IAS officials train their guns at CBI
HYDERABAD: Over 100 bureaucrats of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and a large number of retired IAS officials resented the approach of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in investigation and alleged that the CBI was going overboard.
In a nutshell, the bureaucrats expressed their utter displeasure over the Joint Director of CBI V V Lakshminarayana.
The bureaucrats who met at the IAS residency for a second day in a row on Saturday sought to know why the Cabinet ministers were being ‘questioned’ at their respective residences, while the officials were being summoned for questioning.
The IAS officers resolved to consider exercising legal options available to them in protecting the dignity of their fraternity. They said that they were not resorting to trade unionism and the CBI was branding them as a bunch of corrupt people without ascertaining the facts. The CBI was unnecessarily arresting officials as it was ‘running out of time’. Instead, it could seek extension of time for investigation from the court.
Later talking to the media, senior bureaucrat S Bhale Rao said that the IAS officers did not commit any mistake and could not be found fault for professional misconduct. He said that the CBI was ignoring the Crime Manuals. Former Chief Secretary Kaki Madhava Rao said that the CBI’s actions were in contravention of the business rules under which the Cabinet and the bureaucracy functioned.
“If a minister fails in discharge of his/her duty, it amounts to the failure of the entire Cabinet. In case, a particular minister was found fault with, the Chief Minister could sack such minister. The bureaucrats alone could not be held responsible and the final responsibility and burden of decisions lay with the ministers concerned in case of individual departments,” Madhava Rao asserted.
They said that the CBI ignored the Section 14 of the business rules which clearly stated that the secretary of a particular department could not be held singularly responsible for any flaw in that department.
The thinktank of the State administration decried that they were being branded as corrupt and that they were guilty at the very investigation stage, even before any court pronounced any judgement. They alleged that the CBI was pursuing a vindictive approach towards the IAS officials.
The senior bureaucrats went a step ahead referring to Emaar Properties case and said that LV Subrahamanyam was not guilty of the charges levelled against him. The Government of the day and the board of the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation should own up the responsibility.
The IAS officers in unison condemned the observations of K Narayana, State secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), about the ‘beauty’ of arrested bureaucrat Srilakshmi Yerra.
Madhava Rao said that the CBI and the media were not aware of the business rules, which guided the administration. The officials expressed dismay over the way they were being ‘ill-treated and humiliated’. The CBI could elicit more details and file supplementary charge-sheets if necessary, said Prashanth Mahapatro, president of the IAS officers Association in the State.
He said that the CBI would get clear idea if it studied the business rules. The association had already taken up the issue with the Government. He disclosed that the bureaucrats were not resorting either to dereliction or negligence of their responsibilities.
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Mr.K.Narayana must be condemned for his utterances against Ms.Y.Srilakshmi unequivocally and in fact be hauled up for misconduct in public in an appropriate court. He should know that she has better brains than him & that is what counts for being an administrator. While it is true that corruption is institutionalised by Administrators , there is every chance that you will find more honest people in the lot coming out of All India Services than local recruits, who progress in their careers through Political support. The problem with them i.e. all those people who get into All India services & serve State Governments is that they get entangled with local politicians in course of time & aggrandise them. This results in their forgetting who their masters are. In fact, the kind of voters & people we have also adds to that situation. Any one, who spends time in small towns & villages will know that even a Sarpanch (eventhough he/she is uneducated idiot) is more powerful than an administrator. The day, when they can put the politicians in their place collectively, the nature of administration will change. In this particular case, I feel that all those arrested officers & likely to be interrogated with some exceptions (I feel Ms.Srilakshmi is a likely exception) have committed irregularities & acts contrary to public interest. Many of them may not have made money or assets but they actively abetted corruption. But they are not ready to disclose, for whatever reason, at whose behest they have done & who actually looted the state. For that reason coupled with influence of corrupt & inept Central Government is driving CBI to arrest & harass them. In fact, if I were to be part of CBI team, I don’t think I will act differently. That is the only way to reach the actual criminals.
The actual culprits in the whole corruption game in India are the Bureaucrats sitting in Delhi and other state secratariats. They need to be sent out of the city posting after every three years.These bureaucrats form strong coeteries and rule the corruption world by spoiling the politicians minds.There should be a law that no IAS,IFS,IPS officer can hold secretariat post in any city for more than 3 years and in the same city for more that 6 years.They should be moved so that the corruption they participated in can atleast brought out by the next incumbent.