The inseparable bond of corruption and Indian Bureaucracy: An overviewBureaucracy is called ‘The Steel Frame of India’ as it is directly responsible for the policymaking and effectiveness of the system.
However, this steel frame of the country seems to be more committed to corruption than to its duty and work.
It has been long ago since bureaucracy has become a synonym with corruption and bribing.
Though there are few IAS officers like Aruna Sundararajan, Dr. Samit Sharma, Smita Sabharwal, U. Sagayam, etc. who have worked hard day and night to get India to the newer heights.
However, it’s safe to say that most IAS officers are busy setting new benchmarks in corruption.
Although this is a very tough competition category, here’s the list of the top 10 most corrupt IAS officer who has earned the name, fame, and ‘black money’ for being the most corrupt IAS officers in the country
S. Malaichamy :
He is the 1971 batch IAS officer who has been allotted the AGMUT cadre. He has worked as MD of Khadi Gram Udyog.
He has been accused by CBI in 2002 of possessing disappropriate assets of 52 lakhs. His total income was 46 lakhs but he possesses assets of 1.3 crores.
CBI conducted raids and inquiries in 7 places in Delhi and two places in Tamil Nadu. Later, the court passed a judgment of 241 pages in which the court accused him guilty of corruption and jailed him for 5 years along with a fine of 10 lakh rupees. Court also ordered them to seize his 5 properties in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
Nitesh Janardan Thakur
He worked as a deputy collector of Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA).
In just 12 years of his service, he made the unaccounted property of 200 crores that includes 13 lats, 4 bungalows among 26 other properties. He also owned 10 luxury vehicles including Land Rover, Mercedes, Honda CTV.
He also established multiple shell companies with the help of his wife and brother Nilesh and collected 300 crores in them.
Anti-Corruption Bureau raided his deluxe flat at the Swansheel building in Vile Parle, Mumbai.
He created a major drama scene for 3 hours and refused to let them in. ACB took the help of the police and broke the main door of his residence to arrest him.
He got suspended and fleed abroad, he is currently said to be in Dubai
Arvind Joshi and Tinoo Joshi
This IAS couple continued to be partners in crime and corruption too. They both were born in the same year, did their MBA degree together from an Australian University, got selected into the elite services together in 1971. They were living their fairy tale life until CBI knocked at the door in 2010. Tinoo originally comes from West Bengal whereas, Arvind is the son of former DGP HM Joshi, who had the reputation of an honest IPS officer.
In the raid, CBI seized a bag full of cash worth, 3.04 crores, and currency of various countries like US dollars, British Euros, and Pounds. They used to live a luxurious lifestyle involving frequent foreign trips, imported liquor, and lavish belongings.
They own disappropriate property which includes 25 flats, 387 acres of agricultural land, 7 acres of non-agricultural land, and 100 acres of land in name of NRI sisters.
he couple is currently coupling in Jail. Tinoo tried to get bail claiming about her bad health conditions which got rejected by the court.
Neera Yadav
Born and brought up in the Bulandshahr, UP Neera got her education from the Welham Girls School, Dehradun.
She got selected in civil services in the 1971 batch and tied the knot with the IPS officer Mahendra Yadav who later turned into a politician by resigning as an IPS.
Neera enjoyed a reputation of a good administrator for her rescue work for flood as DM of Jaunpur.
Though her reputation didn’t last long as she got nominated into the top 3 most corrupt IAS officers of UP in a survey conducted by her peers. In 2010, the court sentenced her to 4 years of rigorous imprisonment for misusing her authority. She dishonestly allotted land to industries owned by industrialist Ashok Chaturvedi in Noida.
She got 2 years of imprisonment for the Noida scam by the Supreme Court in 2017. After her retirement, she tried to join BJP but she had to back up because the media highlighted her blacklists of ‘achievement’.
Babulal Agrawal
He is a 1988 batch IAS officer. He was a senior IAS officer in the Jharkhand government. He has worked as principal secretary and agriculture secretary in the Jharkhand government. He was arrested by CBI from his residence in Raipur. He owns the unaccounted property of 67 crores.
He possesses assets of over 27 crores which includes plants, machinery, bank balance in his own and family member’s account. He also owns 40 crores in 220 fake bank accounts. He has been suspended and is currently in jail.
T O Suraj
He is a senior IAS officer of Kerala. He has worked in the position of public work secretary.
He also got a lot of attention and a bad name for his involvement in Marad Masccacre and Hindu-Muslim riots at Marad beach in Kozhikode district of Kerala, while he was the district collector at Kozhikode.
Later, the judicial commission convicted him guilty of civil administrative failure. He later got summoned for disappropriate assets case by Vigilance and Anti-Corruption bureau.
They seized 30 crore unaccounted assets along with 20 lakh cash. His declared wealth is 7.3 crore but he owns assets worth 111 crores which is 314% more than his known source of income. He also owns a luxury flat in Dubai worth 5 crores and many luxury apartments in Coimbatore and Kochi.
Rakesh bahadur
He is a senior IAS officer of the UP cadre. In 2009 he got suspended by the BSP government because of his involvement in the Noida Land Allotment Projects Scam of 4000 crores. After 30 months, the Samajwadi Party government dismissed all the inquiries against him and re-appointed him as the chairman of the Noida development authority.
Subhash Ahluwalia
He is a senior IAS officer of Himanchal Pradesh and he has worked as a principal secretary of CM Virbhadra Singh.
He along with his wife who is a college principal were held accused by the Vigilance Bureau for possessing disappropriate assets. He got suspended from his post and Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested him. Later, the Congress government cleared all the charges over him and re-appointed him.
Rakesh Kumar Jain
He has worked as a director of the commerce department. He got accused of taking 7.5 lakh rupees as a bribe for assisting the transfer of coal linkage. The court fined him 7.5 lakh rupees and he got suspended. He got a sentence of 3 years of imprisonment.
Reasons of Corruption in Indian Bureaucracy
Every year we see that there’s an increase in the number of UPSC aspirants who want to crack this ‘red tape’service to be an IAS officer. The power, authority, and access that an IAS officer gets in India is the main charm of the service.
There are innumerable reasons that are accountable for the corruption in the bureaucracy. Here are a few main and major reasons for it:
Political Pressure:
Political pressure is one of the main reasons for corruption in the Indian Administrative Services. If an IAS officer decides to say no to bribe or unaccounted money, he will be transferred probably 24 times in 12 months along with other consequences. And that is the reason why IAS officers lack a spine to say ‘NO’ to politicians.
System:
The system of Indian bureaucracy is already corrupt and has been so for many years. Everybody in the Indian system has their own share of benefit from the corrupt activities be it the senior-most officer or the peon of a government office. That’s why it becomes practically impossible for one individual to transform the system.
Lack of accountability:
Only the president of India can dismiss or suspend IAS officers. That’s why most of the corrupt IAS officers are confident that their corruption won’t get attention any soon. They have strong connections with politicians and people in authority. That’s why they rest assured knowing that they are safe with their black money.
Final Words on the Corruption in Indian Bureaucracy
It’s deeply saddening for our country that even after UPSC is known to be one of the toughest exams in the whole world, we aren’t able to choose the right individuals for our bureaucracy.
Any type of corruption is basically a lack of integrity. One year-long and critically competitive selection system isn’t enough, government must focus on testing the integrity of the candidates be it moral, financial, or emotional.
Even if there’re some officers who want to work for the country and people, it’s typically impossible for these individuals to change and reframe the whole system.
In, 2016 the government has made efforts to empower the common man to punish the corrupt IAS officers. However, this is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. More efforts should be made to ensure the proper functioning of the bureaucracy.
