New Delhi:Holding that honest officers should not be harassed for bona fide mistakes made while making “well-meaning” decisions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday warned that if this was not done, decision making will suffer badly and governance will be stifled.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Holding that honest officers should not be harassed for bona fide
mistakes made while making “well-meaning” decisions, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh on Tuesday warned that if this was not done, decision
making will suffer badly and governance will be stifled.
He also called for moderation of public debate about corruption as
“unwarranted condemnation” of the decisions and that imputation of
“guilt and mala fide” on decision-makers need to change.
Addressing the golden jubilee celebrations of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC),
the Prime Minister said it was an ultimate aim of any anti-corruption
mechanism to contribute towards improvement of the processes of
governance and delivery of services which can happen only when bold and
innovative decision-making was encouraged.
“Therefore, we must make sure that honest officers are not harassed
for bona fide mistakes that they might make while taking well-meaning
decisions,” he said, adding that CVC should live UP to the words of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri who had said the commission should be a fearless champion of the man of integrity and source of terror to corrupt officers.
“We must ensure the championing of the cause of the man of integrity
in all our institutions. In the scenario in which this does not happen,
decision-making would suffer badly and instead of improving the
processes of governance, we would end up stifling them,” Dr. Singh said.
The Prime Minister said during the last 10 years of UPA rule, fight against corruption has undergone transformation with time.
“This process of change has particularly picked up in the last 10
years of the UPA government. New laws have been enacted to ensure
probity, transparency and accountability in administration,” Dr. Singh said, citing statutes like the Right to Information Act and the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act.
He said that there has been very vigorous debate on corruption in the country in which civil society and media were active participants.
“I believe that this debate has been for the good. It has led not
only to increased awareness in the people about their rights and the
responsibilities of public authorities but also a realisation in public
authorities of the heightened expectations that people have from them,”
he said.
Dr. Singh said, “In the past few years, we have been witnessing a
very vigorous public debate in our country on matters relating to
corruption, with accusations flying thick and fast.
“While informed discussion on such matters is certainly desirable,
much too often we see a trivialisation of complex public policy issues.
This is accompanied by unwarranted condemnation of the decisions taken
and imputation of guilt and mala fide on part of those who took the
decisions,” the Prime Minister said, noting that “there is a need to
change this state of affairs”.
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