BUREAUCRACY IN GOA HAS GONE FOR A TOSS
By Aires Rodrigues
The bureaucracy should have been independent and impartial but sadly in Goa it is not living up to this reputation. The bureaucrats in Goa have totally surrendered to the political rot. The Chief Secretary who heads the bureaucracy should have led by example and kept the administration free from political interference. But the current incumbent Mr. B. Vijayan has been shamelessly bending and bowing all over, while signing on the dotted line at the dictates of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. This not only sets a bad trend, but will also expose the bureaucrats to criminal prosecution for intentionally misleading the Government on vital matters.
Government employees cannot be directly or directly engaging themselves or participating in any work pertaining to any political party. At the two day BJP conclave in Goa held at the Marriott last weekend, so many State employees including the official staff of the Chief Minister were assigned various chores at this political party meet. On 13th Dec last year, the entire bureaucracy led by Chief Secretary Vijayan queued up at the BJP office in Panaji to greet Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on his birthday. This was totally out of place because no government servant should ever have an occasion to visit an office of a political party. T he Conduct Rules also prohibits such acts. They could have wished the Chief Minister or even kissed his feet in his office at the Secretariat or his official residence.
Over the years we have seen successive governments using bureaucrats as pawns in their political games, but the situation has reached a flash point under this current one man regime. And it is precisely to achieve his nefarious ends, that Manohar Parrikar has been crying hoarse that incompetent officers are being sent by the Central Government to the State, since he wants officers who do not advise nor question, but just shut up and listen.
We need to stem the rot over this interdependent chronic relationship that exists between Ministers and civil servants. May be its time the parameters of the relationship between ministers and civil servants is made abundantly clear by having a code of conduct for bureaucrats and a code of ethics for ministers which ensures a neutral relationship between a minister and civil servants. These codes of conduct and ethics should clearly outline the division of responsibility between the ministers and civil servants with the fundamental focus being on the political neutrality and impartiality of civil servants preserved at all costs. The bureaucrats in Goa are the new caged parrots.