One of the fundamental principles of governance is that an administration must not be seen acting in a partisan manner, much less act in a partisan manner. Despite all his legal acumen, Finance Ministry seems to have most unwisely dropped this fundamental principle for political expediency to project his image as the most successful finance minister. In the process, he has harmed his own image of an unbiased administrator. As a matter of first democratic principle, instead of listening to his own officers and conciliating the difference between the DOR and tax officials, his display of mailed fist may not go down well in the corridors of power. Look at the statement issued by the PIB in his name following the publication of a news item (first reported by Indianmandarins) regarding the conflict of interests between the Department of Revenue and IRS officers. The official statement said that the Finance Minister has taken a 'strong exception' to some tax officials passing a resolution against directives issued by the Revenue Department. Terming the resolution as "insubordination" and warning of disciplinary action, the ministry said in the statement that "Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has taken a serious view of such a resolution by officers of organised Group 'A' service to advise the government on what role it should play." Not to leave anyone guessing, it added "This is an act of insubordination. Officers indulging in acts of indiscipline would be subject to Conduct Rules." Oh really! When did advising the government become an act of insubordination and violation of conduct rules? Then, why did the Prime Minister asked tax administrators in a recent interaction, nicknamed Gyan Manthan, to advise the government how to increase revenue collections, etc? The statement followed reports on Indianmandarins and elsewhere that IRS officers, including some of the senior-most, assembled in Mumbai last week to discuss Revenue Department's alleged interference in "operational matters" saying it was hurting the morale of Income Tax Department officials. In the resolution passed by them, they charged the Revenue Department of undermining the autonomy of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). The growing discontent among IRS officers is not a new thing. They have been assigned tax targets whose achievement/non-achievement would define their promotional avenues. This has been done without consideration to the long-pending need for removing the problem of understaffing in the CBDT and CBEC. In its anxiety to increase the collection of revenue, the DoR and its minister seem to have set themselves on the path of debilitating the hand that is the best instrument for achieving their objective. The IRS today feels not only threatened but also humiliated. This shows that there is clearly a lack of higher leadership in the FinMin - which will be picked up sooner than later by irrepressible Subramanian Swamy to pin down AJ on the perceived economic policy failure, despite the latter's well known cosy relationship with NaMo. By M K Shukla