Subodh Jha hails from an influential family of landlords. Tall and very handsome, he could well compete for a role in Bollywood. Being educated in Delhi in a top notch college he developed a preference for the civil services and got selected in the IRS and joined as an Income Tax Officer. During his college days he had been a cynosure of female eyes and had intimate relationship with a number of girls across the campuses in Delhi. He could not control his night life culture of visiting discotheque and night clubs withgirl friends and getting inebriated even after joining this important branch of civil service.
Nowadays he is invariably out every weekend and can never come punctually to office on Mondays. On Fridays he loses concentration. Incidentally, his weekend begins on Thursday. Monday mornings are important in his office because the Commissioner takes a review of results achieved in the last week and plans for the ensuing week. Being late in office every time, he tries to fabricate a story and explain delay. His overall performance being good he has not attracted adverse notice of the bosses yet, but his immediate subordinates know why he is late on Mondays and smile while he narratesstories.
What ethical problems do you see in his behaviour fromanofficial point of view? Envisage four alternatives and select the most appropriate one
1. Whatever Subodh is doing outsideoffice hours is part of hispersonal life, and has no bearing on his official conduct.
2. The matter may concern Subodh’s personal life, but it is likely to lower his official performance. It may be violative of official codes of conduct also.
3. It is for the income Tax Commissioner to discipline Subodh and ensure that he attends meetings on time.
4. The fact that Subodh is able to convincingly lie to explain delay so many times shows that he is smart.
The first alternative cannot be supported. Fundamentally, he has not been able to make a transition from the lifestyle of a somewhat spoilt young man to that of a responsible public servant. What was nobody else’s business when he was a student will soon become a matter of concern for his department and the sooner he realises this, the better for him. His lifestyle is indulgent and lacks
prudence and temperance. One may recall here Aristotle’s concept of golden mean and value of prudence. Even though Subodh can afford an extravagant life style because of inherited wealth, the habits he developed are fraught with problems. His delay in reaching office shows that his behaviour is affecting hisofficial discipline.
The second alternative is the appropriate one. His life style has begun to undermine his official discipline. He is also cultivating the horrible habit of telling lies. Instead of addressing the cause of unpunctuality he is fabricating stories. This cannot work for long. His weakness cannot remain hidden for ever and when known to office he will lose credibility - which is already happening. When the burden of falsehood becomes heavy the moral agent no longer remains trustworthy and his esteem in the eyes of others melts away. When that happens the individual becomes unfit for any leadership role such as civil servants are expected to assume. Civil servants are expected to behave decently in personal life and philandering is not an acceptable quality. It can expose them to risks of blackmail and scandals thereby endangering public interest. His behaviour is a form of moral turpitude and violates the codes of public servants.
It is true that the Income Tax Commissioner has to enforce discipline. But then, Subodh is a senior officer and has to punctiliously observe official discipline and protocols on his own instead of waiting to be coerced into disciplined behaviour.
The fourth response is very inappropriate. A morally bad act or behaviour even if carried out with confidence and style is to be condemned. Smartness has to be admired or accepted only when displayed in moral conduct and actions.