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| The service rules for Government employees need be reviewed | | Growing corruption and falling standards of public service delivery system | | Daya Sagar | 5/9/2011 9:53:09 PM |
| A Look Through the mist
The government machinery on the whole has lost the common man’s confidence No doubt there are some very dedicated and honest government employees too. But the number of government employees on whom the doubts are expressed are much more than those who enjoy the confidence of the people. Corrupt practices and bribery have been accepted as part of routine life. The honest government servants are rarely seen in the front line, the people who do not carry a honest image in society instead enjoy respect in social gatherings and are also found more near to political bosses. . There have been some cases on record where some police / vigilance / civil servants had been awarded with medals for efficiency / honesty and later they were found involved in cases of corruption/ nonperformance. Similarly the honest politicians too find it difficult to survive even socially.
Defending the appointment of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner Man Mohan Singh government had professed that there is no need for re verification or recertification of a government servant , as regards his service records ,once he has reached the top bureaucratic level of a Secretary to Government. No doubt the logic could have been convincing had the governments of the day not flouted all moral principles that are on paper supposed to be the life line of the government infrastructure. The fingers are so often being raised on the working of executive, legislature and even the judiciary. There are some links on which the economy, security , development and generation of inputs for nation building are directly or indirectly dependent. The Government Servant is one of the main as well as the link of continuity. No chance could be taken with this institution since it is this institution that executes the policies and programmes for providing the social, economic and physical security to the common man. And ofcourse the security of the international borders to rests in the Government servant. These days even the honour and integrity of defence force senior officers has been so painfully come under questions. WE have institution of UPSC to select IAS /IPS/IRS/ IFS officers. These officers have been provided the ultimate job security by constitution of India. But IAS couples have been alleged to have earned unfairly hundreds of Crs of Rs . The bulk of those whose integrity is not believed by the common man is more than the half. ? The cases are numerous. More over the law and order / legal government machinery too is not free from allegations of non performance / corruption
It may not be that easy to book the dishonest government employees due to procedural knacks but surely conditions could be created so that discouragements to honest employees are minimized due to the material capacity and social status the corrupt government servant may acquire with the money collected by unfair means.. So utmost need has emerged for looking into the job requirements , responsibilities, service securities and service rules pertaining to Government Employees
There are many in the front line who try to wash off the allegations of large scale corruption of public grants / funds quoting the spontaneous growth of estates and automobile industry in India over last 3 decades. But they do not disclose the expenditures that the governments have made over the years out of the cost of exploited natural resources , the loans raised from foreign institutions and the earnings that the Indian people have brought in from the sale of services / goods to other countries. Imagine had the public funds been not corrupted, the taxes not evaded and foreign loans not been corrupted / shared for personal use by only a few , what would have been the level of progress in India. India has over 1200 million people and a population of just 200 Million people is enough to cover the poor state of the people and fractured / inadequate infrastructure that 1000 Million Indian people possess. There are designate government departments to deal with the corrupt .The legal procedural handicaps and the principle of giving all opportunity to the accused to prove innocence are so often said to be reason for very less final convictions
Great confidence was expressed in the government employees .Even Article 311 was included in the Indian constitution to provide service security to government employees. It is worth noting that a government employee stays in service from 30 to 40 years .THE political bosses have only 5 years term ( J&K has increased it to 6 year ) and are subjected to review. But the service delivery by most of the government employees has come under question. But the constitutional security provided to government servants has made the removal of the bad elements not that simple. So the government employees and their service conditions need be re looked .Need has emerged for recasting / review. The reference points for consideration by the Legislature / Executive could be like (( 1) Conditions need be created for making it difficult for the corrupt government employees to display their effluence as attained through unfair means . Let it be put as a service condition for government employees to send their children only to government schools ( have highly paid / qualified teachers ) and obtain treatment from only government hospitals ( except where government hospitals do not have facility ) ; the government employees should be debarred from throwing large social / marriage parties ( number be limited to only relations ) ; private business men should not be allowed memberships of clubs that are primarily meant for government officers ( these days the clubs are being used as contact places to win favours of government employees by the business men) ; and the like (2) There could be some government servants in senior positions who for the sake of getting appointments / re employment on some constitutional institution may not do justice to their regular job and instead work more to please the political bosses/ superiors for their rehabilitation after retirement. Imagine the material benefit in money and perks that flows to one in service or retired government servant in case he is appointed on a position where retirement age is 65 years. There is need to incorporate special conditions for reappointment of the persons to head the Institutions created through the Acts of Parliament / that have Constitutional patronage. The conditions could be like (i) The persons to be appointed there if selected out of the Retired Judges, IAS / IPS /IRS / IFS officers should not be appointed while in active service or immediately on their retirement (ii) The persons to be appointed if are to be selected out of the Retired Judges, IAS / IPS /IRS / IFS officers it should be ensured that the person should have retired not less than 2 years before the date the process of selection is initiated (iii) Where the appoint has to be made out of the retired government employees , particular reference for selection only from IAS/ IRS/IPS/IFS/IAAS should be removed from the rules. (iv) Any person who has once served on such positions / posts should not be given another extension or appointment where one is to paid salary / pay/ perks/ out of the public exchequer ,after his tenure is completed or he seizes to hold the earlier posting ( v) such like checks and balances need be deliberated publically, but we can not afford to lose more of time (4 ) Experience has shown that those booked for corruption / non performance often take a slip due to procedural / legal implications. The conviction record of the CBI / J&K SVO and like agencies could be pursued in this regards. We may find hundreds of cases reported as registered and informed through press conferences but how many were successfully got convicted could be just counted on finger tips. When ever the retirement age is increased , it benefits all the government employees , even those who had so far stayed in service only due to legal procedural conditions. There fore, there is need to see in case some legal implications could be covered to get rid off unwanted elements by making some changes in the policies with regards to superannuation age of Government employees. One method could be that the regular retirement age of the government employees is reduced from present level of 58 /60 Yrs to 50 years. Thereafter, where ever needed ,contract appointments be made in the slabs of 2 to 3 years depending upon the usefulness, efficiency, service record, health and reputation of the officer / official . This way all good and non performing employees shall not be treated in same way and the undue liabilities would be got rid off (5). More over since the service needs and restrictions on the Government employees are to be more stringent as regards entering into trade / business interests privately ( in any form) , the retirement pension to employees has a sanctity of genuine purpose With the service conditions made more stringent , there shall be no harm in case the retirement pension for Government Employees employed after 2003 is revived.
Not even UPSC has come up with any remedy for selecting a sure truthful candidate.
We have many TOP retired bureaucrats who have joined NGOs / organisations that are today talking of administrative / political reforms. Where were these IAS/IPS officers when they were in active service ? Why did not they raise voice then or resigned while in active service, could be asked. So, simple remodeling the existing institutions and suggesting new institutions like Lokpal with a chair person , winding up / merging institutions like CBI / CVCs with Lokpal and drafting “ independence” for LOKPAL independent of the Government can not simply do. How can we make any institution in a democracy independent of Government. It sound simple rhetoric. No doubt selection of the Chairpersons / Members has be made transparent and participatory: function of the monitoring / supervising body need be made completely transparent to avoid corruption. Who would handle a complaint of wrongdoing against an official / unit of Lokpal could be asked by some. So the process started with the setting up of a Drafting Committee for LOK PAL bill is a humble beginning and not he end. There are many other tributaries of corruption that need be attended simultaneously and where the procedural requirements could be met with lesser complications as compared to the project “ LOK PAL”. The Government servant is the other most important AXE that could behead the CORRUT and economic offenders both from with the SERVICES and trade but this AXE has become blunt , rather a large segment of this most important “BRICK” of governance has joined with the economic offenders. So, need has emerged for applying some unpleasant changes in the service conditions of the Government servants to that the wrong doers are checked and the honest / truthful government servants are encouraged / saved from social discrimination / neglect. The next could be imposing some unpleasant restrictions on the perks and facilities of the MLAs / MPs / Ministers who have otherwise been given the entitlements like pension even having rendered services as MLA / MP for just 5 years where as on the other hand pension has been discontinued by GOI for those appointed after 2003 and J&K Government for those appointed after 2009 ; and for government employees appointed before 2004 / 2010 qualifying service is 20 / 25 years. Similarly MLA /MPs/ Ministers / Superior .Bureaucrats need be made to taste the quality of health and education services being provided by the public sector to common man .The reimbursement of the health expenditure to the public servants as made in private sector hospitals has be made in very very exceptional cases. Such could be the points of reference for review.
( * Daya Sagar is a Sr coloumnist of Kashmir affairs and a social activist [email protected]).
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