 "AP IAS body seeks safeguards for serving, retired officers")
The Andhra Pradesh Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Association has urged the Government of India to make appropriate statutory amendments to the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and the Criminal Procedure Code requiring prior sanction to try either a retired or a serving officer.
The association, which met here Monday evening in the light of the FIR filed against former coal secretary PC Parakh, who belonged to the Andhra cadre, made these and other recommendations while expressing its anguish “on account of the manner in which he has been implicated in a criminal case leaving aside the concerned political executive(s).”
The meeting resolved to appeal to the President of India to intervene and ensure an appropriate environment and to provide adequate safeguards for serving and retired civil servants.
It suggested amendments to Section 19 of the PC Act to extend the requirement of prior sanction in respect of retired officers for any cognisance to be taken by a court and also sought amendments to Section 197 of the Cr.PC "in view of recent tendency" by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to bypass the prior sanction requirement.
It also sought appropriate provisions in the proposed civil services performance standard and accountability bill to protect legitimate decisions taken by civil servants. More than half a dozen AP cadre IAS officers have been chargesheeted by the CBI in the three-high profile cases including the quid pro quo investments case against Kadapa MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is the son of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.
The association, which met here Monday evening in the light of the FIR filed against former coal secretary PC Parakh, who belonged to the Andhra cadre, made these and other recommendations while expressing its anguish “on account of the manner in which he has been implicated in a criminal case leaving aside the concerned political executive(s).”
The meeting resolved to appeal to the President of India to intervene and ensure an appropriate environment and to provide adequate safeguards for serving and retired civil servants.
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“Targeting senior civil servants under the lens of criminal intent strikes at the root of good governance especially when officers with an impeccable track record are implicated in criminal cases excluding the counterpart political executive. This will only lead to serious policy and decision making paralysis at all levels in the government,” the association said in one of the resolutions passed at the meeting.
It suggested amendments to Section 19 of the PC Act to extend the requirement of prior sanction in respect of retired officers for any cognisance to be taken by a court and also sought amendments to Section 197 of the Cr.PC "in view of recent tendency" by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to bypass the prior sanction requirement.
It also sought appropriate provisions in the proposed civil services performance standard and accountability bill to protect legitimate decisions taken by civil servants. More than half a dozen AP cadre IAS officers have been chargesheeted by the CBI in the three-high profile cases including the quid pro quo investments case against Kadapa MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is the son of former chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.