"The decision to arrest a bureaucrat is normally taken at the level of the CBI Director who thinks many times over before agreeing to this course of action."
The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : CBI would not hound honest officials: The complaint by Andhra Pradesh bureaucrats that the CBI is arbitrary in dealing with senior civil servants is only half true. Where 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.
The arrests once again bring to focus the contentious subject of minister-civil servant relationship. The penalty for not obliging a capricious and dishonest minister was an unwelcome transfer, a 'Siberian posting,' but these days it is of physical harm to the officer and their family too. This miasmic atmosphere is enough to turn away many a talented lot. But it is also true that senior officers are more than willing to oblige a dishonest minister. This pliability is traced to their greed or a desire to enlarge their career prospects.
A few years of pain resulting from an honest course of action is however very much preferable to the ignominy of criminal action for having been party to dishonesty. This is about the only practical way of surviving in the civil service in our country. This will definitely fetch you peace of mind and an image that everyone around you will talk about for long years, and one you will yourself treasure forever.
