Nothing Illegal in Small Favours to Babus/ gifted journalists
"A senior official in Bastar wants an Innova to visit a temple in Gwalior from Delhi. If possible, please try to meet him in Delhi. According to sources, he may become Industry secretary.”
This is an internal email of a big corporate house.
Arranging a vehicle and a guest-house/hotel for a bureaucrat, accepting a recommendation for a job from a politician, making small presents to journalists, are all common activities for any major corporate house including PSUs. There are major PSUs arranging more than a hundred cars for various VIPs, every day in Delhi. We have thousands of gifted journalists, babus and Netas, who would not bat an eyelid for availing such services.
A major Corporate House told the Supreme Court yesterday that these are "common courtesies extended by corporate houses”. The Company says that there is no wrongdoing in giving gifts to people in public life or in the civil service since there has been no attempt to obtain undue favour. The PIL in the Supreme Court alleged an unholy nexus between the corporate with politicians, bureaucrats and journalists to promote its business interests.
Not only Corporate Houses, even Commissionerates have "protocol cells” to look after the comforts of visiting dignitaries, often at huge costs.
DDT 2414 - 11.08.2014 reported, "Officers should be careful while availing this kind of hospitality, for the CBI might be after them. Even assessees must be careful while extending the hospitality, for the CBI might be after them too..”
We reported an interesting case where the CBI had booked a case against a Chief Commissioner for availing the hospitality from an assessee by staying in the Sheraton Hotel, Delhi and getting a car booked by an assessee. The assessee was also booked. However, both the assessee and the officer were acquitted by the trial court as the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt. But they had to go through the ordeal of a CBI investigation and a court case for about four years!