Indian
Express: Bengaluru: Tuesday, 05 May 2015.
Former IAS
officer M N Vijayakumar, who was compulsorily retired without full pension,
says there is no way the chief minister can claim he was unaware of the
pervasive corruption in government.
Vijayakumar
says he made repeated efforts to communicate with Siddaramaiah, and wrote four
letters explaining corrupt practices of many senior officers.
“I even tried
to meet him, but my efforts were blocked by the IAS mafia that feared I would
expose them,” the former principal secretary tells Express.
“Siddaramaiah
was aware of those issues. When the government has powers to correct the
wrongdoings of the previous government, why should it not set right the corrupt
practices by bureaucrats?” he asks.
The chief
minister had recently said he was not aware of the issues raised by
Vijayakumar.
Vijayakumar
believes it was his attempt to improve transparency that became a hurdle for
corrupt officers.
Information
obtained under RTI shows there was no complaint against this officer in 34
years of service. “Inquiry was ordered against me on six baseless charges. They
found me guilty on all charges. But copies of its reports were not served to me,”
he says.
“My pension
amount was deducted to keep me engaged in a legal battle, instead of fighting
corruption. I can draw only about Rs 53,000 as opposed to the Rs 80,000 that is
the actual pension benefit. I have been allowed to draw only two-thirds of the
amount,” he adds.
Vijayakumar
feels Karnataka has become a ‘heaven’ for bureaucrats making money after the
government weakened and a high-level anti-corruption committee was abolished in
2007. “Around 30 per cent officers are honest, but their life is made
miserable,” he says.
Vijayakumar’s
last posting was as Officer-on-Special Duty & Ex-Officio Principal
Secretary to Government, (Departmental Enquiry Manual) and the office was on
the 21st floor of the Visvesvaraya Tower.
The former
IAS officer suspects there could have been a conspiracy to eliminate him. “To
protect honest officers, we are creating a group comprising honest bureaucrats,
former top officials, judges and like-minded people. Some bureaucrats across
the country, DGPs and NGOs have already extended their support and willingness
to join the group,” he says.
Other Half
Speaks
“For the last
10 years, we haven’t had a domestic help as it is difficult to trust anyone,”
says J N Jayashree, wife of Vijayakumar. “We took all possible precautions,”
she says.
Jayashree
says her husband has been fighting corruption since 1981.
“He was
transferred to Kalaburagi from Dharwad within a month of the marriage, as he
always protested against corruption. Two attempts were made on his life while
he was in Belagavi,” she says.
“Our life was
not easy, but we have satisfaction, as we are working for the betterment of
society,” Jayashree says with pride. She believes members of officers’ families
too must have the same integrity as the officers.
Jayashree
feels that the spouses of several officers get caught in a false sense of ‘IAS
prestige’. Some IAS officers have spouses who eye money and a lavish life.
“They spoil the career of their spouses,” she says.
As an RTI
activist, Jayashree has been trying to expose corrupt practices and has
documented most of her work on her website:
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