New Delhi, October 5: In an unprecedented move, 71 former bureaucrats have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the sanction granted to prosecute four ex-officials in connection to the INX Media case. In their open letter to the PM, they have condemned the Centre's decision to allow the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute four ex-officials who had implemented a directive issued by the erstwhile UPA government. P Chidambaram Denied Bail by Delhi High Court in INX Media Case, to Remain in Jail.

The four former officers whom the probing agency wants to prosecute includes Sindhushree Khullar, who served as the Chief Executive Officer of Modi government's Niti Aayog before retiring. Other accused include Anup Pujari, former MSME secretary, Prabodh Saxena, former Director in Finance Ministry, and Rabindra Prasad, former Under Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs. 

Among those who are signatories to the open letter include Shivshankar Menon, former Foreign Secretary and National Security Advisor. The former government officers have warned the Centre of "demotivating" diligent and committed officers by punishing them for the alleged fault of the policy makers.

"Serving officials will naturally be demotivated if diligent and honest officers are selectively targeted for punishment for no fault of theirs other than that they were implementing the policy decisions of the government of the day," the letter added.

"It will not be surprising if civil servants procrastinate before processing and examining every proposal of importance, as they have no guarantee that they would not be implicated in criminal proceedings many years later," the letter said.

If files are allowed to be "exhumed and dissected on the basis of hindsight and that too with no bar on the time that has elapsed", no decisions will be made at all in government, they added.

"It is indeed a travesty when governance systems spare no effort in ensuring that political elements charged with or prosecuted for very serious offences are given latitude while officers who have faithfully served the nation for over three decades are arraigned on the flimsiest of technical grounds. In the interests of justice, we earnestly urge that there be an early resolution of this issue," the letter further read.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 05, 2019 03:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).