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IAS officer’s wife e-attacks ‘corrupt’ bureaucracy

A website launched by an IAS officer’s wife in Karnataka that claims to crusade against corrupt bureaucrats has shaken the state’s babudom.

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Woman uses website to take on Karnataka babudom after her husband is moved 6 times in 6 months

BANGALORE: A website launched by an IAS officer’s wife in Karnataka that claims to crusade against corrupt bureaucrats has shaken the state’s babudom. JN Jayashree’s site, www.fightcorruption.wikidot.com, details her attempts to secure information through the Right to Information Act (RTI).

Jayashree took recourse to RTI after her husband MN Vijayakumar, who is the managing director of the state-owned Mysore Lamps, was transferred six times between September 2006 and February 2007. Some of his postings lasted only three days. Jayashree said she wanted to unearth the reasons for the ‘harassment’.

“Failing to get appropriate information, I decided to go public with my campaign,” Jayashree said. She has filed 12 applications under the RTI Act, seeking facts related to the state government’s alleged ‘shielding’ of corrupt officials. “I want to assist people who have knowledge of corrupt practices but are afraid to take these up for various reasons,” Jayashree said.

For his part, Vijayakumar has lodged a compliant against state Chief Secretary PB Mahishi with the state’s anti-corruption ombudsman. Vijayakumar has accused Mahishi of shielding corrupt officers. The ombudsman has ordered Mahishi to respond to the charges by June 27.

When DNA contacted Mahishi, he refused to comment either on the site or on Vijayakumar’s complaint.

Vijayakumar, whose petition is pending, is not talking to the media either.

Although Mahishi has hinted at legal action if the website is not shut down, Jayashree remains unrelenting. “I have launched it as an independent citizen of India,” she said. She has complained to the State Women’s Commission that Mahishi is trying to infringe on her “fundamental right.”

The commission has asked Mahishi to appear before it on July 10. The three-month-old site has drawn appreciation from activists and whistleblowers from across the world. It has even attracted some support from babudom. “If we had more Jayshrees, the system would have been better,” a woman IAS officer has said on the site’s forum.

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