SC wants corrupt bureaucrats, lawmakers out of office
They affect morality of their colleagues, the apex court has said…………Rakesh Bhatnagar. New Delhi
They affect morality of their colleagues, the apex court has said…………Rakesh Bhatnagar. New Delhi
Seized with certain crucial petitions alleging corruption in a section of the top judiciary and the executive such as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, the supreme court (SC) has warned that if tainted bureaucrats and lawmakers are allowed to rule, they could “paralyse’ the functioning of democratic systems.
The court said a public servant, including a lawmaker convicted in a corruption case, must not be allowed to hold office until he or she is exonerated from the topmost court.
Expressing concern at the rampant corruption in different spheres of society, it said, “Corruption by public servants has now reached monstrous proportions in India. Its tentacles have started spreading even to institutions created for the protection of the republic.”
Allowing the Punjab government’s appeal against the high court’s order suspending the conviction of a revenue official under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the apex court said, “When a public servant convicted of corruption is allowed to continue in office, it impairs the morale of the other employees in that office, and consequently erodes the already shrunk public confidence in such institutions.”
“If honest public servants are compelled to take orders from proclaimed corrupt officers on account of suspension of their conviction, it would shake the system itself,” a bench of justices Arijit Pasayat and HS Bedi ruled on Monday.
The court also underlined the need for strong measures by the legislature, judiciary and executive to “intercept and impede” the tentacles of corruption which are “gripping the normal and orderly functioning of public offices” and posing a threat to “democratic polity”.
Saying that corrupt men don’t deserve judicial leniency, the judges ruled that “when a public servant is found guilty of corruption after a judicial process, judiciousness demands that he or she should be treated as corrupt until exonerated by a superior court”.
His job can’t be restored merely because his appeal has been admitted by a court.