The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Civil servants and political compulsions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 29, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Civil servants and political compulsions

V. Jayanth

NEWSANALYSIS The case against the Chief Secretary, dismissed as "not maintainable" by the Madras High Court, has turned the focus again on the role of bureaucracy.

CHENNAI: : From the beginning, the State Government and the bureaucracy were confident that the case against Chief Secretary Lakshmi Pranesh, filed by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), would not stand judicial scrutiny.

But it cannot be denied that it did cause some tense moments, especially because she is due to retire on April 30.

At the heart of the legal battle was a petition the Chief Secretary had filed in the case relating to the transfer of Governors. It was a case filed by the State Government, and as its principal officer, she was called upon to sign the papers in the suit. That contained certain observations against Opposition politicians and in particular, the DMK, which filed a petition in the Madras High Court, seeking a direction to the Central and State Governments to initiate disciplinary action against the Chief Secretary.

A former president of the IAS officers' Association argues, "This is a perennial problem the bureaucracy faces. Even the senior police officers face the same problem. As officers, we have to implement the orders and policies of the Government. And in the course of doing that, we get into serious problems, both legal and political. I think that by and large seasoned officers manage to hold the line. They do not get politically involved but carry out the instructions. That is inevitable. But we should not cross the `Lakshman rekha.' Such officers do not get into problems."

He cites various instances in the present administration, in which senior officers have got into big problems. "The threat of action or transfer of three police officers during the arrest of DMK president M. Karunanidhi will remain in public memory for long."

Without wanting to discuss the merits of any case, he says such issues are blown up more when Centre-State friction develops. In Tamil Nadu, the peculiar problem has been that the DMK and the AIADMK have alternately joined the Government at the Centre and want to demonstrate their power even in the State, where the rival is in power.

The consensus appears to be that though the IAS may be a Central service, so long as an officer serves as a State cadre, he or she is directly under the control of that State and the Centre will not "interfere or intervene" in these matters. But the officer adds that even within the same Government, officers in "sensitive positions" tend to get embroiled in some controversy.

Citing the case of a former Home Secretary, he says one of the reasons given for his shift and subsequent suspension was an affidavit he had filed in court in a "critical case." The charge was that the Chief Minister was not briefed about the stance of the administration. But it was an affidavit signed by the Home Secretary, who is normally "advised and guided" by the police headquarters. The point that officials make is that it is more difficult to serve in sensitive positions because there is a tendency in the State to "identify top officials with the ruling party or its Government."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu

News Update

Stories in this Section