Jagadish Chandra Mohanty
| Jagadish Chandra Mohanty | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 1, 1958 Cuttack, Odisha |
| 🏡 Residence | Cuttack, Odisha |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Indian |
| 🎓 Alma mater | Utkal University, Bhubneswar |
| 💼 Occupation | Government service (Indian Administrative Service) |
| Title | Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Dr Padmashree Pattnaik |
| 👶 Children | Arunabh Mohanty; Anuroop Mohanty |
[edit]
Early life :[edit]
He spent his childhood at Angul, Odisha. His grandfather Gagan Bihari Das was the most prominant lawyer of the then district Dhenkanal. Das who originally belonged to Cuttack shifted to Angul in the year 1923 and started practicing law there. Apart from being the leading lawyer, he provided political leadership to Angul, although he never contested in any election. He emerged as the most vocal proponent of Angul and contributed to establishment of school, college, hospital and various other key institutions. He was closely associated with Biju Pattnaik, Pavitra Mohan Pradhan and other prominent political leaders of the State. In fact these leaders will invariably come to him to consult him on various matters related to Angul. His elder brother was Padma Charan Das who was a member of Indian Civil Service and was the first Revenue Secretary of Odisha after Independence. He was conferred the title of Rai Sahib by Viceroy of India in the year 1938. Mohanty's early childhood from 1960 to 1967 was spent in Angul. He was greatly influenced by the commitment of his maternal grandfather to develop the people of Angul. Angul remains etched in his childhood memory.
Mohanty studied in Ranihat High School at Cuttack from 1967 to 1972. This school was headed by a great teacher Vanchhanidhi Satpathy who believed in providing access to children of all sections of society irrespective of their social or economic status. Unlike many other elite schools of Cuttack who were very choosy and screened the family background of children while considering them for admission, Satpathy gave admission to any child who approached his school. The result was that Mohanty's schoolmates included children of eminent professors of Economics, English literature who studied abroad on one extreme and the children of daily wage labourers on the other. Interaction with this wide range of schoolmates gave Mohanty a unique opportunity to have an insight into life of children and families of all strata of society. This inculcated an egalitarian approach towards all sections of society and genuine friendship as well as empathy. The range of his school friends in later stage of life included a dear friend turning into a dreaded criminal who was detained under the National Security Act in the year 1994, on the other side his classmates turned out to be most prominent economists, sculptors, political leaders of the State later.
Mohanty took keen interest in students' politics. He was elected in the year 1975 as Secretary of Day Scholars' Association while studying BA (Hons.) Political Scince in the prestigious Ravenshow College. National Emergency was imposed in the year 1975 upto 1977 by the-then Prime Minister Mrs.Indira Gandhi. Mohanty was part of the students' protest against Emergency. He stood first in 1st class in BA(Hons.) Political Science in the year 1976. He also was topper and gold medalist of Political Science in the year 1976. He was an active participant in various students' protest movements against Emergency. Emergency was lifted in the year 1977. On the request of friends and classmates Mohanty decided to contest for the post of President of Utkal University Students' Union in the politically charged atmosphere in 1977. He declined candidature of the student wing of various political parties as he believed that voice of students protesting against various evils and injustice should not be influenced by the ideology of political parties. Many of the candidates in the election of that year were those who were detained for 22 months during National emergency. Mohanty got elected as President which was a kind of pleasant surprise in political circles. He led a number of protests and went behind the bars on a number of occasions. He invited a number of eminent persons including Biju Pattnaik, Ravi Ray, Piloo Modi, Subrahmaniam Swami, Ram Jethmalani to the campus functions. Mohanty again surprised everyone by securing first position in political science and winning university's gold-medal in 1978.
Mohanty was advised by senior political leaders to join politics. In fact both Biju Pattnaik and J.B. Pattnaik urged him to join politics irrespective of his liking for any political party. Both of them motivated him with the purpose that meritorious and capable young people should be in politics to provide leadership to the people of the State in future. However owing to adverse family situation Mohanty had to forego the option of joining politics. As a student union leader Mohanty had easy access to Biju Pattnaik and entered his house at will. Pattnaik was fond of him as he knew him from his childhood at Angul. However when Mohanty told him that he would not join politics, Pattnaik was sad. He mildly rebuked saying that Mohanty should not enter Pattnaik house any more as he has chosen to be a salaried public servant. Later on Mohanty joined the prestigious Indian Administrative Service in 1985 and got allocated to Rajasthan cadre.
Glimpses of service carrier :[edit]
(A) 1987-89 :[edit]
Coming from the background of turbulent student politics Mohanty was a kind of misfit in higher administrative service. He was forthright, fearless and deeply committed to the upliftment of the weaker section and helpless people. As was his background in school and college, he freely mixed with everyone and had genuine concern and empathy for the poor and helpless. He had no fear for rowdy elements in politics as he exactly knew how they operate. He had great respect for noble political leaders and elected representatives. He had equal contempt for those who wanted to highjack politics by their money and muscle power. He allotted 2200 acre of land to poor villagers under a scheme for afforestation with the support of resourceful persons, although it became a subject of controversy later on.
(B) 1989-90 :[edit]
Mohanty was posted at Sriganganagar between 1989 and 1990 as Additional Collector (Development) and Ex-officio Project Director of District Rural Development Agency in Sriganganagar. Mohanty also held charge of Collector of the district when General Vidhansabha election was held. That was a the peak of Punjab terrorism and Sriganganagar is on the border of Punjab. Akali Dal Mann led by former DIG of Police Simranjeet Singh Mann decided to contest all 10 assembly constituencies in the district. It was an uncomfortable political situation as it would have meant intrusion of terrorist politics in Rajasthan. Mohanty fearlessly opposed the high handed tactics of Mann and ensured free and fair election without any fear. The result was that Akali Dal failed to win any seat from Sriganganagar. This was a surprise in the political circles. The-then new Chief Minister Bhainron Singh Sekhawat was curious to know about Mohanty when he heard many stories about his fearlessness.
(C) 1990-99 :[edit]
An interesting episode happened when Mohanty was subsequently posted as Deputy Secretary in secretariat at Jaipur. Chief Minister Shekhawat was well known as a strong administrator among the senior most political leaders of the country. An order was passed by him that government officers will not be permitted to use government vehicles for other than official use. This order superseded an earlier order which entitled officers to use the government vehicle for personal purpose on payment of a definite sum. Chief Minister even instructed police officials to keep a watch over any "government officer misusing government vehicle". Mohanty protested that such order was unnecessary and humiliating. He wrote an article titled "Austerity Reconsidered" and sought permission from Chief Secretary to publish it and distributed copies to his colleagues including the then Personal Secretary to Chief Minister. Mohanty protested that the remark of the Chief Minister that he would "cut to size the officers" was unnecessary as All Indian Service officers were already receiving much less salary and perks compared to their peers in private sector. He also remarked that Chief Minister, as a circus master, intended to use vehicle-misuse issue as a stick to control the lions who have the constitutional duty to check the whims and fancies of the political masters. Such a write-up led to almost a wave of horror among the senior civil servants They were mortally afraid that the Chief Minister of such a high stature is going to make mince-meat of Mohanty. This article was written on 24th April, 1991. On the contrary, Shekhawat was amused and did nothing to punish him. While the next round of posting of district collectors was made, he posted Mohanty as district collector of district Baran by superseding a dozen officers of two senior batches. Eye brows were raised when this happened and senior persons in political circle and bureaucracy greatly appreciated the magnanimity of Shekhawat. In fact he remarked to a senior journalist later that there must be something in a young officer who dare fearlessly write against him being fully aware of its severe consequences. Full article is available elsewhere.
Chief Secretary summoned Mohanty when an application for permission to publish the article was seen by him. He blasted at him demanding to know from him the reason for writing such strongly worded write-up when Chief Minister had all the justification to check misuse of government vehicles by officers. He rebuked saying that Mohanty should stop behaving like a students’ union leader and learn to work in the system that he has now chosen. Mohanty replied that it was not a question of facility of a vehicle. The first car in which he stepped inside was a Ford owned by his maternal grandfather. So the issue was not of an ambassador car but the dignity of the service and the apparent high handed attitude of Chief Minister trying to humiliate the officers. Chief Secretary instructed that the letter seeking permission be immediately withdrawn and should not be shared with anyone. Mohanty replied that he has already distributed about 40 copies to his colleagues in secretariat. Hearing this, Chief Secretary looked at Mohanty in utter disbelief and said "God save you my child”. Another senior bureaucrat who was sitting with Police Chief in his chamber called Mohanty and remarked that his article was "a brilliantly written suicidal note".
(D) 1991-92 : Tenue as District Magistrate, Baran[edit]
Baran was a difficult district known for the aggressive and violent behavior of people. Vasundhara Raje was elected from this district for the first time as Member of Parliament in 1991. Her vehicle was stoned by miscreants even though she was from the ruling party.
Two interesting incidents happened to Mohanty at this stage of his career. Posted as Collector for the first time every IAS officer looks forward to a great opportunity to serve the people. So was the enthusiasm of Mohanty. An article appeared in the August 15, 1991 issue of India Today that alleged that Mohanty was the kingpin of an Rs.200 crore land scam in Jaipur. There was a box item in this two full page report carrying a remark by Shekhawat that “such officers were worse than thugs and pindaris”. This article came as a rude shock to Mohanty.
The background of this article was allotment of 2200 acre of land during his first posting as Sub Divisional Magistrate of Jaipur for afforestation and to provide livelihood to local people. Mohanty did lot of hard work for a scheme that was named as "An Integrated Dhoond River Waste land Development Project". He indeed was looking forward to "Indira Priyadharshini award" for good work for environment. As encouraged by his mentor M.L. Mehta. Shri Mehta was an exemplary officer of IAS and was Secretary to Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in his tenure from 1977 to 1979. Unruffled, Mohanty challenged the contents of the article. Shekhawat himself came to know later on that he was misled against Mohanty by the then Collector of Jaipur who was very close to him. Later on Shekhawat personally called Mohanty and expressed his regret on this issue and encouraged Mohanty to go ahead and continue his fearless work.
Another very unusual incidence happened during Mohanty’s tenure in Baran. Emboldened by the support of Shekhawat, Mohanty went around taking stern action against hooligans and anti-social elements including some from ruling party. Irritated by such action nearly 150 people of BJP entered the chamber of Collector and started breaking furniture and creation ruckus. Mohanty was in his residential office. The hooligans put bangles in the hands of the-then Addl. District Magistrate in the office and challenged Mohanty to come to office, failing which they threatened to come to his residence. Mohanty arrived office in his jeep and was accompanied by two police constables. As soon as he arrived in his office they pelted stones on his vehicle. Looking to the violent behavior of these elements an order was announced under section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code demanding such elements to leave the office campus. Despite this the stone pelting continued. Looking to this situation the gunman of Collector took out his service revolver. Mohanty apprehended that constable may open fire on the crowd. In this situation Mohanty instinctively snatched the revolver from him and pointed the revolver at the miscreants warning them to calm down. The mob did not stop at this. So on the spur of the moment Mohanty fired 3 rounds making sure that nobody was harmed. In the meantime police arrived and the situation was controlled. As was expected this became a national news. Some newspapers appreciated his courageous behavior while a number of others compared this to the attitude of Colonial Indian Civil Services officers. Mohanty was deeply apprehensive of disciplinary action against him.
Out of concern he rang Biju Pattnaik who was then the Chief Minister of Odisha. Hearing the episode on phone Pattnaik asked on phone as to how many people got killed or injured. On hearing Mohanty’s reply that no one was harmed, he gave his classic comment saying "You fool, you wasted 3 bullets of your government". Later on he spoke to Shekhawat, Mohanty was certain that he would be suspended or transferred and strict displinary action would follow. Many officers remarked that this is the opportunity for Shekhawat to teach Mohanty a lesson for his foolish bravado.
Shekhawat summoned Mohanty, heard the details of the episode and posed a one liner to Mohanty "suppose you face an identical situation in future what would be your reaction". Without pausing for a moment Mohanty replied that he would do exactly what he did taking into account the overall situation. Incidentally Mohanty had met a number of senior officers to explain his unusual conduct. Everyone said that he had crossed his limits and his action was not expected of a senior bureaucrat. He behaved more like a student union leader than as a gentle bureaucrat. Shekhawat was talking to Mohanty in his car on way to airport. When he got down from his car, a number of officers including Chief Secretary and Police Chief were present. He kept his arm on Mohanty’s shoulder and remarked that he took a very wise decision and showed tremendous practical sense in handling the situation. With this, the attitude and body language of the officers instantly changed. They also stated praising Mohanty's witty presence of mind. Shekhawat later sent an observer from BJP to conduct an enquiry into the action of some of BJP young members who were present in the incident and suspended 6 top office bearers for their misconduct. This was yet another gesture of magnanimity and support to a young officer by a great statesman of the country. Mohanty was indeed lucky and narrowly escaped what could have been a disaster for his career.
Of course an FIR was lodged in the police station on this incident. It took Mohanty 14 years to come out of this case as innocent. At one point of time senior officers had advised Mohanty to deny having fired the shots and asked the constable to take the blame on himself. The constable readily agreed for this out of deep regard for Mohanty. But Mohanty out-rightly rejected such idea to defend himself putting the blame on real innocent low salaried young constable.
(E) 1992-1994 – UNICEF HEALTH PROJECTSWACH[edit]
Shekhawat continued Mohanty as Collector in the same district for another two months. Then posted him as Project Director of a UNICEF supported project to eradicate guinea-worm that caused a dreaded debilitating disease in the tribal area of the State. He wanted to take up the challenge of eradicating guinea-worm in a period of 2 years. This was a challenging task. Mohanty worked day and night in tribal area. The project could achieve historic success of Zero incidences in the year 1994. This was a unique achievement that saved the population of nearly one million tribals from this dreaded water borne disease. The illiterate tribal women were mobilized in a massive way for this project which greatly empowered them to handle their problem instead of depending on the government machinery. Guinea-worm has been next disease after Small-pox to have been eradicated from the country. This became the flagship project of UNICEF and a number of delegations from other countries came to visit the project. University of Swansea, UK conducted a detailed evaluation study of the project and praised the proactive role of Mohanty. Jon Rhode was heading the health division of UNICEF of India who subsequently became the global chief of UNICEF. He offered an assignment to Mohanty to go to African countries and advise them to over the guinea-worm problem. However Mohanty politely declined the offer and nominated a zonal officer of the project who joined UNICEF and got observed there subsequently.
(F) 1995-1997 : Tenure as District Magistrate Sawai Madhopur[edit]
Mohanty assumed that he would not be given another chance to work as a district collector owing to the Baran incident. However Shekhawat again sent him to another backward and troublesome district named Sawai Madhopur. When Mohanty called on Chief Minister before proceeding for the new assignment Shekhawat quipped "do not ever carry a weapon with you, you simply point your finger towards the miscreants and that would be enough". Mohanty worked in this difficult district as the longest serving Collector for two and half years between 1995 to 1997. He worked a lot for women literacy amongst tribals, protection of tiger in Ranthambore Tiger Reserve from poachers etc. Quite expectedly this tenure also included few unusual events. Exposing a fake godman who was trying to construct a temple tress passing upon footpath, beating unscrupulous owner of medicine shop who gave wrong medicine causing death of a woman in a hospital, taking up of a literacy project for prostitutes and their children are still parts of the folklore of his tenure.
(G) 1999-2000 : Tenure as District Magistrate Ajmer[edit]
In the year 1999, Congress came into power with Ashok Gehlot as a Chief Minister. Mohanty was at that time posted as Registrar of Stamps and Duties in Ajmer. The local minister, whom Mohanty never met earlier, offered to post him as Collector of Ajmer. Ajmer is a prestigious district of Rajasthan. The British government headquarters was in Ajmer and all the princely States of Rajputana were administered from here. Mohanty politely told the minister that his career has been very controversial. Hence while thanking the minister for his offer, he confessed that he would not be considered appropriate for this post and there were many other worthy contenders. Again to everyone’s surprise Mohanty was posted as District Collector of Ajmer. Where he got the opportunity to mobilize maximum fund support for the Kargil martyrs.
(H) 1999-2001 : Tenure as District Magistrate Kota[edit]
Mohanty was posted for the 4th time District Collector of district named Kota. Kota is a neighbouring district of Baran and was notorious for unruly behavior by the young political workers. Mohanty served there for a long tenure of two and half years between 1999 to 2002. There was yet another controversial incident in this tenure. A dreaded hooligan belonging to a feudal family had forcefully taken possession of an agricultural land that was allotted to poor persons belonging to low caste and tribe. These people fought a long-drawn litigation upto the Apex Court of the country. Ultimately they got a decree in their favour. Collector was expected to handover possession of the disputed land to these people from the clutches of that feudal criminal. However more than 2 years passed but no action was taken. The Collector would issue written instructions to the revenue and police officials again and again. Father of this criminal was an ex-top level politician holding a district level post. The criminal himself had a number of cases of murder and extortion against him. They had support of party in power and local minister. Hence quite expectedly things would not move and only correspondence happened.
The local Member of Parliament of Kota was a respected senior political leader. He was earlier MLA at Baran when Mohanty had done the firing. He had remarked once that Mohanty occasionally loses control over him and behaves in an unusual manner not befitting the position of a senior bureaucrat. As Member of Parliament of Kota he approached Mohanty and complained that no effective action was being taken to restore the possession of the disputed land from the feudal criminal to the poor people. On this Mohanty wrote strong letters again to concerned authorities. Member of Parliament met Mohanty 3 times more and every time Mohanty would write an additional strong letter to the officials. Out of desperation, the senior leader once remarked that Mohanty of Baran and Sawai Madhopur has changed. He is no more committed to the suffering of the poor. On hearing this Mohanty gave him a befitting reply. He said that he wanted to demonstrate to the Member of Parliament that he knows how to work with dignity doing paper work that brings no solution to the problems of people in the field. Yet when he takes strong action senior people like MP himself comment that Mohanty gets into fits of imbalance not befitting the status of a senior officer. It pained Mohanty to see the anguish of the poor and helpless. MP realized his mistake and then sent the applicants to meet Mohanty personally. They came from a distant tehsil and Mohanty assured them for relief. When they were on their way back the feudal criminal came to know of it. He detained them in the bus stand and tonsured their head in public to demonstrate the punishment that they would be given to persons approaching higher authority against him. This news travelled like wild fire and Mohanty came to know of it. Next day Mohanty arrived at the same spot where the poor people were tonsured in public. He ordered the police to go to the compound of the feudal criminal where he lived in a huge house. He instructed that they should call him thrice if he does not come out, they will be free to fire upon him. Hearing this criminal fled from his house. Criminal owned nearly 600 acres of land in the village and wheat crop was standing in the fields. Mohanty ordered that no one would go to cultivate those fields or harvest the crop without his permission. He invited the poor sufferers and apologized in front of the public for the humiliation cause to them in public. The possession of the land was handed over to them on the same day. Subsequently Mohanty issued a warrant of arrest against the criminal under the National Security Act under which District Magistrate had the powers to detain a person upto a period of 2 months without trial. Subsequently such order was to be approved by the home department and by high court. Criminal absconded from home and the wheat crop that was ready for harvest remained unharvested. There was a lot of political pressure on Mohanty to withdraw the order. Mohanty resisted firmly. Finally the criminal surrendered and was imprisoned and only then his family was allowed to reap the harvest.
Inspite of all justification the home department neither approved nor disapproved the case that was pending before them for 2 months. As a result, the validity of Mohanty’s order was expired. The criminal came out from Jail. There was huge celebration in front of the jail. They moved to Jaipur in a car in late night. There was an accident beyond the boundary of Kota district in which both the criminal and his father died. This was very unfortunate, rumours went around that Mohanty and his colleague Superintendent of Police had planned the road accident. It was expected that the powerful clan to which he belongs and political supporters of the ruling party would protest and demand action as they suspected that Mohanty and the Superintendent of Police of district were behind the accident. Mohanty himself took the initiative and met the members of the clan and explained his position. Luckily for Mohanty there was no protest excepting few complaints by the close associates of the dreaded feudal criminal. On the contrary the clan gave a rousing farewell to Mohanty when he was transferred after about a year.
References[edit]
- ↑ http://www.dop.rajasthan.gov.in/forms/Officer_Details.aspx
- ↑ Mohanty, J. C (2017). "Competitive Governance: An Alternative to Meet Ever Growing Demand for Public Service in India". Indian Journal of Public Administration. 52 (3): 440–447. doi:10.1177/0019556120060313.
- ↑ Mohanty, J.C (2017). "Social Sector at Crossroads". Indian Journal of Public Administration. 51 (3): 531–538. doi:10.1177/0019556120050318.
- ↑ Mohanty, J.C (2017). "Reforming the Reformers: A Case for Disengaging the Old Guards". Indian Journal of Public Administration. 50: 228–235. doi:10.1177/0019556120040123.
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