Jethmalani: Putting focus on transparency

8220;While one is appointed executive, the political master is elected executive. Officials are at liberty to agree or disagree with his ministers, though constitutionally there is no room for overlapping into each other8217;s jurisdictions,8221; saysVohra, who headed the famous committee to probe politician-criminal nexus. However, he concedes that 8220;over a period of time there has been growing influence of politics in the functioning of the bureaucracy8221;.

Bharatiya Janata Party8217;s TN Chaturvedi, MP, analyses the 8220;damaging turning point8221; in relations between the two wings took place in the 70s 8211; both pre and post emergency.

Veteran Congress leader Vasant Sathe, however, feels there is an inherent problem with both.

Chaturvedi agrees recollecting a similar phenomenon in the good old days when there was friction between Gulzarilal Nanda and LP Singh.

Jethmalani, who is in the thick of the controversy with his transparency card, maintains that such 8220;friction8221; was good for democracy.

8220;Paradoxically, a very cordial relation between a bad and corrupt minister with an equally bad and corrupt bureaucrat could signal greater danger than some mudslinging,8221; he says.

Sathe endorses this contention saying, there is at times an 8220;unwrittenunderstanding8221; between politicians and bureaucrats.

8220;Yashwant Rao Chavan often used to say that secret of success for a minister is how long and smooth he could go along with his secretary,8221; the former Union minister recalls.

Jethmalani sums up the paradoxes by saying, 8220;neither all bureaucrats are crooks nor all politicians are saints8221;.

8220;In fact, officers like UP Menon, Sardar Patel would not have been able to unite the country,8221; the Minister notes.

Firebrand police official Kiran Bedi, while strongly arguing for amendments in the statute to redefine the relation between officials and their political bosses, maintains that the 8220;vested interest group among the wings will continue to insist on status quo.8221;

Bedi, who has often been shuttled around with transfers from the remote north-east to Tihar jail, attributes emergence of insecurity in the civil service for the twin menace of deteriorating performance and over-politicisation.

Nowadays, during visits to the police training institutes8220;probationers ask us what will happen to my career if I oppose my minister8217;s wrong instructions,8221; says Bedi, noting 8220;it is unfortunate that today we are no longer role models, we are at best just aberrations8221;.

However, K Mahesh, officer on special duty at the Ministry of Urban Development disagrees with Bedi, saying instead, the major contributing factor in poor performance of the officers is their 8220;excessive security8221;. 8220;This has resulted in lack of accountability, corruption and lobby culture in bureaucracy,8221; he says.

Senior advocate Suraj Singh agrees with Mahesh dubbing the IAS8217; in lighter vein as a combination of 8220;ignorance, arrogance and sycophancy8221;.

8220;They are ignorant when they interact with experts and scholars, they are arrogant in dealing with common people and sycophants with their ministers,8221; he says.

Congress leader SK Singhla disagrees with Bedi on the question of insecurity of officials and wonders why a bureaucrat should be so much fussy about losing his job if he isupright and is committed to certain principles.8220;If hundreds of politicians can resign owning moral responsibility, let that government servant also quit his job in order to prove a point,8221; Singhla says.