Economic Times ( 25 July ) carries
following news :
Extract :
* The contentious Section
19 of the old Act now stands amended saying criminal misconduct means “intentional illicit
enrichment” and possession of “disproportionate assets” —essentially makes 'mens
rea' ( presence of intention and enrichment ) an essential
prerequisite to prove corruption.
* A new Section 17A has
been added which says no inquiry will done without “previous approval” of government if the serving or
retired official took a decision or made a recommendation in discharge of his
official duties or duties. “ PC Act
amendment is a landmark decision.
* A public servant can now take bona fide
decision without any fear.
Earlier, even if no
pecuniary benefit is received by a public servant, he / she could still be
penalised. This is a game changer as only malafide decisions would now be
punished.
Shri Amitabh Kant [ CEO , NITI Aayog ] says in a tweet :
Gr8 step forward to enable public servants to act boldly, take risks in
national interest & drive development in a bona fide
manner.
This was long overdue. Greatly appreciate Government ‘s
initiative to provide protection to honest officers.
The abuse of PC Act Section 13( 1) (d) (
iii ) had hurt many well intentioned public servants whose decisions granting
relief to any private person were questioned even if there was no
pecuniary advantage. Insertion of new
Section17A brings in a much needed layer of due diligence
This is indeed a very good step , which
begs the question :
“How will bureaucrats prove that their
decisions were “bona fide“ and not “mala
fide“ ?
There is only one way
By implementing what I suggested in my
following email ( dated 20
June 2014 ) sent to the Cabinet Ministers :
To err is human
To forgive is divine ( provided it was a honest error )
All of us keep making errors , all the time
But rarely same " mistake " twice
Often , decisions taken at a point of time , turn out to be " poor " , with passage of time
Reasons are simple :
* We never have all the information - relevant to the problem we are trying to solve –
available with us , at the time of taking a
decision
* Even when most of such relevant info is available , we may not have the capacity /
competence
to " process " such info
* As humans , we have our biases / prejudices , based on our previous experiences ,
which influence our decisions
* Quite often , and often against our own better evaluation / judgement of a given
situation , we are wrongly influenced by our
peers / bosses / subordinates or even
voters - all of whom have different
expectations / vested interests !
* Additional - and more relevant - information surfaces , AFTER we have taken a
decision ( happens all the time !
)
To encourage Babus and Ministers to take FAST decisions , Shri Narendra Modi must insist that they carefully " Record " on the files :
* What info / data he wished was available for a better decision
* What different " views / opinions " were presented to him for consideration
* What " Data / Views " he would have obtained if he had more time
* Who all , the decision might offend
* What is the likely " Cost " of postponing that decision
And finally a declaration :
* THIS DECISION IS NOT LIKELY TO BENEFIT ANY OF MY NEAR RELATIVES / FRIENDS
, DIRECTLY OR IMMEDIATELY
After all of this, if the decision appears to be " wrong " in hindsight , it must be " forgiven " and treated as an honest error
To err is human !
======================================================
As far as the mechanism is concerned , I
suggest the following :
·
Law Ministry to launch a
web site which is only accessible to specified government officers
·
This web site will carry a
“ DECISION ANALYSIS cum DECLARATION “ form
·
The form need not wait
entry only when a decision is taken . It can be filled up progressively , over
a period of time , leading up to the point of decision
·
Officers taking decisions
will fill up this form online as suggested above
·
As time passes , concerned
officer can ADD further data / comments to the form but cannot EDIT what he has
already entered
·
Form can be “ accessed “
at any time by his superiors
·
Upon a formal request by
any investigating agency , concerned Minister may grant “ Access “ to the form
to that agency
=======================================================
13
Aug 2018
www.hemenparekh.in
/ blogs
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