Nothing routine

The government has made a virtue of necessity in revoking the transfer of M.K. Bezbaruah and reinstating him as head of the Enforcement D...

The government has made a virtue of necessity in revoking the transfer of M.K. Bezbaruah and reinstating him as head of the Enforcement Directorate. If it is aimed at proving the government8217;s bona fides, it will hardly carry conviction with the people.

In fact, the government8217;s game was up on Tuesday when the Supreme Court found fault with its affidavit and expressed dismay at the attempt to mislead it. The solicitor general appearing for the government had no option but to apologise for the erroneous8217; affidavit. Even after the apology there was no certainty that the government had got itself out of the legal jam. Far from it. Realisation must have sunk in that Bezbaruah8217;s transfer had become a millstone round the government8217;s neck. It was against this none-too-pleasing backdrop that it decided to re-post him as director and thereby buy peace with the court and the public at large. It is perhaps the first time the government has been forced to revoke a transfer in this manner. The embarrassment it sufferscould have been averted if only it had been a little more careful. Whether it had any mala fide intention in transferring Bezbaruah or not, every move the government made has only evoked suspicion.Transfer of officials is certainly the prerogative of the government but in this particular case the court had imposed some restrictions on its powers till the ED8217;s investigations into some FERA-violation cases were over.

Besides, Bezbaruah had not even completed three years in his post. Naturally his sudden transfer raised the eyebrows of many, particularly when some influential people were known to be baying for his blood. That it was done without the approval of the minister concerned, forcing AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha to demand his immediate reinstatement, further strengthened the general perception that there was more to the transfer than met the eye. What was most astounding was the justification for the transfer the Delhi government had requisitioned his services to improve the transport services in the Capital. However, reports that Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma and Bezbaruah were not on the best of terms when they happened to work together in the Delhi government before his posting to the ED punctured its claim. It was apparent that the government had something to hide in the whole affair.The government could possibly have got away with it but for the fact that it was not at all prepared to face the court. It tied itself up in knots when it selectively used parts of a court ruling to justify the transfer. Look at the extent to which it had to go to transfer an official. It could not appoint Bezbaruah8217;s successor as quickly as it removed him without the formal approval of the Central Vigilance Commi-ssioner as dictated by the court. So posthaste an ordinance had to be promulgated to have a CVC in place. That not much thought was given to the ordinance was manifest when senior minister Ram Jethmalani complained to the Prime Minister about officials keeping concerned ministers in the dark about recommendations on the eligibility criteria for the CVC. Yet the government has the temerity to claim that the transfer was routine. The truth is the casualty in all this.