The IAS Association has on Wednesday written to the Chief Secretary registering objection of the leakage of the information to media before completion of the investigation in the cases.
President of the Association Gauri Singh in a letter to the Chief Secretary sought and advisory to be issued to the investigating agencies.
President of the Association Gauri Singh told in the letter, “I write this letter to bring to your notice the recent trend of seeking publicity by officer holding responsible positions in investigation agencies wherein, even before conducting proper enquiry into the merits of the case, details of the case/ complaint and likely conclusions are shared with the press. This is naturally quite demoralizing for government servants and adversely affects decisi9on making.”
As you are aware, officers have to often take complex decision, involving multiple stakeholders, in their official capacity. There are cases, where stakeholders/ competitors who have been adversely impacted by the final decision, approach expected that these investigating agencies will objectively enquire into these complaints while ensuring that repetitions of institution and individuals is not unnecessarily tarnished.
A recent case is one relating to a senior officer and his tenure in the Urban Development department. “I understand that the same matter had surfaced earlier and the present Principal Secretary has submitted a report on the issue, wherein among other things, he stated that proper and transparent process were followed. It is therefore surprising that the officer heading the EOW decides to brief the pres, without even seeking facts and details from the department.”
