NK SINGH
Two additional commissioners of Bhopal
Municipal Corporation were all over social media last week after they were unceremoniously
packed off to their parent departments. An enquiry committee had found them allegedly
guilty of issuing completion certificates to incomplete buildings last year.
The certificates helped builders avoid coming
under the purview of MP Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA). The brazen
effort to help builders made RERA chief Anthony de Sa, a former chief secretary
of the state, livid and he had lodged a complaint at with the government.
The two shunted officers, aggrieved by the corporation’s
unilateral decision, gave vent to their anguish in social media. Both of them
belong to State Administrative Service and there was an outpouring of sympathy
for them from friends and fellow officers. Their main grievance was that they
were not heard before pronouncing the verdict.
Malika Nigam, among those who were packed
off, commented on Facebook: “No argument, no lawyer, no appeal....direct
decision. Are we still living in the age of Rowlatt Act? What is the difference
between us and the British?” Her former
colleague, VK Chaturvedi, wrote: “Left Bhopal Municipal Corporation today. Experienced
how cheap conspiracies can be hatched by people in high places.”
It is not the first time
that aggrieved officers have given vent to their anguish against government on
social media. They probably believe, mistakenly, that their FB or Twitter accounts
are their personal space.
Babus walking on eggshells
Beora Tehsildar Amita Singh Tomar complained to PMO in
a series of tweets last year that she was being penalised for honesty after she
was transferred to Churhat – her 25th transfer in 13 years.
Gwalior Tehsildar Bhumija Saxena poured out her
grievance against the “head of administration” in a Hindi poem that she posted
on her FB wall last July after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made his
famous remark about “hanging the collectors upside down”.
Earlier, in 2016 sub divisional officer (police) Rakesh
Vyas vented his frustration on social media following his transfer from
Petlawad for taking against rioters allegedly connected with RSS.
Criticising government decisions publicly is a
violation of service conduct rules that public servants can ignore at their own
peril. Many have learnt it the hard way. The administration often glosses over minor
transgression by IAS officers. Members of the elite fraternity, who believe in
the old world value to not being a snitch, cover for each other. Remember the
deafening silence when Arvind Joshi and Tinu Joshi were caught with their hands
in the tilt!
But when it comes to political issues or controversies,
the government can be intolerant. It transferred IAS officer Ajay Gangwar and
served a show cause notice on him in 2016 after he shared an article critical
of Narendra Modi’s make in India campaign. He had also praised Jawaharlal Nehru
for preventing India from becoming a “Hindu Taliban” nation. Having learnt his
lesson, now he rarely comments on any issue directly, confining himself to sharing
posts by others.
M Sibi Chakkravarthy, a popular officer, lost
collectorship of Narsinghpur after he congratulated J. Jayalalithaa for winning
election in Tamil Nadu in 2016.
Tricks of using social media
Some officers are adept at using social media as an
effective tool of communication. Foremost among them is culture secretary Manoj
Shrivastava, who uses it to both highlight his work and his ideological
moorings. He has mastered the art of commenting on sensitive subjects and yet
avoid violation of conduct rules by the simple ruse of not naming any names.
Shrivastava is a prolific writer, churning out books,
newspaper articles, FB posts, and poems, all at breakneck speed even while
fulfilling his onerous responsibilities as a civil servant. It helps that his
world view is in synchronisation with that of the present political regime.
In fact, one
can’t help but notice that officers who post political comments on social media
in favour of the government escape the dragnet of service conduct rules. Take
the case of Lokendra Jangid, IAS, who taunted Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia
in a WhatsApp group last year and also commented on Rahul Gandhi’s holidays
abroad. He was simply shifted to state secretariat as undersecretary.
The undisputed King of Social Media in MP Government is
its Public Relations Commissioner P. Narahari, who is followed by more than
2.36 lakh persons on Facebook. He uses it very effectively to showcase
government schemes besides his personal achievements. “The reason of his
success and fan following,” says social media expert Prakash Hindustani, “is
his positive attitude and ability to relate to social
issues.”
Right now, Narahari is in the process of engineering a
makeover to social media profiles of ministers, officers and government
departments after revamping his own departmental property in cyber world. He is
a guy who knows how to use social media as a tool. Probably it is time he should
start coaching officers Malika Nigam and VK Chaturvedi.
Powers That Be, my column in DB Post of 12 Feb 2018
nksexpress@gmail.com
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