*
Addresses all the issues of the citizens in an unbiased manner*
Ensures that levels of service are maintained - highlights risks or concerns in order to meet community requirements*
Understands the vaiue of an affirmative action towards the marginalised and disadvantaged*
Actively seeks information from ail sections of community tounderstand their needs and expectations
*
Isaccessibleto all citizensand seeks their feedback todevelopa clear understanding of their needs and outcomes
*
Establishes mechanismstoaddressfeedback fromthe community about the service providedAPTETUDE AND FOUNDATIONAL VALUES 79
*
Involves d diverse range of staff members, stakeholders, and delivery partners while developing implementation approaches in order to provide clarity on the benefits tothe disadvantaged and to improve the quality of service provided Eo the citizens
*
Understands issues from others' perspective, particularly the disadvantagedRule of Law
Rule of law indicates that no branch of government is above the law, and no public official may act arbitrarily or unilaterally outside the law. This requirement is sometimes explained with the phrase 'no one is above the law".
Rule of law is also regarded as a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private,
including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and Independently adjudicated. It requires, as well, measures to ensure adherence to the principles of supremacy of law, equality before the law and accountability to the law.
Equity and Equality
Equality is usually taken to mean that everyone should be treated the same {due to the fundamental equality of at! persons}, whereas an equity approach holds that groups and individuals should be treated according to (heir particular circumstances and requirements. Equity recognizes that some people have to overcome obstacles to access resources or opportunities (obstacles like illiteracy, perpetual poverty, remote areas, and place in social hierarchy). Therefore, according to equity principle, groups can be treated differently in the application of policy or the law, so as to compensate for these obstacles, and to produce just or fair
outcomes.
80 LEXICON
Cose Study I
You are the Director of the CBJ and an allegation has been made on your conduct by an eminent person
.
The proof for thesame is also available
.
The allegation relates to your meeting with some persons at your residence, which you know are quite influential and are related to the case, which is being investigated by the officers under you.
You are supervising the case and ane acquainted with each and every details of the case.
The allegation onyou put your impartiality andintegrity in question, What would be your reaction? Analyse the situation by giving justification that how far it is correct for a public servant to meet the persons who are related to the case his agency is investigating?Premise: In the given incident, the Director of the topmost investigating agency of India has been blamed of meeting the persons related to the case
,
which the officers junior to him are investigating.
This gives rise to concern related to the conduct of civil servant.
The question arises here relates to the difference in personal and professional life of a Bureaucrat, the ethical behaviorof his and the impartiality in his action
.
This case comes under Ihe following topics:
•
Foundational Values of Civil Services•
Impartiality•
Integrity•
Public Service Values•
Ethical ConductAnswer: The conductof a senior bureaucrat,like theDirector CBI,defines the working culture of theorganization
.
CentralBureau of Investigation is the premier investigating agency of India. It investigates the high profile cases, more often related to those manning the top echelon of the society and to those who define the power structure of the society.
Any unethical conduct by top officer of this agency gives rise to the serious concern as it mayAPTITUDEANDFOUNDATIONAL VALLES til
jeopardizethe neutralityoftheinvestigationprocess
,
therebygiving a blow to criminal justice system.
In the aforesaid case, since the allegation has heen made by
an influential person,who is a known activist of an NGO fighting against corruption, raises the legitimacy of the case
.
That the proof for the same is also available makes the allegation stronger.
Underthese circumstances a bureaucrat, especially when he is heading such an agency, can take different course of actions
.
Each and every details of the case is available with the Director CBI
.
His meeting with influential person related to thecase
,
whatever thereason may be,prima faciegives an impression of an attempt to influence the investigation process. Since the Director is at the apex of CBI, any attempt to tarnish his image is a direct attack on the agency's integrity.
So,
a statement clarifyingthe facts related to theseallegations shall be issued, as a first step, from the side of Director
.
If needed, the Director should let anenquiry commission set up either by the government or by the judiciary, for independent investigation in the matter Moreover, if he knows that allegation made against him are true, although his intention was not bad, he should clear the facts associated with the purpose and reasons of meeting
.
The question that to what extent the meeting of Director of CBI with these persons is justified can be better judged on the basis of existing provisions
.
The new government has issued a revised code of conduct for bureaucrats that require them to bo politically neutral, honest,and impartial and maintain high ethical standards.
The amended rules state that every member of the All India Services, which includes the IAS andIPS, shall be courteousand responsive to the public, particularly the weaker sections, and ensure accountability and transparency in discharge of his duties. The AH India Services (Conduct) Amendment Rules, 2014 states, among other things, that every member of the service shall take decisions solely based on merit and inpublic interest and use
public resources efficiently
,
effectively and economically.
82 LEXICON
Clearly, under these circumstances a meeting of this kind is a direct question on the ethical conduct and impartiality of public servant
.
However, there is another aspect to look into ihe issue. CBf Director is a publicauthority and every citizen ofIndia, including those related to accused has equal rights to meet with him.
Such meeting may relate to the grievance of the accusedor dissatisfaction from the way of investigations or other such things
.
Civil Services Code says that any such meeting, related to official purpose shall be done under official capacity,
for whichoffice of Director is the best suited place and not the residence
.
The violation of this conduct is the manifestation of misusing the position to take decisions that seek toderive financial or material benefit for himself, his family or friends
.
Stressing on Ihe need for confidentiality in key government matters,the code of conduct make civil servants liable tomaintain confidentiality in performance of their dutiesasrequired by the laws, particularly where the information or disclosure may prejudicially affect the security of the State, strategic, scientific or economic interestsoftheState, friendlyrelations withforeigncountriesor lead
to incitement ofanoffenceor illegalor unlawfulgainstoanyperson
.
A civilservani is expected to performhis duties witha high degree of professionalism; uphold supremacy of the Constitution; uphold sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, public order,decency and morality;maintain integrity inpublic service; act with fairness and impartiality and not discriminate against anyone, particularly the poor and under
-
privileged sections; and maintaindiscipline in discharge of duties and be liable to implement lawful orders duly communicated to them
.
Case Study fl
Chandanwas a young,idealistic Chief Executive Officer{CEO) in a district panchayat, After joining his job, he carefully studied the social and economic situation in the district
.
He looked at various reports and materials about the problems of the district.
He gathered data on the stage of development of the district, its
APTITUDEANDFOUNIDAHONAL VALUES 83
agricultural and industrial progress and its future growth potential
.
Henoted thatas the districtwascovered under intensiveagricultural programmes,and as it badirrigation facilities
,
itsagricultural sector was progressive* State government schemes for incentives had ledto growth of many industries in the district
.
Its agricultural and industrial growth created reasonable infrastructure.
The district, however, lagged in human development indicators
.
The birth rate was high.
Unfortunately, the infant mortality ratewashigh.
Female literacywas waybelow the nationalaverage
.
School enrolment was poor, and the dropout ratio washigh
.
Female sex ratio was also low.
Based on these indicators, Chandan concluded that the panchayat should give the highest priority to social sector programmes in its budget.
Thepanchayatwas anelectedbody
.
Thebudgetisapproved by its general body which consists of all its members.
Chandan tried to convince the panchayat that the highest allocation in the budget should be made for social sector development.
However, the general body decided to spend 40% of its budget on minor irrigation.
Chandan felt that the large allocationto minor irrigation projects will benefit land owning farmers and Starve other social programmes.
He, therefore, asked the officers to surreptitiously divert money to social welfare programmes.
Question; In the given case, an idealistic officer after joining the job carefully studied the socio-economic scenario of the district
.
He found that the economic scenario of the district was progressive as the agricultural and industrial growth had created reasonable infrastructure.
But the district had very dismal socialsector development
.
He wanted to convince the general body of the Panchayat to allocate more fund to the social sector but the Panchayat decided tospendthemajorportionofthe fundonminor irrigation.
As a result of this, the CEO took an unwarrantedaction.
Do you think Chandan violated service code of conduct by asking his officers to allocate fund "'surreptitiously
"
? Can service code of conduct be compromised in favour of ethical acts? What would you have done if you had been in the situation of Chandan? Do84 LEXICON
you think Chandan might have gone through ethical dilemma? If yes in what kind of ethical dilemma he might have gone?
This case comes under the following topics:
•
Violation of Official Code of Conduct•
Honesty and Integrity•
Transparency•
Ethical DilemmaAnswer; Even the good ends can never justify the unethical andquestionablemeans,thoughChandan
'
s objectivewasfor publicgood however he employed questionable means by asking the officers to surreptitiously allocate the funds to social sector
.
In thisway henot only violated his service code of conduct rules which
are unambiguously dos and don'ts for every public official but also jeopardized his and subordinates' professional integrity
.
He presumed that allocation in agriculture would help only big land owners; here objectivity could play a vital role which Chandan did not apply.
An administrator should not be carried away by his emotions, biases and personal prejudices. It is also true that anadministrator should be compassionate for the weaker section of the society
.
But,compassion should be a good blend of integrity, empathyandobjectivity.In the given case,Chardan'sconcern was genuine but highly prejudiced and his action was questionable.
Moreover, Chandan acted contrary to the provisions under the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1993, which attaches
great importanceto thecapacity buiiding ofelected representatives and officials of PRfs as well as functionaries involved in the development programmes securing economic development and social justice in their respective areas
.
It is the democratically elected Panchayat whoconstituteplanningcommittee and allocate the funds depending upon its priority.
By asking his officers to allocate the fund surreptitiously, Chandan created a conflicting situation, Under 73rdConstitutional Amendment Act,
abureaucratis not a policy formulating agent but a facilitating agent who is supposed to supervise the implementation of scheme
.
APTITUDEANDFOUNDATIONAL VALUES B5
In this situation, it is very important to create awareness and provide innovativeways to Panchayat tonavigate through thecrisis of poor social infrastructure
.
Innovative ways, informed citizenry, effective implementation and alignment of people to a goal can overcome the inadequacy of funding.
Indeed in such an undesirablesituation, Chandan might have gone through ethical dilemma and had limited choices between competing sets of principle
.
One,as an administrator he should try to improve the educational and health standards of the weaker section ofthesociety.
Second,as an administrator heisdutyboundto follow the decisionsoftheelected leaders
.
Otherwise,
hisactionwill be considered as violation of official code of conduct
.
As described in the passage
,
he was idealistic and was concerned about the poor performance of human development indicators and indifferentattitude ofPanchayatin termsof financial adequacy to improvethesituationand his futileattempt toconvincethe Panchayat led him to bypass service code of conduct
.
He could have avoided aforesaid situation by anticipating alternate tools to improve the social infrastructure
.
However, he chose the way which violated serviceHide ofconduc! and createdsuspicious working climate by involving his officers
.
He knew that, this is not the right way of allocating fund that is why he asked his officers to allocate funds secretly.
The aforesaid logically cohesive line of thinking was in vein as he ctiose illegitimate, guise and unjust way; thereby Chandan was unable to bargain with his idealistic philosophy and practical feasibility of his action.
He succumbed to his idealistic philosophy by assaulting on his best kept principles
.
Above all, the myopic view of his ability to pursue the cause on his own has further created a suspicion and jeopardized transparency in public discourse.
It is point to be taken to heart that, for a public servant the foundational values like honesty, integrity and transparency are the basic ingredients of his ideological disposition to intervene in public discourse and work for common good.
UNIT