The mechanism for addressing conflict of interest needs a revamp to bring down corruption and increase governance efficiency.
What is the current policy?
India has an official policy regulated by the Ministry of Personnel.
Accordingly senior bureaucrats have to seek permission for commercial employment after their retirement.
This is to avoid conflict of interest and is naturally inked with the aim of preventing corruption.
This is being followed from the British era as a measure of ensuring bureaucratic efficiency, especially in the collection of taxes.
What are the concerns?
Some bureaucrats mix up the virtues of public service with that of private profit in retirement.
And naturally end up in exposing themselves to a potential conflict of interest.
Grants of permission within cooling-off period depend primarily on government discretion, with no codified mechanism.
If a senior bureaucrat served for decades in the government and wanted to move out towards a corporate role, he/she faces much disapproval without any reason.
What needs to be done?
A recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the DoPT called for early retirement if interested in post-retirement private service.
A private member’s bill, The Prevention and Management of Conflict of Interest Bill was introduced in 2012.
These recommendations and legislations need to be implemented in true spirit.
The legislation ought to cover all arms of governance, including the judiciary, the legislature and the executive.
Mandatory cooling period needs to be increased to five years, so that no undue influence can be exerted by the retired bureaucrat.
An open, public data platform enlisting all post-retirement appointments of civil servants would increase transparency.
India needs a legislation to make non-disclosure of a conflict of interest punishable.
The reasons for declining bureaucrat’s requests for joining such firms need to be laid out clearly, to limit political concerns.
