The three senior IRS officers- Prashant Bhushan (IRS:1988), Prakash Dubey (IRS:1989), and Sanjay Bahadur (IRS:1989) have been charge-sheeted by the government for playing a key role in preparing a report on raising income tax and placing the report in the public domain. The three enthusiast officers have also been stripped of their charges.

They have been charge-sheeted for service conduct rule violations. However, people from the service say that the report prepared by these enthusiast officials is “suggestive in nature” and “does not adversely criticize the policy” of the government. Moreover, it was a collective view of the IRS association.

It may be underlined that there have been many instances when All India Services officers have been expressing their views suggesting the government by means of social media and writeups in newspapers.

Recently over six hundred IAS officers from particular baches and up to certain ranks were asked to provide suggestions to deal with COVID-19 pandemic. They provided suggestions to the government based on their hands-on experience which reportedly proved to be quite useful.

In fact service rules say that a public servant should not come up with any matter, issue or idea in public through media or by any means which adversely criticizes or influences government policy. It should also not be motivated as well.

Reportedly, the officers utilized the time of lockdown to prepare a report that is suggestive in nature. It is by no means criticism or influences any policy. What appears to have gone against them is sharing it via twitter and email adding to the discomfort and displeasure of an elected government that has already been handling an increasingly complex and unforeseen COVID-19 crisis.  

If some top sources are to be believed the only issue that goes against these officers is that the government must have been considering additional taxes but the reaction of the general public to the policy paper was so adverse that now the government can not even think about raising taxes. Further, instead of making it public had they put up the report to the government through the proper administrative channels none could have objected to the efforts of these enthusiast officers.

Government officers are often criticized for lack of creativity but if they come up with any such idea, they are penalized which discourages their creative intent. 

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It is alleged that these three officers had failed to exercise due care despite having more than 30 years of service and misguided 50 young officers to prepare the report and circulate it.

Bhushan and Dubey are General Secretary of the IRS Association respectively whereas Bahadur has been charged with getting young income tax officers to prepare the report. Dubey was a director in the department of personnel and training while Bahadur was the income tax department’s Principal Director Investigation, North East Region.

(By Rakesh Ranjan)