ULTA PULTA
Official (mis)rule
Jaspal Bhatti

According to a new rule, IAS, IPS and officers from other all-India services will be shown the door if they fail to clear a review test after 15 years of service. That means more and more officers, who are declared inept, will join politics. If an inept IPS officer is sacked, he can immediately declare that he is a victim and his expulsion was politically motivated.

Some people may argue why the review test should be after 15 years and why should we tolerate inefficient officers for so long. I think, the pace at which our officers work can be judged only after 15 years to find out whether they were working or just sleeping over the files. After every five years, one set of favourite bureaucrats is given plum posts while others are sidelined. "Assi taan panj saal khudde line laggey rahey kum ki karna si" (We remained sidelined for five years, how could we do any work?). They give this justification for not working. That means unless they work with three different political masters, their performance cannot be judged.

I asked a politician what he thought about reviewing a bureaucrat after 15 years. "Don’t you think they should be reviewed every five years?" I asked. He said, "Why after five years? They should be reviewed after two years, and if they don’t bend rules in the interests of our party, they should be sacked in public interest," he said clearly.






HOME