Deeptiman Tiwary - IAS officers gather to discuss the ‘changing environment’ at work
AN estimated 80 IAS
officers Saturday expressed concern over the “changing environment” in
governance — from the focus on quicker decision-making but no safeguards for
those making the decisions, to scrutiny by the CBI and CVC, and a sense of
insecurity among officers.
In the backdrop of the
suspension of Home Ministry Joint Secretary G K Dwivedi, and former coal
secretary H C Gupta expressing his willingness to go to jail rather than defend
himself in the coal scam case, the IAS officers held a round-table meeting here
to discuss various issues.
The meeting, which was
attended by IAS officers from across the country, batches and cadres, saw
serving and retired bureaucrats express concern over the “changing
environment”, although, according to sources, it was not clear what change was
being referred to.
According to sources
present at the meeting, during discussions on ensuring decisions are free, fair
and taken without any pressure, one serving officer said every bureaucrat is
forced to think about how the CBI and CVC may view the decisions in future.
This was seen as an impediment to quick decision-making, which was another
issue of discussion.
Another officer said
that while the focus is on quicker decision-making, there are no safeguards to
protect bureaucrats. An officer pointed out that there was a lot of uncertainty
and insecurity among bureaucrats, and many don’t know how to deal with the
situation. Some others voiced their fears and highlighted the challenges under
the new regime and the changing contours of governance in the country.
“Issues related to
Prevention of Corruption Act and sanction for prosecution were discussed. The
point was how to ensure bold decision-making. It is important to protect bureaucrats
who have taken a decision in good faith. Section 13 of PCA was discussed in
this context. It is the only Act in which mens rea is not applicable. It is a
pre-liberalisation Act where private sector had little role. Today, every
decision by a bureaucrat is going to benefit some private firm. By that logic,
all bureaucrats will be in jail,” IAS Association (Central) Secretary Sanjay
Bhoosreddy told The Sunday Express.
Section 13 of
Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA) makes any civil servant criminally liable if
his act leads to pecuniary benefit to anyone and is deemed to be not in “public
interest”.
Bureaucrats had raised
this issue last year at a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had
assured them that the government was looking at the Law Commission’s
recommendations on amendments to PCA.
Following the
suspension of G K Dwivedi, after the renewal of FCRA licence of an NGO run by
controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik, all joint secretaries in the Home
Ministry met Home Minister Rajnath Singh to
register their protest, even as IAS officers made a representation to the
Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) seeking immediate revocation of the
suspension. The suspension has now been revoked, and Dwivedi is awaiting his
posting.
In the case of former
coal secretary H C Gupta, IAS officers argued that corruption trial should not
be opened against a bureaucrat unless there is clear evidence of pecuniary
gain. The meeting today
discussed four key issues: “Evolving role of the IAS in the context of changing
governance requirements”, “ensuring bold and proactive, free and fair
decision-making by officers”, “leadership of the IAS in the governance
structure”, and “developing human capital in the IAS”.
Under these heads,
sources said, issues related to state governments stalling the career growth of
IAS officers by not issuing NOCs for central deputation, and a pan-India
service like IAS serving as a state service was also discussed.
The meeting also discussed
the relationship between the IAS and other services. “It was discussed and we
decided that we are the premier service and we have leadership. But this means
carrying along everyone. We have to behave like an elder brother and not like
father,” said Bhoosreddy.
Interestingly, IPS
officers, who had locked horns with the IAS officers on issues of parity in
service, also held their general body meeting on Saturday. This meeting again
raised the issue of parity in empanelment, posting and pay scale with IAS. “The
elder brother-younger brother relationship has turned into master-servant
relationship. That is why we are seeking parity,” said a UP cadre officer who
attended the meeting.
The IAS meeting, Bhoosreddy said, also agreed to be in favour of lateral entry into the service. However, the officers insisted that there should be a proper procedure laid down for inducting experts from the private sector, and it should not be discretionary. The bureaucrats also decided to develop a database, based on which they would rank all states on governance and administrative parameters every year to ensure accountability of both the political and bureaucratic dispensation in every state.
Other topics that were
discussed included the “need for safety nets and redressal mechanisms”,
“ensuring stability of tenure and preventing witch-hunting”, “need for
balancing generalist with specialised skills”, “safeguarding apex level
positions (CS, DM etc)”, “retaining the edge of the IAS” and “performance-based
incentives and disincentives”.
