My Letter to H.E.the Governor of Karnataka dated 21/5/07

J.N.Jayashree, 21 May 2007
#96, ##################, Bangalore 560 019
Ph.No. 26671675 Email : moc.oohay|26eerhsayajnj#moc.oohay|26eerhsayajnj

Respected Your Excellency,

I am Jayashree J.N. wife of Sri M.N.Vijayakumar, IAS. My husband has been harassed for reporting corrupt practices of his senior officers to the Chief Secretary. In spite of frequent transfers my husband made it clear to the Chief Secretary that he would not become corrupt or close his eyes just for getting a posting suitable to his grade. He made it clear to the Chief Secretary that he would not approach any outside authorities for the time being. This he did to know to what extent the DPAR would stoop to protect the corrupt. In view of threat to his life I decided to take up the issues he raised independently using the RTI Act instead of fighting for justice after losing him… In fact a retired Chief Secretary who is now a statutory authority advised (!) me not to take fights which we can not end and he also told me that the persons against whom we are fighting would decimate us. But I made it clear that I would request all like minded people to fight against them and that I know the consequences of what I am doing. I have started a website http://fightcorruption.wikidot.com (please see comments in the Guestbook) Your Excellency gave my husband an opportunity to explain his problems. I have used RTI act to get information from Chief Secretary on various serious issues. But the information obtained is very shocking. I am giving below the only possible conclusions that can be drawn from the information I obtained.

There is well planned demolition of systems to shield the corrupt and punish the honest for the following reasons. The systems which were created to fight corruption after Your Excellency became the Governor have now been made non-functional

A. This is evident from the suppression of fact that nothing exists about a high level committee on anti-corruption. This information was given under the instructions issued by the Chief Secretary and also that no information exists because it is a routine function of the Chief Secretary. I established before the Information Commission that Chief Secretary is lying. The Commission has now directed the PIO to show all connected files to me which the Chief Secretary had earlier stated that no information exists! The non-functioning of this Committee can be shown to be linked to Karnataka getting ranked as the fourth most corrupt State in the country. Unfortunately India itself is ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world implying that Karnataka is one of the most corrupt places in the world!!

B. Govt of India in its letter addressed to all Chief Secretaries by name had clearly directed in its July 2004 letter to set up standing committees to hear problems faced by officers who are harassed for taking principled stands. My husband had repeatedly asked the Chief Secretary to refer his case to such a committee (and constitute the Committee if not already done and also to initiate action against all those who failed to constitute the committee). So far Chief secretary's office, DPAR (Services) and DPAR (training) are tossing my application among themselves without giving me information. Now the Commission has ordered to provide me access to all files. If this Committee had been constituted not only my husband but any other government servant would not have to face harassment for speaking up truth. By not constituting the Committee the Chief Secretary has sent a clear message that he is there to shield the corrupt and harass the honest. The Commission has asked me to provide letters written by my husband in this connection. I will be putting all his letters on the internet so that not only the PIO but any other person can access it.

C. As far as transfer policy is concerned I was given you enough note sheets which establishes the existence of a transfer policy. This as is clear from Sri B.S. Patil notings and also that of Mrs. Theresa Bhattacharya’s noting. If there is no policy as claimed in the reply given to my RTI application then some person must have ordered in writing to scrap the policy which was meant for improving governance

D. finally what is worse is the fact that the Chief Secretary has acted against H.E. the Governor's direction to attack corruption at its roots, to have zero tolerance policy towards corruption, not to shield the corrupt and encourage the honest. Chief Secretary ignoring this is highly deplorable because of the fact that all Government orders are signed in the name of the Governor. But here I have established by obtaining info under RTI that as per Chief Secretary's direction no info exists on this also. Taking action on the joint address of the H.E. the Governor is a statutory function of the Chief Secretary and the Chief Secretary has totally abdicated his responsibility by providing false information

Any fight against corruption can not succeed if it does not address the Systems issues. I am shocked that info sought by me under RTI has brought to light the deliberate dismantling of systems by none other than the Chief Secretary himself. This is more shocking because Chief Secretary has taken oath to protect Constitution and not only he himself should work with absolute integrity but also enable all those working under him to work with absolute integrity

If an opportunity is given by Your Excellency, I would be too interested to explain in person to show the information I received from the Government to establish the above points. I also request Your Excellency to direct the Chief Secretary to make taking action against corruption a priority issue and also to activate Committees meant to tackle corruption immediately. Chief Secretary should also be told to work transparently and not to suppress facts, as these are all against public interest and helps only the corrupt.

With Respects,
Respectfully Yours
Sd/-
(J.N.Jayashree)

To
His Excellency Sri T.N.Chaturvedi,
Governor of Karnataka,
Raj Bhavan, Bangalore

Copy to
Hon’ble Justice Sri Santosh Hegde, Lokayukta, Bangalore

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