When Bihar Election Commissioner D.P. Maheshwari surrendered before a special CBI court in connection with the multi-crore bitumen scam last week, there was little reaction to the news. The retired IAS official, who was secretary, road construction, when the scam broke out, came to the court with his lawyer Ramvinay Singh and gave himself up before the designated CBI judge R.N. Sharma after a non-bailable arrest warrant was issued against him and superintending engineer Janardan Sharma. Dismissing his application for bail, the court remanded Maheshwari to judicial custody till September 23 but given the impunity of such moves in the past, there is little that is expected to come out of the case.

If officials are to be believed, more than 70 bureaucrats in Bihar are presently facing a vigilance inquiry while the state Government has admitted in an affidavit to the Patna High Court that cases were registered against 57 IAS officers under the Economic Offence Act in connection with the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) scam. The court had also ordered that cases be filed against 67 questionable IAS officers who had been appointed as MDs or administrators in 44 PSUs. "If a fresh inquiry is set up, 90 per cent of the IAS would be found accused in various scams in connection with the PSUs," says the general secretary of the Council For Protection of Public Rights & Welfare.

There has been a flood of scams in Bihar during the past 15 years. Starting with the Rs 1,153 crore fodder scam in 1996, the state has had to contend with the bitumen scam, Indira Awas scam, B-Ed degree scam, medicine purchase scam, red-card distribution scandal, land scam, blanket distribution scandal and muster roll scam. "There is a scam in each and every department in the state, " says BJP spokesperson Kiran Ghai. According to a recent survey conducted by the Centre for Media Studies and Transparency International India, Bihar is the most corrupt state in India. The study, which focused on petty corruption in 11 public services, concluded that Indians paid a total bribe of Rs 21,068 crore last year. While the biggest chunk went in bribing those granting certificates and admissions to educational institutions, the police came a close second.

Sending officials to jail on charges of corruption has made little difference over the years. Some of them have even been reinstated. Sajal Chakraborty, who went to jail in connection with the fodder scam, is presently secretary of a key department in Jharkhand. Another IAS officer, Ashok Kumar Singh, who was in jail and has now been bailed out in connection with a vigilance case, has also been given an important post in the state. Former Rashtriya Janata Dal minister for road construction Iliyas Hussain, who was recently appointed as the chairman of the National Yatri Sukh-Suvidha Samiti by Railway Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, is also named as an accused in the bitumen case.

Similarly, much-maligned fodder-scam accused IAS officials like Foolchand Singh, Beck Julious, K. Arumugham and M. Prasad are still continuing in plum posts posts in Jharkhand after facing a series of inquiries. It is believed that Maheshwari's arrest too will not make any difference.

Meanwhile, in view of the ensuing assembly polls, transfers of bureaucrats have also become an issue. Accusing the Election Commission of playing a partisan role in transferring Bihar government officials, the RJD has demanded reservation in constitutional bodies, including the topmost poll panel. "Mostly, officers belonging to Dalit and minority communities are being shifted by the EC," says RJD national spokesman Shivanand Tiwari.

The EC, however, denies acting in any partosan manner. On the complaint of Lalu Yadav that 17 IPS officials had been transferred and posted on caste considerations, Chief Election Commissioner B.B. Tondon said the EC was in no way instrumental and it had been done for "administrative reasons." "It is only in a few cases that the commission has sought transfer of officials. Otherwise it has been done by the state for administrative reasons," he clarified.

As such allegations and counter allegations fly about, the controversy surrounding IAS officer and former Patna District Magistrate Gautam Goswami refuses to die down, although to no avail. Allegedly involved in the flood relief scam, he is currently in the Beur Jail even as the central government has asked the Bihar Government to explain how he had been allowed to join the Sahara Group without any permission from the IAS cadre-controlling authority. Goswami joined the Sahara Group without prior permission of the state government in a clear violation of the All-India Services Conduct Rules, 1968. "People, however, will soon forget Goswami," says a senior bureaucrat in the state. The cynicism in his voice is unmistakeable

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