rule of law and he was convicted after following due process. The bureaucrats will have to get out of the colonial-Congress promoted hangover that they are above law just because they are bureaucrats,” the source said.

The court, while convicting the three bureaucrats, had stated that they were working with a “who cares?” attitude and did acts of omission and commission deliberately.

Some bureaucrats took to Twitter to make public their anguish after the coal judgement was pronounced.