Every country is run according to rules of business, established practices and norms. Even within democracies such as India, there is the constitution and then there are rules and more importantly there are norms. The relationship between the ruling political class and the steel frame of bureaucracy is governed by a system where the political executive interacts with its officers, through the head of the civil service, the Cabinet Secretary or the Chief Secretary in states. Sometimes, this is done through ministers who in turn speak to their department officers.
These filters have been established for good reason. Firstly it maintains a distance and secondly it allows officers to work in an established system with laid down order, which a politician may not follow. Hence the “vision” of the politician, gets translated to “policy” through these filters. Moreover, when an officers work needs to be appraised or disciplinary action needs to be taken, a protocol is established.
Mr Manohar Parrikar unfortunately, and perhaps due to the compulsions he has with his team, often jettisons this process, bypassing ministers to either reward (which is ok) or admonish and castigate officers who have earned his displeasure. He exemplified that in the assembly by singling out the former Dean of the Goa Dental College Dr Ida de Noronha de Ataide and warning her of disciplinary action, for briefing the press about the internal functioning of the college. The CM basically meantHerald, the only publication to report, follow and investigate his act of removing the Dean due to a rotation policy which no one in the Dental or the Medical college has been notified or intimated of. It doesn’t take a doctorate in Governance to know that if a head of an institution is removed according to a new policy, then she should be informed of the policy through an order or notification. The Chief Minister was naturally irked because Herald published reports of a parallel development of an influential supplier of medical equipment and now even medicines, trying to push an Annual Maintenance Contract for the Dental College which the Dean resisted. The fact that her removal order came less than a week after her report to the Health Department sating that the AMC was loaded in favour of the supplier and against the interests of the Dental college; was also reported with a rider that there is no evidence that the two were linked. The Chief Ministers statement on this was also published.
Therefore, his warning or threat, to invoke action against the now ex Dean was totally out of place and disproportionate to the facts and circumstances on the ground. It is also a huge, unwelcome and unhealthy deviation from the norms of political and bureaucratic relationship which is defined by rules of business but more importantly wrapped by things like gravitas, demeanour, and distance. The act of a Chief Minister castigating a former Dean of a Collage in the assembly, was a rude stripping of the many filters in the system which make the system what it is. When the chief political executive of the state reaches a conclusion about an act of an officer or a government doctor and declares it from an institution like the Assembly, the entire system is forced to step back and clear the path of an onrushing top boss towards an employee far far below in the order. It is a use of power which is tilted too heavily on the side of the Chief Minister giving the “victim” no recourse. In legal terms it is like a Supreme Court judge reaching a conclusion on a murder case even before it has gone to the trial court.
But there is another issue here. A warning of this nature was intended for the entire bureaucracy, telling them that they would be similarly held accountable if information, unpalatable to the government or questioning its motives makes its way to the media. This wasn’t necessary in the past because of the relative bonhomie between the government and the media. But when newspapers decide to do their job, in the wake of increasing roadblocks and not so subtle warnings, the taps of information need to be turned off.
It’s a pity though that even today politicians haven’t learnt, that like a good idea, no one can stop a true story whose time has come.
