The Rules and Regulations provided to all the civil servants are same, yet there is difference in the performance. Positive minded officers are able to interpret the Rules and Regulations in favour of the case and achieve success, whereas negative minded officers are unable to achieve goals by interpreting the same Rules and Regulations against the case. Discuss with illustrations. UPSC IAS Mains 2022 General Studies (Paper – 4)
The Rules and Regulations are made to achieve the common good and to ensure the uniformity in administration. However, despite the rules being same for all civil servants such as conduct rules 1961, they differ in performance.This difference is the outcome of the differing attitude of civil servants to approach a particular case as well as the idea of civil service as a whole.
Edmund Burke remarked that “The lines separating right from wrong or good from evil, are not like the fine lives of geometry”. They are broad, deep and permit exceptions. Hence, the officer on the spot alone is best equipped to decide how to achieve the object of the rules and regulations he/she is trying to implement.
The interpretation and implementation of rules & regulations hence depends on the moral conscience and discretion, enjoyed by an officer. Conscience is an intellectual judgement and more than a decision. Civil servants enjoy a wide array of discretionary powers. Administratively, use of discretion also assumes possession of higher wisdom as required by the circumstances.
Examples/ Illustrations:
- SC in recent times said it wants CEC of strong Character like The Late TN Sheshan. The wind of electoral reforms to sustain the democratic spirit which TN Sheshan brought in like introduction of MCC, Votes IDs etc was not done by his predecessors holding the same office (of same rules and regulations).
- In the recent past, Kavitha Ramu, IAS of TN cadre paved the way for Dalits to enter the village temple in Pudukkottai District. She initiated action against casteist culprits under “the SC, ST (Atrocities prevention) Act 1989” and arrested them. Inhumane casteist acts like adding human excreta into the water tank used by Dalits, were existent in that area’s for ages. However, despite receiving representations from the disadvantaged sections here, her predecessors failed to initiate needful action.
Teleological ethics says that we don’t need standards to govern human action; the human intelligent alone is capable of knowing and judging.
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