Ex-men return to fight bureaucracy’s fear of sunset years

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Ashish Sinha: New Delhi, Jan 13 2013, 02:16 IST

The Indian bureaucracy plays a key role in policy-making, but is virtually gagged by law. The political executive, which takes the real seat of power, communicates to the people on the supposed pros and cons of policies (or lack of them) and often uses its persuasive skills to garner support for decisions taken in public interest. While this system has conventionally shielded the bureaucracy, things have changed in recent years. The bureaucracy is fretting over the inability to speak its mind, as many senior members are deemed culpable for actions taken at the behest of the powers-that-be.

Now, a group of ex-bureaucrats has offered a set of proposals to speed up decision-making, which gets delayed as worried bureaucrats drag their feet. The proposals, if implemented, could help bureaucrats work freely and take bold decisions, as suggested by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Civil Servants Day last year.

The move comes at a time when the names of over a dozen civil servants who had retired in the rank of secretaries, additional secretaries and others have figured in various scandals. These include former power secretary RV Shahi (coal scam), former chairman of telecom commission and ex-DoT secretary Shyamal Ghosh and former telecom secretary Siddharth Behura (2G scam) and former urban development deputy secretary, PV Deshmukh (Adarsh scam).

The ex-bureaucrats have suggested immediate amendment of Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 to extend protection to public servants after retirement on decisions made during service. They have also pushed for setting up a

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Anand P Seth | 14-Jan-2013Reply | Forward

Proposed amendment definitely dispels fear in the minds of policy makers but will have mixed outcome/benefit, as all the concerned bureacrats are not the same.Suggestion of Mr L Manshingh to set up a committee of eminent people like editors,retired civil servants , judges and academicians to recommend the course of action after going thru merits of allegations, if any while de-linking the power to prosecute retired bureacrats, means should not be left to political masters, is most appropriate.If accepted , will give signal to serving civil servants to expedite various policies for the benefit of country's economy, even boost overseas investments.