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| Govt's double standards on crusade against corruption | | Seniors in some deptts left out, juniors made scapegoat | | Bharat Bhushan
ET Report
JAMMU, July 3: The government on June 30 last terminated 63 corrupt employees as it felt that their presence at the helm of affairs was a sure recipe for the disaster of state administration but it has been sadly and surprisingly silent about the tainted politicians and senior police officers who too need to be cleared out. This government step, which may become a handy tool for some ministers and bureaucrats to arm-twist their controversial subordinates into succumbing to their unfair demands, has also exposed its double standards as the corrupt in its own camp have been rewarded from time to time. One of them, who had the vigilance cases registered against him was recently rewarded with a berth in the Upper House of the state legislature in recognition of his "commendable" service to the people.
These terminations raise many questions. From the infamous revenue department, the list has three tehsildars, four naib-tehsildars, one girdawar, four patwaris and some other lower ranks. It means no officer above the rank of a tehsildar is corrupt in the department which houses some very controversial ACRs, ADCs and DCs. The fact is that the proceeds collected at the patwari level are shared at the higher level which is why no action is taken against patwaris and girdawars whenever someone lodges a complaint of harassment against them. It is also a fact that senior officer are not directly involved in taking bribe from colonisers and other people for issuing them a fard (a revenue document needed for registration of land in the court of law). In majority cases, this money is collected by patwaris and naib-tehsildars.
Not only in the case of some patwaris, naib-tehsildars and tehsildars, it is a rags-to-riches story in the case of many senior officers too. The government ought to have probed into their disproportionate assets and huge bank balances and taken a decision accordingly.
The majority people here feel that the government has adopted a "selective approach" in its crusade against corruption. It also faces the allegations that it left out seniors in some departments and made juniors scapegoat for the lapses and corrupt practices. In the household discussions too, the government is being criticised for rewarding the corrupt, who join its camp, and punishing those corrupt officers who either belong to the camp of rival parties or do not please their political "bosses".
Take for example the case of a multi-millionaire employee from Kashmir who retired as senior assistant from a government department two years or so back. The vigilance organisation has also booked him in a case of disproportionate assets. He unsuccessfully contested the last state polls from a Kashmir constituency. He has now been made a MLC. Before making him a law maker, the government did not think for a while to find out how a senior assistant had acquired so much of wealth. Another tainted bureaucrat, who too has been booked by the vigilance organisation in corruption cases, was given the ticket to contest polls from Doda district. Instead of keeping them at arm's length, the veteran politicians embraced them.
A former Jammu tehsildar, who retired as a revenue officer from Kashmir over a decade back, was first terminated by then government for being tainted and then rewarded with a berth in the Upper House of the state legislature.
A senior state officer said he was surprised to note that the names of some corrupt CAPD officers, who were under the scanner of anti-graft agencies, had not appeared in the government's list of the most corrupt.
By terminating the services of five corrupt officers - one Inspector, two ASIs and two Head Constables - from the police department, the government has given a clean chit to all the officers of the rank of DSP and above. How ridiculous it is! Even the government knows that with a salary of Rs 50,000-80,000, senior police officers cannot maintain princely lifestyles. Then why it did not think of digging into their cases also. Many of them did not have their own houses or had one-room houses before they joined police but within a few years of their service, they raised palatial houses and created other huge assets. They own expensive cars and their children were studying the country's top educational institutions.
In the infamous Amandeep murder case also, the role of some police officers had become suspicious, especially after the Choudhary Nagar Singh alias Nago CD row. Not a single effort has been made by the state home department or the police headquarters to look into the allegations against them. This is so sad and surprising that the government considers all police officers of the rank of DSP and above as honest and clean.
In the police administration, some tainted officers have also been saved from time to time by DGPs. Cases against them are hushed up at the instance of seniors and not taken to their logical ends. The officers, who should have landed in jails for their wrongdoings and unlawful acts, have risen to the rank of ADGPs.
There are many instances of some SHOs having taken law in their hands and beaten people in lockups for no fault of theirs but they were shielded by their seniors for "obvious" reasons. In the Chopra family murders also, the police role had come under scanner. Will the government agencies ever bother to probe into the conduct of the police officers who were associated with the investigation of the case?
The Mufti government needs to take all these things into consideration and provide people an administration which is totally free from the corrupt.
Cases of alleged corruption against several veteran politicians and ex-ministers were also pending before the state accountability commission (SAC). Let these politicians be also declared dead wood and not given tickets by their respective parties to contest polls. Let all of them be also booked under relevant sections of law.
"It is very shameful for a government to be overcome by the forces of bribery," the officer said. |
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