Banks are in the business of giving loans and accepting deposits.

They are
under obligation to return the money of their depositor with the promised
interest. The same money is loaned by banks to the people with higher rate of
interest so that they can repay the deposits and also make some profit in the
process. If people refuse to pay loan, banks can’t pay back to their depositors.
Hence, bank officers are justified in going ahead with the recovery proceedings
against the defaulters.
However, bank officers must follow all due procedures before holding
property. They can’t be charged for murder if they had been doing their duty
according to the law and following the procedures. They can be faulted only if
they have violated the rules and procedures. However, such violations would not
amount to murder.
Case 9: Road Accident of a School Bus
ABC is a famous private school in a city. The children from the most affluent
families study there. The school engages the services of several private bus
operators based on the most competitive bidding to transport the children from
home and school.
One day when one of the buses was going to drop the children after the
school got over; it met with a serious accident. Fourteen children died on the
spot. The driver ran from the spot. The investigations revealed that the driver
was drunk and over-speeding.
This soon became a national news and the parents started demanding
action against the school principal as he was responsible for the appointment of
the bus operators and neglecting the safety precautions. The police arrested the
principal and started a pan India search to nab the driver.
1. Why do such accidents happen regularly in India? Analyse the reasons.
2. Was the police justified in arresting the principal?
3. If you have to frame the policy to avoid such type of road accidents, what
would you suggest to the government?
Discussion
1. It is the responsibility of the school to provide safe transportation facilities to its
students. Schools often try to reduce their costs by hiring vehicles at the
cheapest rates rather than employing their own buses. They often award bid
to a transporter who charges least, ignoring the safety norms like police
verification of the driver, the condition of the vehicle, etc. Drivers are often
inexperienced and they drive recklessly after drinking. The schools and
transporters ignore such deviations as they are considered common. Such
negligence often leads to such fatal accidents.
2. When such road accidents involving young children happen, it becomes
national news and there is usually a clamouring to fix the responsibility to a
high functionary of the school. This puts pressure on the police to arrest the
 principle or someone from the top management of the school to cool the
sentiments of the parents and satisfy the media. However, police must act on
the basis of facts and evidence rather than emotions. If all norms had been
followed by the principal, he must not be arrested. However, if there are
deliberate violation of norms, arrest could be made depending on the
amplitude of negligence. Arrest under public or media pressure is not
justifiable.
3. In order to reduce the occurrences of such type of accidents, systemic
changes are required to be carried out. Instead of getting active after such
accidents, preventive measures must be taken to save the life of future
victims. The following suggestions can be made to the government to avoid
such accidents in future.
(i) Safety norms for buses and police verification of drivers must be notified by
law, and they should be strictly monitored.
(ii) Regular surprise inspections by designated government officials to ensure
observance of all norms.
(iii)Strict punishment to school authorities and transporters, including the
cancellation of affiliation to school for violating the prescribed norms.
(iv)High amount of compensation must be fixed by the government for
fatalities and serious injuries in road accidents, which should be recovered
from the school authorities and the transporters for the death of the
students.
Case 10: Arrest of a Senior Government Officer
Ankit is the only son of a senior government officer. His father is posted in the
city in a very important department and he is frequently invited to various
functions as a chief guest; and his photographs are published frequently in the
local newspapers. Ankit is very proud of his father. His friends also feel proud of
him, of being a friend to the son of such an influential personality.
One day, a CBI raid is conducted at his house and the office of his father.
The CBI finds details of huge property and arrests his father. The front page of
the next day newspaper carries the story of the arrest of his father.
When Ankit goes to school the next day, everyone mocks him. Most of his
friends are chatting about his father’s arrest. Some of them laugh when he
passes them by. No one wants to talk to him now, and he is boycotted by his
friends.
Ankit gets depressed. Next day, he commits suicide.
Analyse the issues involved in this case.
1. How should have Ankit behaved in this situation?
2. If you would have been a friend of Ankit, what would you have advised
him?
Discussion
Corruption is one of the greatest menaces in India. Many government officers
are engaged in corruption and they make huge amounts of illegal money
through it. It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Corruption is often in proportion to the power a government officer holds. While
the family members enjoy the legal and illegal perks and privileges of the
government officers, they don’t want to pay the price for such illegal privileges. It
is very unfortunate for any child to bear the ignominy due to the illegal action of
his parents.
1. Ankit should have anticipated the reaction of his friends which was bound
to follow in such a case. However, these reactions are only temporary as
people forget about such incidents and life becomes normal again. He
should have ignored the reaction of his fellow students.
2. You may advise Ankit that in law, every person is treated as innocent till he
is proven guilty. It is the job of the courts to decide if someone is guilty of
an offence or not. It is a fact that a majority of the corruption cases fail to
stand in the scrutiny of law, and fail in the court. Hence, his father had very
high chance of getting acquitted by the court. Moreover, it is also true that
the CBI often acts on the direction of the politicians and fixes innocent
people. Hence, it was quite possible that his father was honest but got
framed by the CBI. Hence, in this difficult moment for his family, he must
keep courage and stand with his parents.
Case 11: Humiliation of a Young IPS Officer
Ramya is a young IPS officer who has been recently posted in a district as the
Superintendent of Police (SP). She is a very honest and sincere officer who is
working very hard to control the crime in her district.
One day, a child of an influential businessman was kidnapped while coming
back from his school. The issue becomes national news, and all businessmen
decide to go on a strike for a day and plan massive demonstration before the
office of the SP. The home minister decided to visit the district, and a meeting of
all the senior officers was called in the office of the SP.
During the meeting, there was slogan shouting by the angry businessmen
who demanded immediate suspension of the SP and arrest of the officer in-
charge of the police station. The minister got very angry with the SP and asked
her to explain the failure of the police department. She tried to explain the steps
taken by the police to locate the boy and identify the kidnapper, but neither the
businessmen nor the minister are satisfied. The minister shouted at her in front
of everyone.
Ramya felt insulted before her officers, public and the media, and asked the
minister to talk properly. The minister lost his temper and asked her to get out of
the room. She told him firmly that it was her office and she was not going
anywhere.
 The minister immediately left her office and threatened her of dire
consequences. The next day she was suspended and an enquiry was ordered
on her for not performing her duties rightly, and also for insubordination.
1. What mistakes were committed by Ramya?
2. How could she have handled the situation better?
3. Who was at fault in this case?
Discussion
It is a traumatic experience for any family when their child is kidnapped. In such
a situation, people become emotional and irrational. They want their child back
at any cost. The other citizens often get emotionally charged since they all fear
that such incidents may happen to them too. In such a situation, the district
administration must show empathy and share the pain of the family.
1. Ramya should have personally met the family members and briefed them
of the steps taken by the police to find the child. She should also have
taken their help in identifying the criminals, and given her personal phone
number to inform her of any clue in this regard. Had the family been
satisfied with the police investigation, the matter would not have
precipitated to such an extent. She should also have been better prepared
to explain to the minister and the public about the actions taken by the
police.
2. Minister is a public representative of the people and occupies top position
in the government. They are also accountable to people. When such
incidences happen, ministers want to show that they are with the people
and are trying their best to help them. She should have accepted the
criticism of the minister in public and apologised for the failure of the police
beforehand. This would have softened the parents and the minister. She
should have also taken some action against the police officers who had
failed in their duties. She should not have allowed the situation to come to
this level.
3. Both Ramya and the minister were at fault. The minister should have
behaved in a more gentlemanly manner, particularly with a lady officer.
However, she should have also acknowledged the position of the minister
and given him due respect. She should have accepted the failure of
policing under her charge and criticism rather than arguing with the
minister before the public and the media.
Case 12: Corruption Case Against Husband
Anurag and Pooja are the officers of Indian Revenue Service of the same batch.
They got married during their probation and they have a good family life. They
share each and every detail of their professional and personal life with each
other, and they have full confidence in each other. They had been posted to
different assignments in their career. Both of them are honest officers and they
have good reputation in the department.
Pooja was recently posted as the Additional Director General (Vigilance) in
the city while Anurag is posted as the Commissioner in the Customs House. The
Customs House is infamous for corruption, and anti-corruption agencies like the
CBI keeps making cases of corruption on the officers posted there.
One day Pooja receives an anonymous complaint against her husband
Anurag. According to the complaint, he has taken a large bribe from a particular
importer. She was extremely upset that day and at night, she told Anurag about
the complaint. Anurag denied the charges and told her that the complaint is
bogus, and is made to put pressure on him and also to defame her.
What should Pooja do?
1. She must throw away the anonymous complaint in the dustbin and take no
action.
2. She must depute a junior officer to investigate the matter and submit a
report to her. After receiving the report, she can take appropriate action.
3. Refer the case to the Director General of the Vigilance department and ask
him to depute another officer to investigate the matter.
4. She must refer the case to the CBI for investigation.
Discussion
This is a case of conflict of interest since the role of the Vigilance is to
investigate cases of corruption against the officers of the department; and in this
case, the accused officer happens to be her husband. She must take actions in
such a way that there is no conflict of interest.
1. According to the guidelines issued by Central Vigilance Commission
(CVC), no action is normally required to be taken on an anonymous
complaint unless there are verifiable facts in it. However, the vigilance
officer has to use his mind and decide whether or not the complaint has
any verifiable facts. In a normal situation, she may be competent to take a
decision in such a matter. However, since in this case the complaint is
against her husband, it creates a conflict of interest; and hence, she must
recuse herself from taking a decision in this matter. Hence, she must not
take any decision on the complaint against her husband or reject the
complaint on her own. This is not the right option.
2. In a normal case, an enquiry is done by a junior officer who is deputed by
the ADG to find facts before any further course of action is decided in the
matter. However, in this case, her husband is involved and the junior
officer is under her influence; hence, in order to avoid the conflict of
interest, she must not ask her junior to investigate the case.
3. This is the right course of action. The DG of the Vigilance department can
depute some other ADG, or some other senior officer, to investigate the
 matter and then submit the report directly to him. She would not be a part
of the investigation process, and hence, there would be no conflict of
interest in this case.
4. A matter should be referred to the CBI only after prima facie case of
corruption is found by the vigilance officer. In this case, the investigation is
being conducted under the supervision of the DG, and hence, he must
take the call whether or not to refer the case to CBI after he receives the
investigation report. She must not refer the case to the CBI of her own
accord.
Case 13: Affair with a Subordinate
Mr Anuj Singhal is appointed as the Commissioner of Police (CP) in a city. He is
known for his toughness, no-nonsense attitude and efficiency. People know that
he is an upright officer and accepts no bribe or favour from anyone.
Amrita was posted as a Sub-Inspector (SI) in the Police Headquarter and
reporting to the CP. She is the protocol officer doing different types of work for
the commissioner. She is extremely attractive and well- mannered. Very soon,
she captures the attention of the CP, who gets attracted towards her. He
frequently calls her in his cabin and assigns different types of work to her. He
also takes her along when going on official visits. Everyone can see that he
enjoys Amrita’s company. She also likes the attention showered on her by the
CP.
Amrita displays her closeness with the CP to her colleagues. Soon, the
officers start requesting her to get the proposals approved by the CP on priority,
and even help them in transfer-postings. She communicates the messages to
the CP at the appropriate time and he usually accepts her requests.
This news is soon communicated to Anuj’s wife and she starts questioning
him about his proximity with Amrita. The closeness between Anuj and Amrita
also becomes a topic of discussion, affecting the public image of Anuj.
1. What mistakes were committed by Anuj in this case? Did he violate any
principle of morality?
2. What should Anuj do in this situation?
Discussion
When your public responsibilities start clashing with your private life, it is clearly
a case of conflict of interest. Public officials at senior levels must display the
highest level of honesty and integrity, and should not do anything that is
unbecoming of a public servant. Civil servants must practise equality and
justice. They must not differentiate among people, including his own
subordinates, on the basis of caste, creed or gender.
1. A civil servant is also a human being and suffers from human weaknesses.
In this case, Anuj was attracted to his subordinate and started giving her
 preferential treatment. This gave her power over him and she started
misusing this power. She has no official role in matters like approval of
proposals or transfer-posting, and hence, she must not have been allowed
to play any role in such matters. Anuj must also realise that he is a public
official and all his actions are closely watched not only by his
subordinates, but also by the general public. His proximity to a female
officer is likely to spoil his relationship with his wife as well as his image in
public. By allowing Amrita special privileges, he has violated the moral
principles of civil servants like equality, justice and discipline.
2. The best course of action in this situation is to transfer Amrita outside the
Commissionerate Headquarter. She must not be allowed access of the
Commissioner and she must be directed to follow the hierarchy of the
officers to have any official communication with him. The CP must not
attend to her calls and should not meet her in private places. This would
send the message across and stop all sorts of rumour about their affair.
Case 14: Mother Abusing a Dalit
Rajesh is an upper caste young man from a rural background. He had studied in
the local government schools. However, he was an extremely sincere student
and always topped his school. After his graduation, he wrote Civil Services
Examination and got selected in Indian Police Service (IPS) in the first attempt
itself. After completion of the training, he comes to his village to spend time with
his family.
His family is extremely proud of his achievements, and so are the villagers
as Rajesh is the first person from the village to be selected as an IPS officer. A
large number of villagers come to his house to congratulate him.
Charandas is one of Rajesh’s childhood friends, who was extremely happy
to know that his friend Rajesh is coming to the village after completing his
training. He is a Dalit and considered untouchable in the village. In his village,
Dalits are not allowed to come inside the house of upper caste people. They are
not even allowed to sit before the upper caste people; they must always stand
before them. However, Charandas comes inside the house to congratulate
Rajesh.
All the people inside the house are upper caste people who get extremely
angry seeing a Dalit boy inside. They start leaving the house as they can’t
tolerate a Dalit person inside the house of an upper caste family. Rajesh’s
mother got extremely upset and scolded Charandas before Rajesh, and told him
that he has polluted the house. She insulted him and asked him to get out of the
house.
She has committed an offence under SC/ST Act 1989. Rajesh knows the
legal consequences of such an act, which may lead to her arrest and
prosecution.
1. What is the dilemma faced by Rajesh?
 2. What is the best way to resolve such a situation? Justify your answer.
Discussion
1. Rajesh is a responsible police officer and he can’t ignore the violation of law
taking place before him. If it would not have been his own mother, perhaps he
would himself have taken action against such a person under the SC/ST Act.
However, in this case, his own mother has committed the offence but it is also
his duty to protect his mother as a son. He has to choose between the
principle of honesty and principle of non-maleficence, i.e. not causing harm to
his mother.
2. Rajesh must ask his mother to keep quiet and not use derogatory words
against his friend. She must be asked to apologise to his friend for using such
words and humiliating him in public. If she would have refused, he must
immediately apologise to his friend on her behalf. He must tell his friend that
he does not differentiate people on the basis of caste and he would always
be his best friend. He may request him to not file a case against her mother
and forgive her as she was ignorant of the law, and also of the modern social
values. Charandas is a local resident of the village, so he knows the customs
of the village. Hence, he would understand the outburst of his mother and
perhaps forgive her for being an elderly lady who is captive of her regressive
mindset. However, if Charandas chooses to file a case against his mother, he
must depose as witness and ensure that law takes its course of action
against his mother.
Case 15: Suicide of a Family
Rajesh Gupta came from a family of businessmen. His father had a small kirana
store in Hisar district and his other brothers were groomed to join the family
business. Rajesh, however, had no interest in business. He was very good in
studies and he joined the Central Government as a gazette officer. He got
married to Sushila and had two children, Jay and Jaya. Rajesh was a very hard-
working officer; he got fast promotions and become the Director General of an
important government department. He lived in a government apartment with his
family and maintained a simple lifestyle. He enjoyed good reputation in the
society, and in the department.
One day, Gupta was arrested by the CBI when he was allegedly taking bribe
of Rs 10 lakh in a hotel from a businessman. In the follow-up action, raids were
conducted at his house and office, from where almost a dozen bank account
and locker details were discovered. The search conducted at these places lead
to the recovery of Rs 1 crore cash and gold worth Rs 2 crore.
The news spread like wildfire and a news-item with his photo was published
on the front page of national newspapers the next day. His reputation was
destroyed and his family was devastated. After a couple of days, both his
children committed suicide as they could not suffer the social stigma.
 Mr Gupta had to suffer torture in the CBI custody during interrogation. He
was released on bail after spending over a month in jail. He was extremely
depressed. After around ten days, he and his wife also committed suicide and
left a note in which he made the CBI responsible for the suicide, and alleged
that the CBI had falsely implicated him and tortured him in custody.
1. Who is responsible for the suicide of the Gupta family?
2. Do you think that the CBI should have been more tactful in this case?
Justify.
Discussion
Many middle-class and honest people succumb to corruption after joining a
government department. It is not easy to resist the temptation of large sums of
money. However, government officers are also concerned about their reputation
since once their reputation is soiled, it can never be restored. Hence, some
people try to have a good reputation and also want to make illegal money
secretly.
1. Rajesh focused only on building his reputation by living a simple lifestyle,
but did not care about maintaining a character to sustain his reputation.
John Wooden, an American basketball player, has rightly said, ‘Be more
concerned with your character than your reputation, because your
character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what
others think you are.’ The very fact that he was caught red-handed taking
a bribe of Rs 10 lakh followed by recovery of Rs 1 crore cash and gold
worth Rs 2 crore shows that he was in the habit of taking bribe, and that
this was not an isolated incident. He was able to escape the hands of law
for a long time, but now his karma had caught up with him and he was
punished. He had to face punishment under the law. If he was not corrupt,
there was no need for the CBI to arrest him. Hence, in this case only Mr
Gupta must be held responsible for his and his family’s suicide.
2. It is common for the CBI to use force during interrogation to get confession
or evidence. Though use of force is illegal in India, it is quite prevalent. It is
also a fact that even if no torture is done, the accused usually alleges
torture in police investigation and retracts the statement given by them
during police custody. Only an independent investigation can reveal the
truth of this matter. Hence, judicial enquiry may be done for the charges
made by Mr Gupta. However, prima facie it appears that the CBI was
doing its job and had successfully recovered a huge amount of illegal
money from Mr Gupta, which caused mental torture and loss of reputation
to the Gupta family—which led to their suicide. The CBI can’t be held
responsible for his suicide unless the medical report confirms any injury on
his body during custody.
Case 16: Gift for Sister’s Marriage
Amit comes from a humble background. His father was a teacher and mother a
housewife. He has always been a brilliant student who did his engineering from
IIT. He appeared for the Civil Services Examination and was selected for the
Indian Revenue Service.
Amit was posted to Mumbai for an important charge where he worked with
many top businessmen. Amit has always been an upright officer and he has not
fallen to the corrupt ways of his department. He, however, was always
concerned about the marriage of his younger sister who is now 26 years old. His
father hardly has any money left for the marriage because he had spent most of
his savings on Amit’s education and coaching.
After a lot of hard work, Amit has been able to find a good match for his
sister and fixed her marriage, which was to take place in a few months. He had
also managed to secure a bank loan and borrow some money from his relatives
to cover the wedding expenses.
During Diwali, it is customary in India for assesses (taxpayers) to send gifts
to the government officers. These assessees would come to Amit’s house or
office and offer him Diwali greetings with a box of sweets or some other
inexpensive gift. However, one assessee named Rajesh gifted him a box, which
contained an expensive jewellery set worth at least Rs 2 lakh. Amit knew that
there was a major case of tax evasion against Rajesh.
What should Amit do?
1. He should keep the gift and carry on with the case against Rajesh in the
normal manner.
2. He should keep the gift and help Rajesh.
3. He should call Rajesh and return the gift to him.
4. He should call the CBI and get Rajesh arrested.
Discussion
The Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964 prohibits Group A officers of
the government to accept any gift of more than Rs 1,500 on any occasion from a
person with whom they have official dealings. If the value of the gift exceeds this
amount, he has to take permission from the government. Amit is a Group A
officer of the central government and he can’t accept a gift valued at Rs 2 lakh
without government permission. In such cases, he can’t expect the government
to permit him to keep such an expensive gift.
1. If Amit accepts the gift, the assessee would expect some favour from him.
If Amit continues the investigation without bias, the assessee is likely to
talk publically about the gift and spoil the reputation of the officer.
Moreover, keeping such an expensive gift would be a violation of the
conduct rules and may invite disciplinary action against him. This is thus
not the right option.
 2. If Amit accepts the gift and manipulates the case, he commits corruption.
Hence, this option is also not the right option.
3. Amit must call Rajesh and tell him about the conduct rules and politely
return the gift to him. This is the right option according to the conduct
rules.
4. A gift is not the same thing as a bribe. Rajesh has not demanded dilution of
the case in lieu of the gift, nor has Amit demanded any bribe. Rajesh can’t
be blamed for not knowing or following the conduct rules because giving a
gift on occasions like Diwali is not corruption. It is even permitted if the
amount is within the specified Rs1,500 limit or if the department has
permitted a gift of higher value. There is no point calling the CBI in this
case because no corruption case can be made against Rajesh for giving a
gift. However, if Rajesh refuses to take back the gift, then the CBI may be
informed.
Case 17: Polluting Coal Company
Anita is an engineer who comes from a middle-class family. Her father is a driver
in a company with a meagre salary. However, her family always encouraged her
to study. She joined a good engineering college based on her merit and
graduated at the top of her class. Finally, she got a good offer from a private
coal power plant on a good salary. She now plans to support her father and pay
all his loans.
However, soon after joining, she comes to know that the ethical standards of
the coal company are very poor. The sole aim of the top management of the
company is to maximize its profit. One of the ways the company is reducing its
cost is by shutting off its Electrostatic Smoke Precipitators (ESPs), a device
which is used to separate coal ash from the smoke that exits the chimney, for
several hours in a day. ESPs consume a lot of power and the company saves a
considerable amount of money by switching them off. However, switching off
ESPs is leading to extremely high levels of pollution in the area and is causing
respiratory problems to the people in the neighbouring villages.
Anita discussed the matter with her colleagues and was advised to keep her
mouth shut because the orders had come down from the top management. If
Anita made an issue about the ESPs, her colleague warned, she would most
likely be sacked from the company. The colleague also gave some names of
employees who had been sacked in the past because of the same issue.
1. Should Anita keep quite or raise the issue with the top management?
2. What are the different options available to Anita? Discuss and justify each
option.
Discussion
It is the duty of each citizen of the country to follow the law and work for the
welfare of citizens. If Anita has come to know that the company is not following