Caste immunity
Getting away with crime is not presently easy with CCTV cameras tracking movements round-the-clock but there are some exceptions. For some well-placed persons belonging to some particular caste, things are still easy as police are inclined to fawn on them. Incredible though it might sound, such an officer, despite being seen on CCTV footage drinking liquor in a women’s lavatory and chasing a lady, has been let off the hook. IT is mention worthy that the officer concerned embodies an exalted stature in the hierarchical setup. The commoners say police are blatantly partial while dealing with such cases. They come down heavily on those who have nothing to flaunt by way of striking fear or reverence in the cops while they are prone to shield those who own their aura in terms of certain groups. Things are grim for the commoners. If they dare lodge complaints they are harassed to the extent of being forced to withdraw the complaints. In most of such cases, they naturally fall in line to stop the cops from wreaking vengeance. In a nutshell members of a certain caste, who have been dominating in various fields, have been enjoying immunity by default akin to the immunity accorded to foreign diplomatic fraternity.
Trashing seniority
While the Uttarakhand government is careful not to hurt the susceptibility of the senior IAS officers it cannot care less when it comes to the IPS officers being posted in the administrative setup. The rule is that no senior officer would be made to work under another who is junior to him in terms of hierarchical status. The State Government acts on the norm with alacrity when it deals with its blue-eyed officers. For instance, whenever the government appoints a chief secretary who must be dear to the hearts of those who are running it they make sure that there is no officer in the administration who can claim seniority to him. When Subhash Kumar was made the CS by having the senior most IAS Ajay Joshi left out in the cold the latter was shunted to Nainital as the director general of Administrative Training Institute. In such cases, there are instances galore when others enjoying seniority are shunted to Delhi to make things clear for the favorite officer to enjoy absolute sway over the administrative apparatus. However, in case of the IPSs being endowed with gaudy posts in the administrative roost, things are different. The predicament of an IPS being forced to work under an IAS who happens to be junior to him tends to make clear the sorry state of things prevailing in the state’s babudom. This violates the rule enshrined in the service rule manual. But the rule has been crying in the wilderness with those whose writ runs in the government showering favoritism and trashing rules with impunity.