With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh putting a premium on transparency in governance, the IAS Officers’ Association has revived its drive against corruption in bureaucracy and wants the Cabinet Secretary to evolve a mechanism to identify and then weed out the corrupt babus from All India Services and other Group A Services, including those from Customs and Income Tax.Early last month, a delegation, led by Telecom secretary Nripendra Mishra, chairman of Central Association, met Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chaturvedi and urged him to probe all All India Services Officers who have amassed movable and immovable assets disproportionate to their sources of income.While the executive committee of the Central Association passed a resolution against corruption last November, it was only this month that it formally asked all its affiliate State associations to discuss the issue along with roadmap with the members. The Central Association is slated to take up the issue in its November 29 meeting.On November 27, 2003, the Association proposed a roadmap in the form of a ‘‘non-paper’’ for identification of such corrupt officers to then Cabinet secretary Kamal Pande. The ‘‘non-paper’’ proposed the following: • The Cabinet secretary should direct the Intelligence Bureau or any other agency to furnish a list of officers of All India Services (IAS, IPS and Forest Service) and Group A Services, who have ‘‘poor image’’ on account of amassing movable or immovable assets (through direct or benami transactions) disproportionate to their sources of income.• The agency should furnish this list along with relevant material to Cabinet secretary in a month.• A small committee of secretaries to government or some chief secretaries with impeccable credentials should scrutinise the list and shortlist officers who would be investigated by a competent agency.• The Cabinet secretary or the cadre-controlling authority should then direct the CBI to conduct investigations and submit its report after taking approval of the government.• The CBI should then take appropriate action according to the rules, including filing of the FIRs and formal prosecution.The IAS Association’s fresh drive against corruption is reminiscent of a similar drive launched by UP IAS Officers’ Association in the mid-1990s. While the Cabinet secretary has indicated his convergence on the issue, the one-month period for shortlisting such ‘‘corrupt’’ officers appears to be too short. As a result, the association wants the agency to first tackle officers of the rank of joint secretaries and above.
