Listen to what P Rama Mohana Rao, the sacked Chief Secretary of Tamilnadu, has to say regarding the income tax raids carried out in his premises, to understand the general psyche of the bureaucrats in this country:-
* Calls the recent income tax raids on his house and official chamber in the Secretariat a
"constitutional assault"!
* Questions as to whether the raids would have taken place had Jayalalitha been alive.
* Criticised the state government for not standing up for him.
* Denied any link with Sekhar Reddy, a businessman and public works contractor arrested by
the CBI for disproportionate assets.
The Income Tax department conducted extensive searches at the houses and offices of Rao and his family members on 21 Dec, simultaneously in Madras, Bangalore and Andhra Pradesh from where they seized Rs.30 lakhs cash and 5 kg gold.
Three days later, he complained of chest pain and was admitted in a hospital only to be discharged on Monday.
He has already been replaced by Girija Vaidyanathan as the chief secretary but he refuses to accept that he has ceased to be the chief secretary.
My take.
In my official capacity during my tenure at the Naval Headquarters, I'd come across a large number of bureaucrats in the course of my work at meetings, discussions on important issues. Many of them were thoroughly professional and down-to-earth in their interactions while there were a few who thought no end to themselves, as though they're invincible! The experiences have been similar within the state while interacting with them on account of the Foundation's activities!
A doubt that I'd carried with me always is that these guys are fully involved in the decision making process and have the minister's ears but are never made accountable when things go wrong! The minister and the concerned service headquarters are held responsible and ultimately accountable. Perhaps, many of them think that they've a constitutional immunity - on what account, they themselves can't say! Hence, the arrogance and what they forget is that they're equal, in front of the law, to the common man!
Tailpiece.
Lekha is a few notches better than what she was yesterday but I seem to have caught the bug in the bargain! It's better this way because it would have been difficult if I'd first contracted it and passed on!!
* Calls the recent income tax raids on his house and official chamber in the Secretariat a
"constitutional assault"!
* Questions as to whether the raids would have taken place had Jayalalitha been alive.
* Criticised the state government for not standing up for him.
* Denied any link with Sekhar Reddy, a businessman and public works contractor arrested by
the CBI for disproportionate assets.
The Income Tax department conducted extensive searches at the houses and offices of Rao and his family members on 21 Dec, simultaneously in Madras, Bangalore and Andhra Pradesh from where they seized Rs.30 lakhs cash and 5 kg gold.
Three days later, he complained of chest pain and was admitted in a hospital only to be discharged on Monday.
He has already been replaced by Girija Vaidyanathan as the chief secretary but he refuses to accept that he has ceased to be the chief secretary.
My take.
In my official capacity during my tenure at the Naval Headquarters, I'd come across a large number of bureaucrats in the course of my work at meetings, discussions on important issues. Many of them were thoroughly professional and down-to-earth in their interactions while there were a few who thought no end to themselves, as though they're invincible! The experiences have been similar within the state while interacting with them on account of the Foundation's activities!
A doubt that I'd carried with me always is that these guys are fully involved in the decision making process and have the minister's ears but are never made accountable when things go wrong! The minister and the concerned service headquarters are held responsible and ultimately accountable. Perhaps, many of them think that they've a constitutional immunity - on what account, they themselves can't say! Hence, the arrogance and what they forget is that they're equal, in front of the law, to the common man!
Tailpiece.
Lekha is a few notches better than what she was yesterday but I seem to have caught the bug in the bargain! It's better this way because it would have been difficult if I'd first contracted it and passed on!!
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