Administrative crisis in Andhra pradesh

·         For past few months Bureaucrats in Andhra Pradesh are agitated over the arrest of two of their colleagues by the CBI

·         State IAS Officers' Association has accused the CBI of violating established procedure

·         Officers are upset at being hauled up for the misdeeds of their Ministers.

·         complaint by Andhra Pradesh bureaucrats that the CBI is arbitrary in dealing with senior civil servants is only half true

1.       Home Secretary Acharya was arrested only at an advanced stage of the investigation

·         When the progress of an investigation is dependent mainly on the evidence purely within the knowledge of a Secretary to Government, the latter's arrest may become unavoidable

·         It is a necessary step forward in a crucial investigation

·         However arrests bring to focus the contentious subject of minister-civil servant relationship

·         impression in AP is that some senior bureaucrats were intimidated into doing corrupt acts by the political executive

·         This demoralisation within the IAS is true of many States

·         Earlier civil servants were threatened with a transfer to an insignificant post

·         But danger these days is of physical harm to the officer who puts his foot down on an illegal request, and his family too

·         it is also true that senior officers are more than willing to oblige a dishonest minister

·         this is because of their greed or a desire to enlarge their career prospects

·         If officers are so pliant as to consciously commit an act of impropriety, they  will have to pay the penalty subsequently

Way ahead

·         Always put down objections if any in written through filenotes/letters etc

·         This will act as evidence of stand of an officer later when it is reviewed

·         It is difficult to be courageous and honest these days, when venality rules the corridors of government

·         But few years of pain resulting from an honest course of action is very much preferable to the ignominy of criminal action for having been party to dishonesty

·         This is certainly not something that will earn one a success, but will definitely fetch him peace of mind and an image that everyone around him will talk about for long years.