Honesty thy name is Vijayakumar

Honesty thy name is Vijayakumar

M.N. Vijayakumar is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service
(IAS). He belongs to the Karnataka cadre. He has served in Karnataka
for the last 25 years. And he is only one of three IAS officers, of
the 200 or so working in Karnataka, who has filed his assets and
liabilities.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that Vijayakumar, currently of
the Principal Secretary grade, has been transferred six times in six
months during the H.D. Kumaraswamy regime.

From September 2006 to February 2007, Vijayakumar has sat on a
different seat in a different office in a different capacity�"each time
for “reporting serious corrupt practices by senior officers”.

His wife, Jayashree J.N., has now launched a spirited, even brave,
campaign on the web that throws light on how the IAS folk deal with
“black sheep” in their midst and how they use the convenient alibi of
“disobedience” to quell debate, discussion and action.

Jayashree asks:

# Is informing the head of the bureaucracy repeatedly about issues
of corrupt practices an act of disobedience?# Is persistently
insisting to follow Government notified policy an act of disobedience?

# Is bringing to the notice of higher authorities the violation of
Government policy and asking the violation to be brought before the
Cabinet an act of disobedience?

# Is communicating intention to approach Lokayukta an act of
disobedience?

# Is preventing (by following procedure) dishonest officials, from
doing things against public interest, an act of disobedience?

# Is insisting officers to act as per the Right to Information Act
an act of disobedience?

# Is repeatedly bringing to the notice of higher authorities
activities against public interest an act of disobedience?

# Is cautioning the higher authorities against continuing officers
indulging in activities against public interest an act of disobedience?

# Is making the fight against corruption one of the objectives in
the Annual Confidential Report an act of disobedience?

# Is saving crores of rupees to the Government and the Public, an
act of disobedience?

# Is introducing innovative methods to involve public in the
implementation of works an act of disobedience?

# Is introducing innovative methods to help redressal of
grievances so that the poor are not made to run from office to office
an act of disobedience?

# Is acting as per the calls given by H.E. the President and H.E.
the Governor an act of disobedience?

# Is being the first officer to declare assets to Lokayukta an act
of disobedience?

# Is informing the Hon’ble Lokayukta in the presence of CS, ACS
and all other senior officers on how to go about tackling corrupt
officers an act of disobedience?

# Is informing the higher authorities that the issues he raised
have nothing to do with the place or post going to be held by him an
act of disobedience?

# Is informing Government that he never sought modification of
transfer in past 25 years of his service an act of disobedience?

# Is not turning a blind eye to corrupt practices, going around
him an act of disobedience?

# Is giving suggestions to the Head of the Bureaucracy in public
interest an act of disobedience?

# Is complaining against dishonest practices before a promotion an
act of disobedience?

# Is giving honest and frank opinions to higher authorities an act
of disobedience?

On the site, Jayashree says she found “honest wives [of IAS officers]
are rarer than honest officers].

“An honest officer cannot morally raise his voice against
corruption unless he is supported at every stage by his wife and
children, which demands different types of sacrifices from time to
time by each member of the family. It is not enough if the officer is
honest but each and every family member also should be honest, if the
officer has to fight against very powerful corrupt persons.”

Visit Jayashree’s site: http://fightcorruption.wikidot.com/