The Collector's Week
You are the District Collector of a drought-declared district in Rayalaseema. Four things arrive in one week. The Minister's Officer on Special Duty telephones to say that ₹1.8 crore should be released to a 'model residential school' run by a trust chaired by the Minister's brother, without tender, from the district mineral fund. The Election Commission announces a by-election in one assembly segment of your district; the model code of conduct begins, and the ECI observer directs that all new welfare scheme launches in the segment be stopped. An RTI applicant seeks the file notings in which you recorded that the trust's earlier school building was unsafe. And the mandal revenue officer who complained about that building is transferred by the Joint Collector on the Minister's oral instruction. You also have ₹4 crore of unspent drought relief and 62 tankers to run before the month-end.
1. How should you respond to the OSD's telephonic instruction?
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Treat it as an unlawful direction dressed as an instruction. Three tests decide it: is there a budgetary provision and sanction; is the trust a lawful implementing agency for the district mineral fund; and has the tender requirement been met. On the facts, all three fail - the fund has statutory purposes under the DMF Rules, 2015, the trust is chaired by the Minister's brother (a conflict of interest), and a ₹1.8 crore work cannot be split to avoid tender.
What the law requires. A civil servant obeys lawful directions of the ministerial superior, not personal requests. The All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 require that an unlawful oral order be recorded and reported to the superior authority - here the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Finance), in writing. Ask the OSD to confirm the instruction in writing; that alone usually ends the matter. Simultaneously record your own file note and do not release the money.
What the rules do not protect. Article 311 protects a member of the service against dismissal without inquiry; it does not protect an officer who carries out an illegal order, and 'superior orders' is no defence to a charge of misappropriation. The Collector's duty runs to the statute, not to the phone call.
2. What is the effect of the model code of conduct on the drought relief programme, and how should the ECI observer's direction be handled?
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The code does not suspend the Constitution. It begins with the announcement and runs until results. Ongoing schemes and statutory disaster relief continue - suspending drought relief would itself raise Article 21 concerns and conflict with the Disaster Management Act. What the code prohibits is new announcements, foundation stones, inaugurations and publicity in the constituency that could sway voters, and the use of official machinery for the ruling party's advantage.
Practical course. Keep the 62 tankers running and the ₹4 crore flowing, but strip the relief of electoral colour: no minister's photographs on tankers, no distribution at a public function with the local MLA, no fresh sanction letters or new 'launch' events.
Handling the direction. Read the observer's order as a bar on new launches, not on relief, and seek written clearance for the tanker schedule, keeping the correspondence on file. The ECI's directions prevail during the election period (Article 324; Mohinder Singh Gill v. CEC, 1978). If a genuine conflict arises between an ECI direction and statutory duty, record the conflict and refer it to the Chief Electoral Officer rather than choosing silently.
3. How should you deal with the RTI application and the transfer of the mandal revenue officer?
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RTI. The Public Information Officer must decide within thirty days. File notings are disclosable - the DoPT's 2006 office memorandum and the CIC's full-bench decision in Satyapal v. CPIO settled this. Section 8(1)(i) protects only cabinet papers before a decision, and Section 8(1)(j) protects personal information, not the safety record of a building. The correct course is to release the notings with third-party names redacted under Section 10. Concealing a safety finding would itself be a disciplinary offence.
The transfer. The Joint Collector acted on an oral instruction to punish a complainant. Transfers must follow the statutory transfer policy and, for gazetted officers, be considered by the Civil Services Board; a transfer that is punitive on its face is void and is evidence of victimisation. Place the papers before the Board, record that the transfer was made without its recommendation, and either restore the officer or transfer him only with written reasons.
The link between the two. Separately order a structural safety inspection of the trust's school by the Roads and Buildings department, and forward the ₹1.8 crore proposal to the vigilance wing. Protecting the complainant is part of the Collector's own accountability.