Rural Development Department has come under the scanner. We have several cases in which financial irregularities, suppression of facts, withdrawals without work done and non-compliance with orders and instructions from higher authorities abound. The status report submitted by the Secretary of the department to the High Court which is hearing a PIL case against the department, has reveled chinks in the administrative system of the department. Money is drawn against works that have never been done. The worst is that despite the authorities pointing out gross irregularity, no attempt is made by subordinates to bring the culprit to books.
There are clear court instructions that the pension case of a retiring official should not be processed if there are allegations of corruption against him or if the inquiry is going on. But on the ground what is happening is the reverse of it. Pension papers of indicted officials are processed without obstruction and they continue to draw their pension without having to answer for the allegations leveled against them. In some cases, the colleagues of the indicted official are trying to shield him through illegal means and helping him complete his retirement documents. This is a state of affairs in which neither the administration is becoming effective nor the court orders are respected. The State has to come down with a heavy hand not only to punish the offenders but also make the entire administrative machinery sensitive to the observance of discipline and the rule of law. If only a couple of erring officials are given exemplary punishment under rules, there will be a sea change in the entire system.
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