SECTION B : ANSWERS TO CASE STUDIES

9. You are an honest and responsible civil servant. You often observe the following:

(a) There is a general perception that adhering to ethical conduct one may face difftculties to oneself and cause problems for the family, whereas unfair practices may help to reach the career goals.

(b) When the number of people adopting unfair means is large, a small minority having a penchant towards ethical means makes no difference.

(d) While one may not involve oneself in large unethical practices, but giving and accepting small gifts makes the system more efftcient.

Examine the above statements with their merits and demerits.

(250 Words/20 marks)

Ans. (a) Normally, being ethical creates problems neither to an individual nor to his family. Though corruption prevails in government bodies, the wrong doers seldom pressurizeunwillingcolleagues or threaten them as in mafia gangs. If unfortunately, one faces threats, he has to face them and seek police help. Unethical practices hardly help in securing one’s genuine career goals. Bad eggs are soon spotted, and ostracized.

(b) This view is specious. Having accepted official codes as a government officer, one should follow them. What others do is of no concern to him. He may not make a difference by following a solitary path. This is irrelevant since he is duty bound to observe the compact he made with government as its employee.

(c) This argument is fallacious and rationalizes immoral behaviour. Corruption does not promote but retards development. The fact that poor governance slows development is accepted by World Bank and other agencies. Hence, great emphasis is being placed on good governance. Corruption free and efficient administration forms part of the institutional system which promotes growth.

(d) This view is also false. It is called ‘greasing the wheels’ justification of corruption, and is cynical. Corruption, whether on small scale or large scale, does not improve efficiency. It increases the difficulty of doing business, business costs and economic inefficiency. Corrupt officials may profit, but others are demotivated in the process. (223 words)

10. You are aspiring to become an IAS offtcer and you have cleared various stages and now you have been selected for the personal interview. On the day of the interview, on the way to the venue you saw an accident where a mother and child who happen to be your relatives were badly injured. They needed immediate help.

What would you have done in such a situation? Justify your action.

(250 words/20 marks)

Ans. Several parameters should govern one’s response in such a situation. If it is permissible, one can talk to concerned officers and reschedule the interview. But this may be going well beyond the call of duty. Success and failure depend (besides performance in examination) on how one’s fortune plays out on a given day. Rescheduling an interview if one falls ill or has an accident is inevitable. But in this situation, it may be tempting one’s fate. After all, one’s life time career and dreams are at stake.

It will of course be heartless to overlook the travails of the injured. Untrained professionals can do little to relive the distress of the injured or to treat them. The best response would be to immediately call an ambulance or rush them to the emergency ward of a nearby hospital. If delay is likely, one can also summon a taxi on Uber or similar service. Once the victims are put in a taxi or an ambulance (depending on which arrives first), one can rush to the interview venue. Obviously, one should not let go of his transport. Simultaneously, one can alert the family members of the accident victims so that they can rush to the site or to the hospital where the victims are headed.

Normally, candidates plan to reach the interview venue well before time. So, sufficient time will be available to the candidate for reaching the venue even after making arrangements for shifting the injured to the hospital. In this way, he would do whatever he could under the circumstances, and also attend the interview on time. (266 words)

11. You are the head of the Human Resources department of an organisation. One day one of the workers died on duty. His family was demanding compensation. However, the company denied compensation because it was revealed in investigation that he was drunk at the time of the accident. The workers of the company went to strike demanding compensation for the family of the deceased. The Chairman of the management board has asked for your recommendation.

What recommendation would you provide the management?

Discuss the merits and demerits of each of the recommendations. (250 Words, 20)

Ans. It seems that the death was due to an accident. The company denied compensation because the deceased worker was drunk when the accident occurred. Obviously, rules for compensation for accidental death stipulate that workerswill be ineligible to compensation if they are drunk while on duty. One alternative will be to go by the policy and deny compensation following the company’s earlier decision. This will be harsh, and will displease workers.

It may be worthwhile to consider whether the accident can be attributed wholly to the drunken state of the worker or whether other factors were also at play. Normally, it is presumed that intoxication makes a worker lose his normal caution. This may heighten risk of accident. But independent of the worker’s carelessness, the job may have carried risk factors. These predisposing conditions for accident could have been present. In their absence, the worker’s intoxication would not have been a causative factor. These would be mitigating factors and warrant payment to the deceased worker.

In accidents involving fatalities, it is better to avoid playing strictly by the rule book. Many provisions are added to rules to ensure discipline in work environment. In a normal situation, if unruly workers violate work place discipline, they can be penalized. But a worker’s death is a tragic incident. In that situation, throwing rule book at his surviving family members in order to deprive them of compensation seems heartless. No great expense will be involved and such events will be rare. In this case, the HR manager should recommend payment of compensation to the deceased worker’s family. (262 words)

12. You are the manager of a spare parts company A and you have to negotiate a deal with the manager of a large manufacturing company B. The deal is highly competitive and sealing the deal is critical for your company. The deal isbeing worked outover a dinner. After dinner the manager of manufacturing company B offered to drop you to the hotel in his car. On the way to hotel he happens to hit motorcycle injuring the motorcyclist badly. You know the manager was driving fast and thus lost control. The law enforcement offtcer comes to investigate the issue and you are the sole eyewitness to it. Knowing the strict laws pertaining to road accidents you are aware that your honest account of the incident would lead to the prosecution of the manager and as a consequence the deal is likely to be jeopardised, which is of immense importance to your company.

What are the dilemmas you face? What will be your response to the situation? (250 words/20 marks)

Ans. In this case, the spare parts manager (SPM) is in an awkward situation. He witnessed an accident caused by manager of manufacturing company B (MMB) with whom he hopes to

conclude an important sales contract. Essentially, SPM has only two alternatives. He can give false evidence and protect MMB. If he does so, the lucrative contract for his company may not be jeopardized. This is on the assumption that there are no other competitors, and that the contract is almost in the bag. If the contract materializes, his company will gain financially. Perhaps he will also strengthen his position in the company.

But should he do so? From an ethical and legal point of view, the answer is a loud ‘no’. It is true that the stakes are high for SPM and his company. MMB was also nice to him and was giving him a ride to the hotel. But these considerations do not alter the ethical or legal aspects of the matter. MMB was guilty of negligent driving. Apparently his fast driving led to the accident. He is guilty of not only a moral offence (callously and recklessly endangering others) but also of a legal offence. SPM cannot morally condone MMB’s action which caused the accident. In fact, it is simply a crime. As an eyewitness, SPM has to depose truthfully. Otherwise, he will be guilty of perjury. He may land in soup if there is a CCTV camera near accident site. He should make his stand clear, and advise MMB to hire competent lawyers and hope for the best in the court. (264 words)

13. A building permitted for three floors, while being extended illegally to 6 floors by a builder, collapses. As a consequence, a number of innocent labourers including women and children died. These labourers are migrants of different places. The government immediately announced cash relief to the aggrieved families and arrested the builder.

Give reasons for such incidents taking place across the country. Suggest measures to prevent their occurrence. (250 words/20 marks)

Ans. The accident involves three issues. First, the construction leading to the accident is illegal. Secondly, it points to need for adopting strict safety measures in multi-storey building construction. Thirdly, women and children were part of the labour working on the site. Employing Children as labour is illegal. It also doubtful whether women workers can be employed in such risky construction work.

The main reasons for accidents at construction sites could be the following:

• Illegal nature of the construction because of which the building plans are not scrutinized by competent authoritiesfromsafetyangle

• Lack of vetting by architects for incorporating necessary safety features

• Use of shoddy building materials

• Improper construction designs

• Failure of builders to ensure that workers follow safety drills during construction

• Failure to supply safety gear to workers and enforce their use during construction

• Employment of untrained and inexperienced women and child labour

• Absence of qualified engineers with contractors

• Absence of qualified supervisors and engineers at work sites

The remedial measures consist largely of preventing the reasons (outlined previously) leading to accidents. In particular, the municipal authorities could adopt the following steps:

• Introducing a system of registering contractors to verify their technical competence

• Ensuringthat contractors employ or use services of engineers and architects

• Strict enforcement of prohibition on employing children

• Keeping women away from harm’s way at construction sites

• Strictly monitoring on-going building activities to prevent unauthorized construction

• Demolishing unauthorized and/or dangerous structures

• Creating public awareness in order to ensure that people buy only authorised buildings/flats (267 words)

14. You are a Public Information Offtcer (PIO) in a government department. You are aware that the RTI Act 2005 envisages transparency and accountability in administration. The act has functioned as a check on the supposedly arbitrarily administrative behaviour and actions. However, as a PIO you have observed that there are citizens who ftled RTI applications not for themselves but on behalf of such stakeholders who purportedly want to have access to information to further their own interests. At the same time there are these RTI activists who routinely ftle RTI applications and attempt to extort money from the decisionmakers. This type of RTI activism has affected the functioning of the administrationadversely and also possibly jeopardises the genuineness of the applications which are essentially aimed at getting justice.

What measures would you suggest to separate genuine and non-genuine applications? Give merits and demerits of your suggestions.

(250 words/20 marks)

Ans. Following suggestions can help in separating genuine and spurious RTI applications.

The applicant seeking information should disclose his personal interest in it. Most applications will then be about personal grievance or injustice. This will rule out omnibus applications for information. Activists will oppose this in principle; it may prevent genuine researchers from obtaining unpublished information; and it may frustrate public spirited individuals or bodies wishing to expose government’s wrong doing. But they may be asked to indicate how that information will serve public interest.

If a PIO believes that an application is for any ulterior purpose or to settle personal scores, he should have power to reject it after recording reasons. PIOs can err or misuse the provision, but his action can be corrected in appeal.

Departments may with minister’s approval prepare lists of meddlesome and cantankerous individuals who flood government offices with frivolous applications. This list should include individuals who act as ‘fronts’ to various interests. It may seem like silencing activists, but high level decisions are likely to be bonafide.

Service matters of government, local body, and PSU employees should be excluded from RTI Act. They can approach their grievance redressal authorities. Government servants should not have information seeking rights under RTI Act. This may create right to equality issues. But RTI is meant for common suffering citizens and not for government employees.

Applicants should indicate whether they have approached concerned agencies about their problems. If competent authorities have disposed of the matter, applicant should seeklegal remedies.

RTI interpretations should not extend its scope beyond current law.

Above suggestions require change in RTI Act. (267 words)