The Puja Khedkar Case and the Role of Ethics in Public Service

The case of Puja Khedkar (if she is proven guilty), the IAS officer of the batch of 2023 who is in the news for the wrong reasons, has exposed the corrupt practices engaged by some aspirants who ‘allegedly’ seek to serve the interest of the public in their capacity as a public servant. The case has not only brought disrepute to a highly reputed service sector of the nation but has also exposed how corruption, deception, and recourse to falsehoods are being used with impunity to achieve self-interest at the cost of the interests of society.

Public service is undoubtedly the noblest service that one can render to the people of a country. It is because public services in the form of administrative services in government, the judiciary, the teaching fraternity, the medical fraternity, to name a few, are available to the ordinary citizen that a society thrives.

Public servants are the backbone of any civil society that aims at the well-being of its people and they have always been treated with great respect for the services they render. As such, civil servants, teachers, doctors and lawyers are all required to maintain ‘virtue’ in public life that includes the highest levels of honesty, accountability, responsibility and commitment. This is as important to their professional life as is their professional acumen.

But, when the edifice of such services stands on dubious foundations of untruths, deception, and a false sense of entitlement, it belies the trust that society reposes in the people who are responsible for delivering those services. Whether it be high-ranking officials serving in important decision-making positions in government institutions, junior officers responsible for the implementation of those policy decisions, or even new entrants aspiring to join these public services, all must realise and inculcate the first virtue of public service which is, service before self.

However, it is an unfortunate fact that today this basic ethical principle is, by and large missing, in public service. And, ironically at times, flouting this principle is the first step towards a career in public service as is alleged in the Khedkar case. How can an individual who believes in self before service, pledge to serve the people of the country? This is reminiscent of a colonial mindset that is engulfed by the obsession of gaining power and enjoying the perks that come with it. It smacks of ‘elitism’ that looks down upon the common person as a mere ‘means’ to one's own selfish ‘ends’.

Such conduct not only brings shame to the individual engaged in corrupt practices, but it also tarnishes the impeccable image of the service and the self-sacrifice that public servants often silently perform in the line of duty. It speaks of a misplaced sense of ‘entitlement’ that brings the entire service sector into disrepute.

Obtaining false certificates, which is what Khedkar is accused of doing, including certificates of disability to occupy seats reserved for the differently abled candidates, makes a mockery of reservation, thereby depriving the truly needy, but deserving candidates of a fair chance in life. Such conduct harms the well-being of differently-abled people as it casts doubt on the ingenuity of their case. Such misuse of a policy, harms future affirmative policies for such vulnerable groups. Though few, such cases of misconduct can cause irreparable damage to the cause of the needy and their aspirations.

Such cases flout the first principle of ethical conduct that proscribes using any individual or a privilege or a policy as a means to one’s own petty self-interest. The public administrative services can boast of many luminaries who gained respect in their professional careers not only for their professional acumen but more for their ‘selfless’ and self-sacrificing’ commitment to the service of the nation. Service to the nation forms the basic core of the training that is imparted to public servants. But, today one wonders if there is a lag or a lack in the training that is the root cause of this malaise that we see creeping in.

Cognisance of this fact needs to be taken seriously and the significance of practical ethics in governance must become an integral part of the training programs. It is often heard that ethics is all just ‘good’ in theory but ineffective in practice. This attitude must be shunned. But, the mere listing of ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ in public service will not be enough to produce conviction about the role of ethics in public service. The reasoning and rationale behind this truth about public service must be explained and inculcated by practice and not merely by preaching. Until the conviction that the ‘dos’ must be done and the ‘don’ts’ undone, comes from within, no training will be effective.

That is why, if the first step in practice is based on deceit and falsehood, it cannot be the morally ‘right’ step though it may seem to be a ‘good’ (practically effective) course of action in the mind of the individual concerned. The distinction between the morally ‘right’ and the morally ‘good’ is vital and must be understood and followed at every step in public service. It is not easy in practice, but not impossible either.

(Dr (Ms) Shashi Motilal (Retd) Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, University of Delhi, India, obtained her PhD from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, USA in 1986. She has been Visiting Faculty at the University of Akron, Ohio, USA and Carleton University, ON, Canada, TERI University, New Delhi and IIT/Delhi and IISP, New Delhi. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)