Hang corrupt, but protect the honest: IAS officers' body

Hang the corrupt but honest civil servants should not be harassed by probe agencies in service or after retirement, an association representing over 4,900 IAS officers said today and decided to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss providing protection to well-meaning officers with integrity.

"An honest civil servant should not be harassed by anybody or agency or institution while in service or after retirement. It would make the civil servants working in the system nervous and edgy, which would not be in the interest of the country," said Sanjay Bhoosreddy, Honorary Secretary of central IAS officers association.

A demoralised and demotivated civil service will be highly detrimental to the country, he said.

If the nation desires good governance, then it is imperative to ensure that honest officers are fully protected and not unnecessarily harassed, Bhoosreddy said.

"There is a need to protect honest civil servants from any kind of harassment for taking decision in good faith and in public interest. It is pertinent to emphasise that an error in judgement should not be treated as criminal misconduct as it would highly demoralise the civil servants.

"Error in judgement has to be looked at differently. We urge all the authorities that if a civil servant is found corrupt then please deal with it harshly and hang him to the nearest lamp post or jail him for life," he told PTI.

Bhoosreddy, a Joint Secretary rank officer in the Government of India, said the association has decided to meet the Prime Minister to discuss the larger issue of governance, of achieving higher developmental goals, and protection to honest and well meaning civil servants.

Replying to a question on former Coal Secretary H C Gupta, an accused in the coal block allocations scam, he said "As far as H C Gupta is concerned, he is known in the entire civil service as an upright, sincere, honest officer and enjoys a very good reputation."

There are 4,926 officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) working across the country.