Prevention of Corruption Act : Amended

Economic Times ( 25 July ) carries following news :

LS Passes Bill to Protect Babus Post-retirement 

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  !

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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

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13  Aug  2018

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