It's bureaucracy vs politics in Punjab

Where senior civil servants warm up to ruling parties with an eye on post-retirement benefits, this one has taken on the government at risk to his career. Senior IAS officer JS Bir put in his papers when he was transferred for ordering a busy market area cleared of buses which allegedly belonged to the chief minister's family. He is now turning his resignation into a crusade against political victimisation. "Problem starts when certain set of officers blindly start following our political masters mandate and in that case our people's interests suffers, then naturally people feel very sad about the system and bureaucrats who want to work honestly and transparently also feel suffocation. I blame not the political masters but bureaucrats who succumb to political pressure to get prized postings," says Bir. "And if this IAS officer has resigned, it is a statement to be followed by many government officers who should have resigned much earlier because the state has been insensitive for the last 30 to 40 years," says Parmod Kumar, Chairman of the Governance Reforms Commission, Punjab. The state government for now is refusing to react for fear of blowing up the controversy. State chief minister Prakash Singh Badal said: "I don't want to get into a political controversy. We know the matter." A top IAS officer says he is feeling helpless because of a callous and indifferent administration bowing blindly to political pressure. The big question is will the system put in any efforts to prevent the steel frame of Indian bureaucracy from collapsing or will it just turn a blind eye to the likes of JS Bir and simply carry on doing what serves the best interest of a selective few. Upset over his 'humiliation', a senior Punjab IAS officer has given notice of premature retirement to the government in protest against 'malpractices in the administrative system'. JS Bir, secretary in general administration department (GAD), in his notice to the chief secretary and the chief minister on Tuesday, expressed his angst against government's failure to remove 'corruption in the system' which led to his 'humiliation and mental trauma'. Bir, who is scheduled to retire on September 30, created a stir in the bureaucratic circles by slamming the government instead of the more usual norm of IAS officers warming up to the government, with an eye on post-retirement posts. In his resignation letter, Bir said, ''There is a need to bring improvement in the ethical norms of the present administrative system so that no citizen who wants to avail a government service, becomes helpless and a victim of bureaucratic extortion due to corruption in the system.'' Bir, a 1989 batch officer, is known for his straight talking and creative ideas. That he was

majorly disgruntled over actions of the state government is apparent from the mention of some incident that led to his 'humiliation'. "I was hoping that the necessary measures would be initiated to reduce my mental trauma..," Bir wrote. Reacting to the development, SarveshKaushal, head of the IAS Officers Association in Punjab, said, ''I expect the government to take notice of Bir's sentiments...''