Recently I wrote about the harm that would cause to civil service officers whose work leads to the displeasure of Congress leaders and their allies. My reference pertained to Mr. Balakrishnan, the Collector of Kannur District in Kerala who has been removed by the Election Commissioner for issuing a non-bailable warrant against K. Sudhakaran, the Congress MP representing Kannur. Balakrishnan just did his job to the best of his ability as independently and impartially as he could. As a Collector, he has the required qualification and locus standi to function according to his administrative competence. Civil Service officers from central cadre don’t come out unbaked like politicians. Neither are they incompetent or men who lack integrity. One would be surprised to find one or two corrupt civil service officers in each batch. The only problem is that their independent functioning is severely hampered by the politicians in India who are neither competent nor have any integrity at all. However, this is the beginning of the end of a brilliant career for Collector Balakrishnan. If he had toed the line of the Congress Party and its allies, refused to act independently and kissed the rear end of despots like Sudhakaran and Kunhali Kutty, he would have had a trouble free career. To work independently and to follow the law where Congress Party and its allies are involved means acting illegally. If whatever had happened had resulted in favor of the Congress Party, the Election Commission would have refused to act on the complaint of the opposition. Now the Congress candidate, Congress Party officials and the UPA would be very happy that they have an “impartial” vote bank sponsored and supported Collector to oversea the election. This is like putting the watch dog under leach far away and bringing a fox to patrol the open chicken coup.
Now Balakrishnan has been identified as a black sheep in the Indian Administrative Service and he will be slaughtered by the devoted public servants who serve during the pleasure of the President, who serves during the pleasure of the ”Congress High Command.” Let us watch his career.