The Iron Laws of the Earth Sciences

"A lesser man's career might have ended long ago. But Vilasrao Deshmukh is not a lesser man. His success mounts in inverse proportion to his achievements."

The Hindu : Columns / Sainath : The Iron Laws of the Earth Sciences: Going by the form book, Union Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh is due for a promotion. He's just been mangled by the Mumbai High Court, setting some sort of record for a Minister getting roughed up by the higher judiciary. And every time some amazing act of the former sarpanch of Babalgaon has landed the government in deep trouble, he's been rewarded, even promoted.

He also became the Minister for Earth Sciences (which, as often pointed out, is seen in his home State as jargon for real estate expertise). Jealous detractors say it is his raising this sector to the level of a science that makes him priceless to the Congress.

So where does he head next, now that the Mumbai High Court has added another decoration to his war record?

CBI would not hound honest officials

"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.

Nation in a State: Why are politicians not being held accountable, IAS officials ask

"Andhra Pradesh's ‘steel frame' rattles with indignation as the CBI goes after top bureaucrats in scam cases."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Nation in a State: Why are politicians not being held accountable, IAS officials ask: Where does the buck stop in government, at the desk of a minister or that of the bureaucrat who signs the files? This question has stirred a passionate debate in Andhra Pradesh, where the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested two bureaucrats and questioned many more in connection with a slew of corruption scams.

Ninety days too many

"The three-month deadline set by the Supreme Court for grant of sanction to prosecute corrupt officials is a step forward, but why not do away with prior sanction altogether?"

The apex court directive that the sanction for prosecuting a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 should come within three months of a request from an investigation agency is a shot in the arm for all those standing for probity in public life. Also welcome is the ruling that every citizen has a fundamental right to file a complaint under the PC Act. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Ninety days too many.

Many governments in the past had been holding on to a request without passing any orders or by raising a few inane questions to the CBI to delay the whole process and to help a favourite civil servant in the docks, who was not only personally dishonest but was a man ‘who knew too much'!

This direction by Supreme court makes severe inroads into the Executive's discretion and capacity to protect corrupt elements in government. However, a question allied to the apex court decision is whether the Executive enjoys absolute authority to refuse or accord sanction. This is a serious lacuna in the drive against corruption. A dishonest public servant can and will be protected by a government that used him in dishonest adventures.


Public opinion should prevail upon the Lok Sabha that the requirement for government sanction should be dispensed with. Only this would take the fight against corruption one step further in the right direction..!

R. K. Raghavan,the author, is a former CBI Director.

Prosecution, power, principle

"Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act prevents courts from taking cognizance of offences allegedly committed by a public servant without prior sanction of the government. Such provisions were conceived to ensure that public servants are not harassed and their work not stymied by vexatious and frivolous complaints."

In practice, these protective measures have functioned as a shield against prosecution, encouraging dishonest to flout the law with impunity. The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Prosecution, power, principle: Should prior sanction be required to prosecute public servants at all? Surely, the decision about whether a particular prosecution is vexatious or not is better left to the judiciary.

The idea that the law must differ for public servants and private citizens is an anachronism, one that has no basis in principle and has no defence in practice.