TLI Staff
New Delhi: A section of senior bureaucrats consider Modi government’s sanction for prosecution of four officers in the INX Media case as knee-jerk reaction and taken hurriedly to ward off criticism following P Chidambaram’s assertion as to why he had been arrested while the officers remained off the hook.
“The government was perhaps stunned by the Congress party statement questioning the basis of Chidambaram’s arrest and not doing anything to the officers involved in processing the application. It should not have rushed,” said an IAS officer wishing not to be named.
“One needs to analyse as to which rule was violated. Wouldn’t FIPB have cleared the application on its own even without anyone pursuing the case? This question needs to be examined,” he added.
The swift prosecution nod for the officers has caused disquiet among retired bureaucrats who had taken a sigh of relief following the change in the Prevention of Corruption Act that offered legal shield to them from prosecution.
To drive home the point, the officers cite the case of former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh who was named in additional spectrum allocation case but was later absolved of all the charges.
The high-profile INX Media case pertains to alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving foreign funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when Chidambaram was Finance Minister. A key accused, Chidambaram is currently in judicial custody and lodged at Tihar jail.
Denied bail in the case, Chidambaram last month asked why no officer has been arrested in the case attributing the question to people close to him.
A tweet by Chidambaram’s family members on September 9 from his handle noted, “People have asked me ‘If the dozen officers who processed and recommended the case to you have not been arrested, why have you been arrested? Only because you have put the last signature?”
“I have no answer,” the tweet further added.
In another tweet, Chidambaram said, “No officer has done anything wrong. I do not want anyone to be arrested.”
In subsequent weeks, the government is learnt to have given the sanction to prosecute several officers including IAS officer Sindhushree Khullar who was then additional secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs and involved in processing the FIPB file related to INX Media case. The other officers against whom prosecution sanction has been given are the then joint secretary Anup Pujari, under secretary R Prasad and director Prabodh Saxena.
“The officers can be blamed if they violated or distorted the law. Also, if they gave wrong brief to the minister. If that is not the case then what is wrong in it,” noted an official.
Miffed over the government move, a group of 71 retired bureaucrats has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concern over prosecution of the four then officials of the Finance Ministry in the INX Media case.
The letter was signed by former civil servants like former cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, former foreign secretary and national security advisor Shivshankar Menon and former foreign secretary Sujatha Singh.
“Many of us are quite convinced that the officers did no wrong. I know most of them personally. I can at least certainly vouch for Anup Pujari who has been an outstanding officer,” a retired bureaucrat said.
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