Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
headline on the article was 'The Power to Say Yes', but it should surely have been called
'The Power to Say No'. I asked him to explain how it works - the blog was written in re-
lation to the defence ministry, where Pande once worked, but he says it 'applies to most
situations where government has to approve a proposal, make a purchase, grant a licence,
give an environmental clearance, whatever'. His explanation below is based on a hypo-
thetical internal matter within the bureaucracy, but it would equally apply to a company or
individual trying to obtain approval for something. The power of junior officials to block
the wishes of his superiors should never be under-estimated, as his example shows:
'Let us say, I want approval to take up a post retirement job with a private firm. Under
the Rules, such permission can be given only if I can satisfactorily show that in my offi-
cial career I did not have any dealings with the company. Most approvals are given on a
“case by case basis”. My application or proposal made out to the Secretary Personnel will
go from him to the Section concerned and to the lowest functionary - the “dealing hand” -
generally called the “assistant”. The assistant has no power to give this permission, but he
is the first level in the hierarchy who “examines” the case and 'puts up' on file to the next
higher level of the section officer. In his examination of my career profile, he may discover
that the firm I intend to take up a job with has at some stage handled the food business,
with which I too was concerned at one stage of my life and therefore there could have been
a connection. He can, therefore, reject my application or object that I have not made a full
disclosure. No one can question his authority to say “no” because it is his job to do due
diligence on my application, and he is only doing his job in raising a very valid objection.
'I will now need to gratify him to have the file sent to the next level. That person can find
yet another flaw in my application and this process can go on and on until I have satisfied
each level and have had my file reach the secretary personnel or the minister or the PM as
the case may be. Even if I reach that level, I may well be told that as there have been so
many objections raised on my file, it will be inappropriate to overrule the objections raised
through the passage of the file. So either I pay a sum large enough (having already paid
all the levels of hierarchy to bring it this far) for that person to overrule his subordinates,
or he gets them to change the file and put up a fresh case which is now clean and free of
all objections so that subsequent scrutiny does not show any deliberate mishandling of the
case. This price may be too much for me, so I have the option of either spending through
my nose to get the approval or I give up.'
A friend told me about how his housekeeper had applied for a pension from a bank where
her late husband had worked and was told to obtain a certificate from a tehshildar (local
tax official) with details of her dependent children. 'Someone at the bank introduced her to
a tout who first wanted Rs 3,500, then Rs 7,000, which she eventually paid, declining my
offer of help because she did not want justice, only the piece of paper,' says Surendra Rao,
