CORRUPTION IN REVENUE DEPARTMENT?

by

 

VIJAY. K. KUMAR

MA, B.Ed,BL,MBA

Superintendent of Central Excise, Hyderabad

 

This has reference to the article with the above caption by Dr. AK Bandyopathyay in the ELT of 1^st may 2002 – page A 204. After reading the article, I was pondering whether the problem has any solution. There are too many people talking about corruption and too few people doing anything about it. Perhaps the people who talk are honest and the people who can do something are themselves corrupt that they do not want to do anything. All kinds of suggestions are offered but everyone knows these are too idealistic to be realistic. As I was ruminating on these lines, I saw the "Big Fight" programme on Star News and there was the irrepressible TN Seshan, who said, "when my mother had cancer, I didn't give up; the Nation has cancer, don't give up". How true – the fight against corruption is as hard as it is against cancer and chances of success are bleak – but fight we must.

The learned author of the article who served at the top positions of the department says, "Human beings must change. They must be more patriotic.. …… we should not be purchasable…" All lofty ideals but ground realities are far different. I am happy the respected author agrees that " there are still many sincere and honest officers in the department and our officers are not more corrupt and unscrupulous than the officials in the Courts, railways, supply and defence Departments …" Yes there is corruption all over and we are no exception. By some strange twist our department has been in the news recently because quite a few and quite a few at the top were caught. The name of the game is don't get caught. Corruption is not because of need or poverty, it is a state of mind. There are several officers in the department who are absolutely honest in spite of need – and this you can find in all cadres, though their numbers are dwindling fast.

 

You can't expect a person who gets a job by bribing somebody to be honest. Aren't Crores of Rupees in the lockers of PSC chairman an indication that corruption is being recruited? When corruption starts with recruitment, where do you put a stop to it? We hear seniors lamenting, " In our days, the freshers at least were honest!" Does it matter at what stage one becomes corrupt? Yes it does. At least there is one layer of honesty. When a person pays money to get a job, he would pay money to get a posting – obviously to earn more money to pay higher prices to earn more money and so the game goes on. Honesty like chastity is perhaps a possession that you can lose only once. An honest person may become corrupt but once corrupt, he stays corrupt. And hardly anything is done to prevent the new entrants. In fact they are welcomed. There are honest people who withdraw money from their provident fund to pay bribe to get a suitable posting and they join the bandwagon.

Nobody is born corrupt, but many achieve corruption and on some corruption is thrust. The sad part is the corrupt are also powerful and the most humiliating part is the corrupt lecture even to the honest – on honesty, while the honest are not only silent listeners to sermons on honesty, but also silent spectators to corrupt manipulation. Once upon a time honesty was a virtue; today it is an aberration. The honest are looked down as some mentally challenged persons and many believe that they are honest either because of lack of opportunity or fear of CBI.

The editor of a leading law journal once told me that the peculiar situation is that the corrupt have their lobbies and they protect each other, but the honest are on their own and so usually get hurt. I know the case of a very honest officer who got two of his equally honest subordinates implicated in a case, because he was not sure of their integrity. A corrupt officer writing the confidential report of an honest officer feels intimidated, but he has no such problems when writing about his equally corrupt subordinate. Is it not sinful to ask a corrupt boss to report about the integrity of an honest subordinate? In several places 'sensitive' posts are identified and 'suitable' persons are posted there. Before the posting is done a group of corrupt bosses discuss on the integrity of the prospective candidates and most often the honest are systematically eliminated. If you look at the posting history of some of the officers you will find that they jump from one sensitive post to another, while the honest request of an honest officer will not be considered even by an honest boss. There is no point in discussing corruption. It is there – not that it will be there always. Computerisation has almost eliminated corruption in railway reservation. Some such thing will happen in other fields too. And so will opportunities for corruption. There is no point in talking about corruption. Let's talk about honesty and the honest.

The honest are hounded; they are humiliated; they are ignored; they are manipulated; they are used; they are punished; they become laughing stock in society and in their families; even their very honesty is suspected. In spite of that there are many many honest officers in the department, who remain honest against all adversities. They are a special species; they have to be preserved and protected and this article is dedicated to all those unsung unheard low profile honest officers in the department. EXCISE LAW TIMES – 15.07. 2002 – A 131