The games that persons in power play are mostly conditioned by blind selfishness. The often-misused agency, in the hands of the State Government, is the “Vigilance and allied organisation”, which instead of discharging its essential duties, becomes an instrument in the hands of the persons in power to twist and manipulate situations.
Examples are galore of Vigilance picking out specific persons at a particular point of time by willynilly implicating them in some form of alleged “misconduct”. This pattern is also not foreign to the Central Government. When an officer rises on account of his abilities and proficiencies, the contemporary competitors and some of the other officers in the inner coterie conjure up a mountain out of a mole hill.
At one time, it was some alleged misuse of staff car or some such basic thing.
Now, the technique has been fine-tuned. Right at the crucial moment, when an officer is about to reach the peak of his career by dint of his merit, filing an FIR in a malafide manner for causing undue harm to the officer concerned is part of the love-hate relationship between politicians and bureaucrats.
A person could be found fit to head an organisation in the State, and when he is just about to rise further on to the national scene, some tangential and oblique measures are suddenly put into operation to deliberately tarnish the image of the officer and cause him harm. While still being feudal, the society in Odisha is inherently envious and intolerant.
The experience that Prakash Mishra of the Indian Police Service has recently undergone is a good textbook case of misuse of power for collateral and improper purposes. There was no problem when he was deputed to the NIA.
There was no problem when he became the DG of Police of Odisha. But when he was about to go as Special Secretary in the Union Home Ministry in charge of Internal Security, he was not found to be safe enough for the post of DGP and was asked to shift to the State Road Transport Corporation.
There were attempts to tell the Government of India that his services could not be spared by the State Government. His luck took him to the post of Special Secretary, Internal Security, of the country.
When the grapevine was aware of his being the forerunner for the post of Director, CBI, suddenly a Vigilance FIR emerged. The allegations are reportedly based on a Vigilance audit of the Odisha State Police Housing & Welfare Corporation ltd, where some years ago, he was the CMD. Both facts and law were overstretched to bring into existence some stumbling block in the way of an Odia officer likely to head the CBI.
Instances of this nature have been there in the past. Officers, who stand up against any organised and undesirable economic plunder (like the infamous wheat import from Australia finalised during the Gujral Government and sustained by the Vajpayee Government) had to go to the court of law when it came to their knowledge that though found meritorious, they were being bypassed for the higher posts through malafide exercise of power for extraneous reasons (of having opposed the import of wheat unfit for human consumption from Australia).
These were cases of bureaucratic machinations, even with the blessings of the then Cabinet Secretary but did not involve misuse of the CBI or the CVC. The irony of the situation was when the officer concerned won with laurels in the judicial forum with restoration of all benefits with costs, and the CBI finally booked the officers who had conspired to cause the unwanted wheat import. All attempts to suppress the investigation against them eventually failed.
However, the local scenario has an unusual peculiarity with its own uniqueness. When an officer of the Odisha cadre goes from the post of a DGP as Special Secretary, Home (Internal Security) of the country, we should be happy and proud of such events. Those who tried to sabotage such elevations are not necessarily loyal to the cause of the State of Odisha. Worse still is when willynilly some wishywashy and fake allegations are propped up, when another advancement in the career of the officer probably as the head of the CBI looks feasible. There is an old saying, “Dog does not eat a dog.” But in the arena of petty fogging bureaucracy, vested interest networks amongst politicians and the unholy nexus of mutuality between them turn intolerant enough to spike the advancement of an officer belonging to the Odisha cadre just because he is not the bird of their feather.
The object of these comments is not to say that the Government has no right to inquire about the conduct of an officer, but the investigation must be legitimate, fair and meaningful in the context of corruption in the domain of public administration.
This writer has had the opportunity of seeing the so-called APRs (earlier called CCRs) of several officers. It is not uncommon to find officers with inferior records with allegations against them and with a reasonably adverse image, getting ahead of officers not pliant enough to become “his master’s” voice and instrument.
This trend is all pervasive and eating into the fabrics of an independent and robust political leadership and bureaucracy. The unfortunate part is when such hounded officers are forced to turn to the judiciary for redress, there is a tendency to look at the allegations as framed and set out without delving into the foundation and veracity thereof.
A manipulated or fabricated and malicious allegation is, therefore, capable of ruining the prospects of a brilliant and outstanding officer because of the overarching over-lordship of the alleged misconducts. The need of the hour is to have an internal mechanism so that mischievous, devious and diversionary allegations are not pressed into action.
Further, before any decision to proceed with the matter is taken by the higher authorities, the officer concerned must have a meaningful and efficacious opportunity of first knowing what is alleged against him and then of getting reasonable facilities for stating his case.
It is time that the decision regarding any further action in the matter was placed in the hands of an independent authority so that officers are saved from the vagaries of orchestrated notings and their mechanical approvals by the political executive. Specific cases may now be subjected to a public debate with all relevant material so that the concept of an open Government is not subverted through rubberstamp classification of “confidential” and “secret” in the hands of the Executive.
While social activists and alert citizens should no doubt focus the searchlight on the alleged corrupt officials, they should also be equally alert and alive to the designedly malafide hounding of or sniping at officers who do not necessarily cow-tow before political vested interests.
It is pathetic and unfortunate that in these slimy games of power politics, the prospects of the people of the State are made to suffer. In identifiable cases, such gross injustices are to be remedied through public action and a vigilant judiciary. In cases where the mischief is not prevented, suitable punishment of the real culprits and compensating the damages inflicted on the framed officers have to be built into the remedial process.
But before that stage comes, voice of the people must unequivocally condemn the dirty tricks played in the corridors of power to cause unjust harm to the capable and deserving and to protect the undeserving through manipulatory tactics. This requires a pervasive, deep and resolute action to save further rusting of the so-called “steel frame”. The inherent power in the people has to be awakened and put into operation by suitable public action through a consorted strategy. And this concerns us all!
(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com)