CASE STUDY SESSION –VII LUKMAAN IAS

GS PAPER IV: ETHICS, INTEGRITY & APTITUDE

CSE MAINS 2023

CASE STUDY SESSION-VII

DAY 7
• Ethical dilemmas/ethical issues
• Integrity, probity, responsibility, discipline and leadership.
• Fiduciary responsibility and harassment of women at work place.
• Law and order, information technology and social media.
• Work culture, RTI and quality of service

CASE STUDIES 162-197

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ETHICAL DILEMMAS/ETHICAL ISSUES

1.ETHICAL DILEMMA: “धर्मं-संकट”
Define Ethical Dilemma?
Ethical dilemma refers to a complex situation that involves a clear mental
conflict between moral precepts and ethical obligations. It happens where
making any resolution to a dilemma is hard. It is also known as ethical paradox
and plays a fundamental role in ethic debates.
Ethical dilemmas, also known as a moral dilemmas, are situations in which
there is a choice to be made between two options, neither of which resolves
the situation in an ethically acceptable fashion. In such cases, societal and
personal ethical guidelines can provide no satisfactory outcome for the
chooser.
An ethical dilemma arises from a situation that necessitates a choice between
competing sets of principles. Thus, an ethical dilemma can be described as a
circumstance that requires a choice between competing sets of principles in a
given, usually undesirable or perplexing, situation. There are three conditions
that must be present for a situation to be considered as ethical dilemma
• The first condition occurs in situations when an individual, called the
“agent,” must make a decision about which course of action is best.
Situations that are uncomfortable but that don’t require a choice, are not
ethical dilemmas.
• The second condition for ethical dilemma is that there must be different
courses of action to choose from.
• Third, in an ethical dilemma, no matter what course of action is taken, some
ethical principle is compromised. In other words, there is no perfect
solution.
Types of Ethical Dilemmas
Conflicts of interest are possibly the most obvious example that could place
public sector leaders in an ethical dilemma. Other types of ethical dilemmas in
which public servants may find themselves include conflict between: the values
of public administration; justifications for the institutions; aspects of the code
of conduct; personal values and supervisor or governmental directive;
professional ethics and supervisor or governmental directive; personal values
and professional ethics versus governmental directive; blurred or competing
accountabilities; and the dimensions of ethical conduct.

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These dilemmas are in three broad categories:

• Personal Cost Ethical Dilemmas- This dilemma arises from situations in
which compliance with ethical conduct results in a significant personal cost
(e.g. jeopardizing held position, missing opportunity for financial or material
benefit, injuring valued relationship etc.) to the public-servant-decision-
maker and/or the Agency
• Right-versus-Right Ethical Dilemmas- This dilemma arises from situations
of two or more conflicting sets of bona fide ethical values (e.g. public
servants’ responsibility of being open and accountable to citizens versus
that of adhering to the Oath of Secrecy/Confidentiality etc.).
• Conjoint Ethical Dilemmas- This dilemma arises from situations in which a
conscientious public-servant-decision-maker is exposed to a combination of
the above-indicated ethical dilemmas in searching for the “right-thing-to-
do”.
Examples of Ethical Dilemmas
Following are some examples of ethical dilemmas for a public administrator-
• Would he keep silent when he finds that administrative discretion is
abused, or that corruption or nepotism are practiced? Or should he blow
the whistle?
• Should he actively engage in pressure group activities because he
sympathizes with their views?
• Should he actively participate in party politics? Or should he endeavor only
to promote the public good and uphold the high standards of public office?
Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Public Servants
Some of the most common ethical dilemmas with which public servants are
confronted, revolve around aspects such as:
• Administrative discretion
• Corruption
• Nepotism
• Administrative secrecy
• Information leaks
• Public accountability
• Policy dilemmas

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Dilemma of the public servant

The potential areas for conflict are not necessary ethical dilemmas in
themselves. It is what the public servant does when he is confronted by
activities pertaining to these phenomena that could prove to be the ethical
dilemma:
1. Would he keep silent when he finds that administrative discretion is
abused, or that corruption or nepotism are practiced?
2. Or should he blow the whistle?
3. Should he actively engage in pressure group activities because he
sympathizes with their views?
4. Should he actively participate in party politics?
5. Or should he endeavor only to promote the public good and uphold the
high standards of public office?
Common Ethical Dilemmas
1. Truth vs. Loyalty: personal honesty and integrity vs. promise-keeping and
obligations to others
2. Individual vs. Community: interests of the one or few weighed against
those of the more or many
3. Short-Term vs. Long-Term: real concerns of the present weighed against
investment for the future
4. Justice vs. Mercy: fair and equal application of the rules vs. compassion for
the individual
Common Principles for Resolving Ethical Dilemmas
1. Ends or Consequences:
• Concerned with ends, results, consequences
• Staple of legislation and public policy analysis, e.g., cost-benefit analysis
• Asks what is greatest good for the greatest number, the greatest balance of
benefits over harms?
2. Rules or Means:
• Ends can’t always be known, therefore focus on means, e.g., duty,
obligations, rules 3
• Good rules or means lead to good outcomes
• Asks how would you want everyone else to act if they were faced with this
very same situation?
3. Care or Compassion
• Focus on the good of the actor, e.g., virtue, character

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• Variation on the Golden Rule

• Asks how would you wish to be treated if you were the person or persons
most affected by this decision?
Other important principles
• Is the action legal and consistent with Government policy?
• Is the action in line with my agency’s goals and Code of Conduct?
• Do I think it’s the right thing to do?
• What will be the outcomes for: the agency, my colleagues, other parties
and me?
• Can I justify doing it?
• What would happen if the action was publicly scrutinised?

CASE STUDY 162 You are posted as the Medical Superintendent of a

District level Govt. The hospital which caters to the need of poor patients from
surrounding rural areas along with the local people from the district town. As
such, the hospital has very good infrastructure and adequate equipment to
cater to this need. It also receives sufficient funds to meet the recurring
expenditure.
In spite of this, there have been repeated complaints, particularly from the
patients, which include the following:
i. Very poor maintenance and un-hygienic conditions in hospital premises.
ii. The hospital staff are frequently demanding bribes from the patients for
the services rendered.
iii. The negligent attitude of the Doctors resulting in times of casualties.
iv. Siphoning of a substantial stock of medicine by the staff and selling it
out.
v. Strong nexus between the senior Doctors of the hospital and the owners
of local private nursing homes and testing labs because of which the
patients are strongly misled and dissuaded from availing the hospital
facilities and rather compelled to purchase costly medicines from the
market and get medical tests and even operations done from private
medical houses.
vi. There also exists a notorious employee union that puts undue pressure
and resents any reformative step by the administration.

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Ponder over the situation and suggest effective ways to tackle each of the
above-mentioned problems.

CASE STUDY 163 Mr. A became the Chief Minister of a state. Mr. B is the
Principal Secretary of the Industry Department. He had worked very closely
with the previous Chief Minister, a man of great development vision. A new
Industrial Policy of the state had also been put together.
Within two months of taking over, the new Chief Minister called Mr. B and
asked him to explain the status of privatization of the largest state government
enterprise. Mr. B told the Chief Minister about the privatization status and also
stated that as per the past government policy, open tendering process is
followed to select the best bid in the interest of the Government.
The Chief Minister listened to the Secretary patiently and gave two
instructions; one that the process should be completed as early as possible and
two that the undertaking should be sold to a particular business house. He told
Mr. B explicitly that he was greatly indebted to the owner of the business
house as all his election expenses had been managed by the owner of the
business house. He was, therefore, obliged to sell the Corporation to the
financier of his election.
The Principal Secretary also strongly advised the CM against bending the
standard procedure or financial rules to favour his friend because it would
reflect adversely on the State Government.
The CM was visibly annoyed. Without further discussion, he dismissed the
Secretary with the final direction to give the undertaking to the said business
house in three months and no further submission was permitted.
Suppose you are the principal secretary, then
a) Discuss the ethical dilemmas that you would face.
b) Critically evaluate the options available with you. Select the most
appropriate option and give justification.

CASE STUDY 164 There are large and glaring inefficiencies in service
delivery in India. In a study conducted recently (with co-authors from Harvard
University and the World Bank) using repeated surveys of a nationally-
representative sample of over 3,000 government-run schools across India, it
was found that on a typical working day, 25 percent of teachers in government
schools were absent from work.
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These measures of absence are based on direct physical observation as

opposed to official records (which are often faked) and this is a bare minimum
estimate of the problem, because in many cases providers are present but not
actively working. For instance, while 25 percent of teachers were absent,
another 25-30 percent of teachers on the rolls were in school but not teaching
and so less than half of the teachers were engaged in teaching activity. Since
salaries account for over 90 percent of the non-plan budget in education,
nearly half the resources allocated to education are potentially being wasted.
The average numbers are bad enough, but the state-level variation is even
more troubling because poorer states have significantly higher levels of
absence. For instance, over 70 percent of teachers in Bihar and Jharkhand
were not engaging in any teaching activity. Thus, the states that have the
greatest need for improved health and education are also the ones where
increased spending on its own is least likely to make a significant impact on
outcomes.
Suppose you are the Education Inspector (the head of the district education) of
a district in Bihar, then
a) State the reasons for poor work culture in schools?
b) List your priorities and explain why they are going to be effective.

CASE STUDY 165 The ministry of health appointed an expert team to

conduct epidemiological study on the health of 1,000 agricultural workers to
know the impact of pesticide exposure on health. The study finds that there
are adverse impacts on the health of agricultural workers such as the
possibility of skin cancer. The report finds its way in media which result into
public outcry. However, the ministry rejects the findings of the team as it does
not find satisfactory.
The ministry of environment has requested the ministry of health not to
disclose the findings unless it carries its own study to verify the facts as its
expansion plan for genetically modified seeds may get affected.
A RTI activist applies for information to PIO of ministry of health. Now, the PIO
is in dilemma what he should do? So far, the PIO has a good record of
disclosing information for which he has been recently appreciated.
a) The PIO should consult the higher authority and act as per the advice.
b) The PIO should refuse to disclose the information as it is sensitive and can
create law and order problem.

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c) The PIO should partially disclose the information which is not related to
the adverse impact on health.
d) The PIO should disclose the complete information to maintain his good
record.

CASE STUDY 166 Mrs A works as an Assistant in a state government run

Corporation. She reports to Mr B, who works as a senior officer. During the
course of work, Mr B uses vulgar language and tries to develop proximity with
Mrs A. At one point in time, Mrs A openly expresses to Mr B that she does not
appreciate his behaviour. This results in Mr B giving more works to Mrs A and
making her wait in his cabin for hours. Since the hostile work atmosphere
becomes unbearable for Mrs A, she verbally complains to her seniors.
Nothing happened for months. Since Mr B threatens to spoil the confidential
records of Mrs A and destroy her career by falsely implicating her in corruption
cases, Mrs A complains in writing to the concerned authority. The CEO of the
Corporation hands complaint to the HOD of the department. The written
complaint results into the appointment of an officer to inquire into the
complaint, which concludes that Mrs A complaint is false and recommends her
transfer. As a result, Mrs A is transferred to another office. The Corporation
closes the case after giving a warning to Mr B and transfers him to rural posting
with promotion.
a) Analyze the ethical issues in the handling of Mrs A grievances.
b) Suppose you are the secretary of the department who has jurisdiction over
the Corporation and Mrs A sends details of her grievances, then what
options are available to you? Evaluate them and choose the best option,
giving reasons.

CASE STUDY 167 There is a conversation among two civil services

aspirants Mr A and Mr. B, regarding the newly qualified civil servants. Mr A
tells Mr. B:
1. After joining civil services, the behaviour of new entrants become more
elite, and they also don't resist corruption. They become corrupt at the
very early stage of their career.
2. In fact, giving preference to home cadre itself goes against the spirit of
civil services values such as dedication to work.

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3. Training doesn't have much influence as one can find some civil servants
prejudiced and stereotyped even after going through over a year of
training time.
4. The lateral entry is going further to affect the motivation and dedication
of civil servants.
Suppose you are Mr B then evaluate the above views of Mr A, giving
justification to your view.

CASE STUDY 168 Suppose Mr A is a very young civil servant who has just
joined the service three years back and he is caught red-handed taking bribe
over three lakhs by one apex investigation body of the government then what
should be the appropriate course of action.
a) He should be terminated from the service after inquiry to give a strong
message to civil servants that there is Zero-Tolerance against corruption.

or
b) He should be given a chance for reformation as he is very young and has
been a very bright student in the past representing India in speech
competitions at the international level. The investigating agency should
drop the case after giving a strict warning.

Discuss the moral dilemma in the case study and justify your course of action.

CASE STUDY 169 IT AND GOVERNANCE

A teenage boy posted a derogatory comment on one Social Media page about
one of the MP in the State. He posted such comments out of humor and not
with any wrong intentions. However, the MP and the political party has felt
offended and filed an FIR against the boy under some section of the IT Act.
Suppose you are the Additional Superintendent of Police of that district. There
is pressure from the political party to arrest the boy immediately. How will you
respond to such a situation? What are the options available to you? Discuss
their merits and demerits and choose the most appropriate one, giving
reasons.

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CASE STUDY 170 You are posted as the Medical Superintendent of a

District level Govt. The hospital which caters to the need of poor patients from
surrounding rural areas along with the local people from the district town. As
such, the hospital has very good infrastructure and adequate equipment to
cater to this need. It also receives sufficient funds to meet the recurring
expenditure.
In spite of this, there have been repeated complaints, particularly from the
patients, which include the following:
vii. Very poor maintenance and un-hygienic conditions in hospital premises.
viii. The hospital staff are frequently demanding bribes from the patients for
the services rendered.
ix. The negligent attitude of the Doctors resulting in times of casualties.
x. Siphoning of a substantial stock of medicine by the staff and selling it
out.
xi. Strong nexus between the senior Doctors of the hospital and the owners
of local private nursing homes and testing labs because of which the
patients are strongly misled and dissuaded from availing the hospital
facilities and rather compelled to purchase costly medicines from the
market and get medical tests and even operations done from private
medical houses.
xii. There also exists a notorious employee union that puts undue pressure
and resents any reformative step by the administration.

Ponder over the situation and suggest effective ways to tackle each of the
above-mentioned problems.

CASE STUDY 171 A PIO receives an application for information under the
`RTI Act, 2005`. It turned out that the information asked for falls into three
categories viz: (information absolutely exempted); (information which can be
given to the applicant); and (information given in confidence by a Third-party).
The PIO is convinced that there is public interest involved in giving the
candidate the latter part of the information.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Public Authority puts another spin to the situation,
citing that none of the information asked for involves `exempted information

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and, hence, all of it can be given. Soon after, the applicant realized that he had
unwittingly asked for exempted information and conveyed to the PIO that he
need not be given the exempted information. But the applicant also asked for
some other information pertaining to the same organization.
a) Should the PIO go with his judgment or heed his boss? If yes, what
should he do in disclosing information or for rejecting the application or
for doing both (as applicable)?
b) What should the PIO do in view of the applicant`s revised request?
Please elaborate. Why? / How?

CASE STUDY 172 Recently, a case of alleged gang-rape has been reported
in Hathras in UP which has generated huge public outcry against the
administration for not being responsive and try to downplay the heinous crime
committed by four perpetrators. The incident happened in a farm-field and the
girl’s mother reported to police which didn’t file FIR rather a complaint was
registered which didn’t mention rape.
Since the girl was seriously injured as she was beaten and assaulted, her
treatment went for two weeks and then she died. The medical report also
confirms that she was raped.
The district administration including police refute this report and claim by
media and public that she was raped. Her body was buried by the local police
at midnight which has also been criticised that it was done without the consent
of the family.
The caste angle has further made the matter more controversial. The girl
belongs to Dalit caste and the perpetrators from higher caste, and therefore,
the latter has received support from their caste and they are also protesting
and demanding justice by refuting the claim of alleged gang-rape.
The SP of the district was transferred and suppose have been appointed as the
new SP then
a) What will be your response to the incident and the whole controversy?
b) What are the ethical issues and what should be done, so that, the victim
family gets justice?

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CASE STUDY 173 Heinz’ Dilemma

In Europe, a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was
one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that
a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive
to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to
make. He paid $400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a small dose of the
drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow
the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get together about
$2,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was
dying, and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist
said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm going to make money from it." So,
having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers breaking
into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. [250 words]

QUESTIONS
a) What Heinz should do?
b) How you will justify Heinz if he decides to break into the chemist shop to
steal drugs?

CASE STUDY 174 Mr. A is rushed to the hospital after being stabbed. He
arrives in casualty. Although he is bleeding heavily, he could be saved. The only
doctor on duty wants to go home, and knows that saving Mr. A will take him
an hour. He decides to let Mr. A bleed to death. Mr. A dies a few minutes later.
Mr. A mother arrives, and on learning what has happened screams at the
doctor, "You killed my son!" The doctor replies, "No I didn't. I just let him die."
Q. Analyse the conduct of doctor. [100 words]

Q. Suppose that, the reason the doctor didn't save Mr. A was that he was
already in the middle of saving Mr. B, and if he left Mr. B to save Mr. A, Mr.
B would die. Then can we consider doctor’s action ethical? [50 words]

Q. Suppose you are asked to bring some changes in the above case to make it a
case of ethical dilemma, what changes will you bring?

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CASE STUDY 175 Mr. A works as a lab-technician in a hospital. He comes

across a paper which shows that a traumatic mugging caused the patient to
require an adjustment in the medication she is prescribed to control anxiety
and mood swings. Mr. A is struck by the patient’s unusual last name and upon
checking her employment information realizes she is one of his daughter’s
grade school teachers.
Mr. A’s daughter seems very happy in her school and he cannot violate patient
confidentiality by informing the school about a teacher’s mental illness but he
is not comfortable with a potentially unstable person in a position of influence
and supervision over his eight year old daughter.
Q. What course of actions you will recommend for Mr. A?

CASE STUDY 176 You are the head of the HR department of a reputed IT
company. Due to application of new technology on the one hand and lack of
demand of its services in the market, on the other, the company has decided
to lay off some employees and you have been given the list of those
employees. You have been told to immediately communicate for the
termination of their job by the company which is very essential for its
efficiency and survival.
Mr. A is one such employee in the list who has been working in the company
for over 20 years. He is very efficient and loyal to the company. He has wife,
two daughters and an ailing mother who is hospitalized. The two daughters are
supposed to be married in the coming months.
Suppose you are the head of the HR department then how will you handle the
following questions?
a) Will you face any ethical dilemma? Explain.
b) Discuss the ethical issues in the case study.
c) What will you communicate to Mr. A and why?
d) Whether company decision is appropriate or it should have been different
suppose you were the head of the company?

CASE STUDY 177 Mr. Ais a new businessman and Mr. B is his one client.
Mr. A is very honest person and wants to do business by following the
philosophy of “honesty is the best policy”. He maintains all the proper records,
pays tax, etc.

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In one such business deal in which Mr. A has to pay a hefty amount, his client
Mr. B, is insisting that he will take only in cash and not cheque or online
transaction. Mr. A tries to convince him by giving the examples of the present
government efforts to boost financial system and its tax administration and
reasons for practicing clean business.
But Mr. B instead, shares his past experiences with tax-officials and many such
incidents in which even honest businessmen were harassed and implicated. He
further went on saying that how such cases were dragged in courts for years.
Basically, he is saying that government treats honest or corrupt businessmen
alike and therefore, it’s always better to be corrupt so that one can have
savings for bad times.
a) Suppose you are Mr. A then how you will deal with this situation? Will you
face any moral dilemma? Explain.
b) Suppose there is a raid on your business premise and you know that it has
been done to harass you then will you still believe in the philosophy of
“honesty is the best policy”? Give reasons in support of your argument.
c) Suppose you are a tax official then what you will advise to Mr A to clear his
dilemma?

CASE STUDY 178 Mr. A became the Chief Minister of a state. Mr. B is the
Principal Secretary of the Industry Department. He had worked very closely
with the previous Chief Minister, a man of great development vision. A new
Industrial Policy of the state had also been put together.
Within two months of taking over, the new Chief Minister called Mr. B and
asked him to explain the status of privatization of the largest state government
enterprise. Mr. B told the Chief Minister about the privatization status and also
stated that as per the past government policy, open tendering process is
followed to select the best bid in the interest of the Government.
The Chief Minister listened to the Secretary patiently and gave two
instructions; one that the process should be completed as early as possible and
two that the undertaking should be sold to a particular business house. He told
Mr. B explicitly that he was greatly indebted to the owner of the business
house as all his election expenses had been managed by the owner of the
business house. He was, therefore, obliged to sell the Corporation to the
financier of his election.

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The Principal Secretary also strongly advised the CM against bending the
standard procedure or financial rules to favour his friend because it would
reflect adversely on the State Government.
The CM was visibly annoyed. Without further discussion, he dismissed the
Secretary with the final direction to give the undertaking to the said business
house in three months and no further submission was permitted.
Suppose you are the principle secretary then will you comply to the order of
the chief minister or adopt some other courses of action? Give justification to
your stand taken.

CASE STUDY 179 You are in a subordinate position as a Revenue Officer

next to the district head of your department. Your department is entrusted
with revenue collection in the district. Annual and the corresponding monthly
targets are duly achieved in the district where you are posted and the
performance of that district is considered to be satisfactory and even good as
compared to other districts in the state.
Eventually, you come to know that there is more potential for revenue
collection and hence you start applying more efforts. Your enthusiasm to
collect more revenue has not gone well in the administration. You are advised
from above and below your rank to maintain status quo or face consequences.
All the staff seems to be in collusion and you have good evidence to believe
that the nexus goes to the departmental headquarter.
a) Identify the various actions that you could take;
b) Evaluate the pros and cons of each of your actions.
c) What should be the most appropriate action in your view? Give adequate
justification.

CASE STUDY 180 Five IAS probationers reported to a state for the district
training phase. As soon as they reached the state capital, they faced protest by
some sections of the state. They were demanding that the probationers should
not be allowed for training in the state. They should be sent back.
The state has been facing anti-India protests for some time. Some people have
also died in protest and therefore, the situation is very volatile. The Chief
Secretary gets order from the Chief Minister that the probationers should go
back and report to the department of personnel, government of India, as the
state government has decided not to give them the state cadre.
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All the five belong to ‘outside’ category. In cadre allocation, a state has two
categories, namely, insider and outsider. The allocation is done by the central
government.
a) Suppose you were the Chief Secretary then what were the options
available to you?
b) Analyse the options and choose the most appropriate option, giving
reasons.
c) In such situation, what should be the appropriate stand of the central
government? Explain with reasons.

CASE STUDY 181 Under the ambitious interlinking of rivers programme,

one state Chief Minister on the occasion of inauguration mentioned thatkhus
grass should be laid in and around the confluence of the two rivers to promote
tourism.
Mr. A is a sincere, honest and dedicated senior district forest officer. On the
basis of the CM wishes, he issued tender for this grass and eventually, over Rs.
15 lakh was spent to buy 5 lakh ton grass and they were planted in around the
confluence.
Since due to flood, the grass planted were swept away, the department again
started efforts to lay down the grass then it was found that there were
irregularities and corruption. It has been reported that on paper, the quantity
of grass shown is different from the quantity planted. Proper labourers were
not also employed rather passers’ by were given the task but interestingly, bill
vouchers for wages have been issued.
Suppose you are the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of the state and you
have been giving task to take appropriate steps then how do you view the
following questions
a) Whether the issues in the case study are more about corruption rather
than administrative efficiency?
b) Although Mr. A has dedication towards service but lacks work culture
ethics.
c) The issues are not about efficient utilisation of public fund but rather
about quality of service.
d) In your view, what should be the most appropriate action against Mr. A?
Give proper justification.

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CASE STUDY 182 Mr. A along with three of his junior officers, has been
suspended by the Home Ministry after the government found that the FCRA
(Foreign Contribution Regulations Act) licence of an NGO run by a religious
preacher was renewed by the Foreigners Division headed by Mr. A despite
several probes against the preacher for allegedly radicalising youths and
attracting them towards extremism.
Mr. A is an IAS officer who has been credited with successfully implementing
the government key projects, including e-tourist visa scheme that led to 293
per cent jump in foreign tourist arrivals in India. He was also instrumental in
making the registration process of NGOs under the FCRA completely online.
In an unprecedented move, 15 joint secretaries serving in the Ministry urged
the Home Minister to reconsider the decision to suspend senior IAS officer. Mr.
A who has been “wrongly punished” for the alleged lapses of his juniors. Mr. A
is an honest officer and such action sends “wrong signal” and is “demoralising”
for others.
Assume you are the Home Secretary then what should be your appropriate
courses of action?

CASES RELATED TO WORKPLACE HARASSMENT

CASE STUDY 183 Mrs. is a civil servant working in one department of the
government. Under the influence of the #MeToo movement, she also posts on
facebook her encounters of sexual harassment in her office. She alleges that
how her one senior has tried in past to harass her which she very strongly
resisted.
The senior has since then adopted a non-cooperative attitude in the office. She
also finds it very difficult to continue to work in the same office.
Suppose the senior happens to be the head of the department and you’re
second in the seniority and you come to know about the post on facebook
through some channels then what will be your courses of action, also give
reasons for your actions.

CASE STUDY 184 You are working as a Deputy General Manager in an

organization. Mr. A is your junior who is working as an Assistant Manager. He is
efficient and devoted personnel of the organization. Impressed with his

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sincerity you gave him additional duties. He might get a promotion soon. One
day while leaving office after the working hours, you find him in a
compromising position with a staff member. Sensing something fishy in their
relationship, your sentiments are hurt. You never expected a devoted officer
like him to behave in such an unethical manner. You feel that he is cheating his
wife therefore it is a situation of contradiction in his personal and public life. In
his professional capacity Mr. A has never cheated you. Also, he had
accomplished all the tasks assigned to him with utmost sincerity.
What you are going to do in such a situation? Some of the options are given
below. Evaluate the merits and demerits of the given options and suggest a
course of action, giving reasons.
a) Since the matter is between two individual appears to be on the basis of
consent, no action will be taken so long as matter vitiate the work
culture.
b) You will speak to Mr. A about his conduct and seek clarification and issue
warning.
c) A show cause notice will be issued to Mr. A for seeking details and
terminating his service.
d) The matter will be reported to seniors and action will be taken as per the
advice.

CASE STUDY 185 Mrs. Ais a junior staff in one such public agency. One day
she approaches her one superior for discussion of some office related matters.
She needed to take some advice before she could proceed on the matter. The
superior was very helpful and cooperative. Gradually, she develops a friendly
relation with him and she enjoyed her work.
But for sometime she is not happy as a series of events has happened in few
days. She faced sexual harassment by her superior, she complained in the
office but there was no action and office environment has become unsafe and
unhealthy for her.
The delay on complain is due to following reasons:

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1. The superior is working on an important project with a deadline as the

headquarter has been promised.
2. As per the requirement of the complaint committee, the head should be
woman. There is one senior woman functionary but she is junior to the
superior against whom the complaint has been filed.The superior is arguing
that he will reject the findings of the committee if it is headed by a junior
staff and immediately he will go on leave which will affect the project.
Suppose you are one senior staff in the agency then how you will respond to
the above two issues? Also highlight the ethical issues and strategy to tackle
them.

CASE STUDY 186 Mr. A is a highly renowned scientist and has earned
national and international fame for his works in the field of environment and
ecology. He has been at the helm of one of the most prestigious institution of
the country for more than four decades.
Recently, he has faced a series of complaints against sexual harassments by the
women employees of the institute. The first complaint was filed by Mrs. X on
which as per the law, ICC was set up which found him guilty, but due to delay
in further action by the institute, Mr. A got a stay order by the Tribunal through
appeal.
The institute is yet to take actions on the other two complaints. Meanwhile the
three women employees have resigned from the institute. They were also
discouraged not to file complaints.
Mrs. X approached the high court but due to non-filing of charge-sheet by
police on time which is 60 days and for serious offences 90 days. Mr A, who
had been sacked in the aftermath of the case, was legally allowed to return to
the institute.
Since the issue has affected the image of the institute and has given a wrong
message to the pursuit of gender justice, the government has asked a status
report from you as the responsible authority in the concerned ministry on the
following questions?

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a) Whether the institute has acted responsibly and swiftly to support Mrs.
case or it can be held responsible for some serious lapses?
b) Whether the governing council should have promoted Mr. A on his
return?
c) Whether the institute could have taken some steps to ensure the
continuity of the employees if they wished? What the institute should do
in long run in this regard.
d) When women file complaints against sexual harassments, they have to
face ordeal and hardship, the case is delayed, and therefore, it may be
difficult for them to support financially and morally. Whether the
institute or government has any responsibility in this regard?
Analyse the above options and give your clear view on them. In your view what
should have been the most appropriate action by the institute. Give
justification of your view.

CASE STUDY 187 Public organisations suppose have been asked to

maintain clear policies regarding the workplace, especially regarding their
relationship. If a senior member begins a relationship with a junior member,
the senior member of the staff is then expected to inform his or her superior
about the relationship, recusing himself or herself from all decisions involving
the junior.
Unfortunately, in one such case, the head himself is involved in a relationship.
He is having an affair with a junior staff– who is married to another staff of the
same organisation. The woman in the triangle is head of the gender cell which
looks into the gender related issue and she has played very effective role in her
capacity.
Their relationship has embarrassed many of the staff of the organisation. There
is immense pressure from within the organisation that the head should resign.
In such situation what are the options available to the head of the
organisation. Evaluate the options and choose the most appropriate option,
giving reasons.

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CASE STUDY RELATED TO IT

CASE STUDY 188 Mr. A is a young person belonging to minority

community in one such locality of the country. It is a minority dominant area
where there have been reports of youth getting radicalized by the influence of
the ISIS, although no any actual case has been found.
Security forces while tracking the social media finds that Mr. A has liked many
such content and videos of the ISIS and also supported their causes but there is
no any evidence for his involvement in any such terrorist acts or support for
act of terror.
The security forces are of view that Mr. A is getting radicalized and sooner the
action better it is. The intelligence report is sent to the district police and it is
asked to immediately take appropriate action.
Suppose you are the SP of the district then how you will handle the situation so
that communal harmony is not disturb as well as family members life is not
jeopardised.

WORK CULTURE / QUALITY OF SERVICE

DELIVERY
CASE STUDY 189.BUREAUCRACTIC VS. CORPORATE WORK
CULTURE
It is interesting to compare the work culture of young IAS officers with those
coming out of the IIMs. Both come from the same social and educational
background, and both enter their respective organisations at senior positions
at a young age, while their subordinates are much older to them.
The young manager has to establish himself by proving his effectiveness and
utility to the organisation. With no prospects of a time bound promotion, he
must strive hard to earn a name for himself in the market and keep growing.
The young administrator, on the other hand, relies more on aloofness, greater
use of English, calling on seniors and trying to achieve social integration with
them, and at the same time enforcing symbols of subordination on others. In

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other words, he is trying to prove to everyone that he belongs to an 'exclusive

club'. He maximises his status and social prestige and not his output.
It is alleged that bureaucracy is mired entirely in red tape and the bureaucrats
are incapable of taking even simple decisions in an innovative fashion. Even
when they are not corrupt they take too much from the system and contribute
little.
QUESTIONS
a) Discuss the factors responsible for distinction between the two different
approaches adopted by IAS officers and IIMs.
b) Why there is a need to change the work-culture adopted by IAS officers?
c) Suggest the changes and also give reasons why they are going to be
effective?

CASE STUDY 190 You as an IAS probationer experienced on your foreign

training assignment that in all the Western countries, especially USA, people
strictly adhere to the\ time. They work in the office for eight hours a day. They
attend the meetings\ sharply in scheduled timings. They take lunch break for
half an hour. They enjoy their work, do not waste their time. They maintain
balance between family life and work life. Nevertheless, they stay back at
office occasionally, when they need to work. Therefore, they have work
efficiency.
On the contrary, in India during your field training you found that people do
not adhere to the timings. They don’t come on time, they go early. They take
long tea breaks and lunch breaks. They are not very imperative on deadlines
and keep negotiating for extension of timeline. Sometimes scheduled meetings
are cancelled, due to absence of some key persons.
Most of the Indians think workplace as an opportunity to build their future and
put forth extensive efforts to climb the ladder for promotion and monetary
benefits.
On the contrary, in some cases such as police and civil servants, averages can
be 10-14 hours. They work day and night beyond limits, which results in losing
work-life balance. This also makes them encounter a lot of pressure, as the
demands at work place and family are almost opposite. There may be a greater
sense of ownership of work in Indians and they value work more than that of
personal life.

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In Indian work-culture, people do not accept change easily; lot of resistance is

encountered in order to implement change. In western work-culture, people
are adaptive and conductive to change implementation.
As work-culture is your training assignment, based on the above findings what
will you recommend to your training centre so that work culture in India can
be improved apart from introducing biometric system for attendance. Give
reasons why such steps are going to be effective?

CASE STUDY 191 There are large and glaring inefficiencies in service
delivery in India. In a study conducted in 2003 (with co-authors from Harvard
University and the World Bank) using repeated surveys of a nationally-
representative sample of over 3,000 government-run schools and 1,500
primary health centers across India, we found that on a typical working day, 25
percent of teachers in government schools and 40 percent of medical workers
in government health clinics are absent from work.
These measures of absence are based on direct physical observation as
opposed to official records (which are often faked) and this is a bare minimum
estimate of the problem, because in many cases providers are present but not
actively working. For instance, while 25 percent of teachers were absent,
another 25-30 percent of teachers on the rolls were in school but not teaching
and so less than half of the teachers were engaged in teaching activity. Since
salaries account for over 90 percent of the non-plan budget in education,
nearly half the resources allocated to education are potentially being wasted.
The average numbers are bad enough, but the state-level variation is even
more troubling because poorer states have significantly higher levels of
provider absence in both health and education. For instance, over 70 percent
of doctors in Bihar were found to be absent, and over 70 percent of teachers in
Bihar and Jharkhand were not engaging in any teaching activity. Thus, the
states that have the greatest need for improved health and education are also
the ones where increased spending on its own is least likely to make a
significant impact on outcomes. Since salaries are the largest component of
spending, the rest of this article will focus on ways of improving incentives for
the front-line service providers such as teachers and healthcare workers.
QUESTIONS
c) What are the reasons for such work culture?

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d) How would you address problems of teachers’ absence as an education

inspector of district? List your priorities and explain why they are going to
be effective.

CASE STUDY 192 Right to Service acts are part of a broader rights-based
approach to social policy that has rippled through India over the past decade
and a half. Many states have passed public service guarantee acts, also known
as Right to Service acts.
A state government has set up the Public Service Management Department to
oversee the implementation of the Right to Service acts and you have been
made its head. After some time you come to observe the following facts:
I. Officials often wait until towards the end of the maximum allotted time
period to complete a service. It could be that officials are creating a new
opportunity for bribes, taking money to speed the service up (especially
for time sensitive services like caste certificates that may be required for
a job or university application).
II. Lower officials did express concern about Right to Service Acts being
implemented unfairly or being distracting. For example, some said that if
there was to be a time limit for processing applications then there
should also be a limit on how many applications can be accepted. They
also felt that the fear of a penalty did make them prioritize processing
these applications, but sometimes at the expense of their other work.
What will you do in such a situation? Some of the options are given below.
Evaluate the merits and demerits of each of these options and finally suggest
what course of action you would like to take, giving reasons. [250 words] 20
a) Set up a citizen grievance redressal cell in the office.
b) Increase staff in the office
c) Install CCTV in the office and fix a limit on how many applications can be
accepted.
d) Recommend to government to scrap the act and instead take up broader
institutional reforms to enhance quality of service delivery.

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CASE STUDY 193 A state is affected by severe drought. The situation is

becoming very worse day by day. The state government has received
immediate help from the central government and therefore, preparedness is
going on at war footing to provide relief to people. The government has
decided to distribute food grain according to the number of members in per
household in the drought affected areas.
You have been appointed as the Relief Commissioner and is the head of the
relief operation. You have been asked to ensure that there is no any sort of
leakage, corruption and only the intended beneficiary should get the
foodgrain.
To ensure the same you took the following measures
a) Identifying the list of beneficiary by using the government household
survey and census data.
b) Linking the distribution with Aadhaar and ration card as a proof of
beneficiary.
c) Giving strict instruction to the fair shops through which the distribution is
taking place that their licence will be cancelled in case of any corruption.
It was found that even if the above steps have been taken still there were
reports of nexus, corruption, leakage and unintended beneficiary also received
the relief and therefore, the Commissioner is transferred by the government.
Suppose, you replace the Commissioner then what other measures will be
taken by you.
Evaluate the options and choose the most appropriate option, giving reasons.

CASE STUDY 194 A teacher who has become popular among the students
for his sincerity and dedication towards teaching, caring and nurturing, has
been transferred to another school. The present school is overstaffed and
according to the rule the youngest teachers are chosen for the transfer.
Therefore, the transfer is part of usual process and based on objective teaching
hierarchy. The school he has been transferred is understaffed.
But this transfer of teacher did not go well with the students. When teacher
was about to leave the school after completing the formalities, he was held
hostage symbolically by the students. The very emotional protest by the
students became a viral news and parents of children also joined them for
protesting against the transfer order.
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CASE STUDY SESSION –VII LUKMAAN IAS

Students even threatened to get SLC(school leaving certificate) and leave the
school along with the teacher.
Suppose you are the district education inspector responsible for routine
transfer of teacher for efficient utilization of workforce, then what should be
your possible courses of action?

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

CASE STUDY 195 A day before PM is slated to inaugurate the irrigation
project worth Rs several thousand crores, some RTI activists alleged massive
corruption in the mega project. They claimed that, a total of 170 families were
deemed eligible for compensation of Rs. 5 lakh each but forged documents
were furnished for doling out money to ineligible persons and those who were
eligible were excluded from the process. Some villagers decided to wave black
flags during the Prime Minister’s visit.
The activists also claimed that the former collector of the District had detected
a fraud of Rs. 30 crore in the project and informed the principal secretary, but
no action has been taken till date.
There is also twist to the story that one RTI activist has just come after serving
3 months of imprisonment and it seems there is vested interest.
Suppose you are present collector of the District and is responsible for PM visit
arrangements, what are the challenges for you? How will you deal with the
situation?

CASE STUDY 196 The ministry of health appointed an expert team to

conduct epidemiological study on the health of 1,000 agricultural workers to
know the impact of pesticide exposure on health. The study finds that there
are adverse impacts on the health of agricultural workers such as the
possibility of skin cancer. The report finds its way in media which result into
public outcry. However, the ministry rejects the findings of the team as it does
not find satisfactory.
The ministry of environment has requested the ministry of health not to
disclose the findings unless it carries its own study to verify the facts as its
expansion plan for genetically modified seeds may get affected.

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A RTI activist applies for information to PIO of ministry of health. Now, the PIO
is in dilemma what he should do? So far, the PIO has a good record of
disclosing information for which he has been recently appreciated.
e) The PIO should consult the higher authority and act as per the advice.
f) The PIO should refuse to disclose the information as it is sensitive and can
create law and order problem.
g) The PIO should partially disclose the information which is not related to
the adverse impact on health.
h) The PIO should disclose the complete information to maintain his good
record.

CASE STUDY 197 An applicant approached an organization - notified by a

State Government in the official Gazette as a "intelligence and security
organization" - with an RTI application. The applicant approached the
designated PIO of that organization and asked for information that he claimed
pertained to violation of his human right.
At first, the PIO responded saying that the Public Authority concerned is not
bound to give the information. When told that even an exempted organization
has to give information pertaining to Human Rights Violation, the PIO argued
that he was not convinced that the information involved human right violation.
The applicant mentioned to the PIO that he is well-versed with the provisions
of the RTI Act, 2005 and that he will not hesitate to pursue his case not just
with the Information Commission concerned`, but if need be, he'd go all the
way to the Supreme Court. Hearing this, the PIO felt that it would be o.k. to
give information to the applicant right away to avoid any further hassles. In
fact, the First Appellate Authority too had asked the PIO to do so.

QUESTIONS
a) Is the applicant right in thinking that he can go all the way to the Supreme
Court seeking a remedy if he is not satisfied, because he thinks that the
information he is seeking pertains to a violation of his human right? Why
do you think so?
b) Is the PIO right in giving information to the applicant and taking the
applicant`s or anybody else's word about it pertaining to the violation of is
human right and giving information held by an organization notified by
the State Government as an `intelligence and security organization`?
Justify.

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