The West Bengal State Council of the Communist Party of India in its memorandum to the Union President presented in New Delhi on July 29, charged the State Government with having run the administration "in calculated defiance of the directive principles of the Constitution of India", and "grossly abused" the powers and authority that emanated from it. The Communist Party's Charge Sheet against the State Government in the form of memorandum was also submitted to the West Bengal Governor Miss Padmja Naidu on July 30.

The memorandum said that "far from conducting the administration in conformity with the purposes of the Constitution the Council of Ministers of West Bengal headed by Dr. B. C. Roy has foisted on this State a blatant misrule marked by cynical disregarded of fundamental rights and vital interests of the citizens, by insatiable lust for power and for party and personal gains, by deceit and dishonesty, by graft and enormous corruption.

"The sole beneficiaries of this mis-rule and corruption had been a handful of moneyed exploiters, Ministers and their favourites, the corrupt officials and some careerists and selfseekers among their party men. The masses of the people have suffered all along almost to the limit of their endurance and that misery and frustration still continue unmitigated."

Mr. Jyoti Basu, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly who along with

Mr. Bhupesh Gupta, a member of the Rajya Sabha, had presented the memorandum to the President, told the Press that the Communist Party had not come to the conclusion, despite the example set in Kerala, that on the basis of the charge sheet it should organize a movement to get rid of the Congress Govern

ment.

Colossal Waste

of

Under the head "colossal wastage of public funds, rank corruption and nepotism, unashamed appeasement of the vested interests", the memorandum said that the history of 11 years of Congress rule in his State was a sordid record of failures and misrule. The policies of the Government had been deliberately framed to safeguard and subserve the interests of Indian and foreign monopoly capitalists and other money-bags and to acheive party and peronsal gains. The memorandum said that the colossal sums money earmarked for development purposes had gone down drain for no other reasons than utter inefficiency and bungling and callous indifference on the part of Government. The main beneficiaries of this wastage and misrule of public funds had been a few big contractors and business men and certain other persons basking in the sunshine of ministerial patronage and who in turn helped the ministers and the Congress Party financially and in other ways. The memorandum cited a number of cases involving wastage of public funds. "The main responsibility for this should be fixed squarely on the Chief Minister and the Food Minister. It is these two Ministers who had systematically directed the Local Government Officials to fix purchase price two to three times higher than the actual value of the properties taken over by Government."

The memorandum said that the State Government had built around itself a little empire of permits and contracts, the sole beneficiaries of which had been a handful of monied people who were close friends and relations of the Ministers.

Corrupt Officers

The memorandum also cited instances to show how the Government was deliberately (Continued on next page 80)

Burma

Prison For Demoralising Services

A Rangoon Magistrate has sentenced U Yu Maung, Editor of the "Rangoon Daily" under the Emergency Powers Act to 18 months rigorous imprisonment for publishing an article in April last, which, according to the Magistrate, had set in demoralisation among civil service personnel and army officers on special duty in various departments of the Government. The article was also regarded as being serious enough to affect the administration adversely and to make people lose faith in the Government of the day. The magistrate also ordered the confiscation of the machinery of the Press.

Ceylon

Bribery Charge Against Minister

The Speaker of Ceylon's House of Representatives, Mr. H. S. Ismail, has agreed that an inquiry be held into allegations of bribery, made on the floor of the House recently, against the Minister of Posts and Broadcasting, Mr. C. A. S. Narikar. His approval was sought by the Minister himself as the Speaker's consent is necessary under the Bribery Act to initiate inquiries against a Member of Parliament.

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not only shielding utterly corrupt officers but also giving promotions to them to higher positions. It alleged that the opinion of the State Public Service Commission was disregarded by the Government in certain cases. Mr. Sidhhartha Shankar Ray, a former Cabinet Minister, had made serious allegations of nepotism and corruption, wastage and misuse of public money and moral turpitude against certain officials, it pointed out.

The memorandum deplored the use of various black acts including the Preventive Detention Act which, it said helped the Government in no small measure to intensify its offensive against the people. The Government had treated resolutions passed by the State Assembly unanimously with contempt and had attempted to wipe out political opponents.

Nepal

Screening Of Secretariat Officers

Nepel's first elected Government on July 25 named 11 of its topmost officers-all in the Secretariat-after thorough screening. District Officers and Officers of Under Secretary's ranks will be named next. Screening of all Government servants began nearly three years ago, but no Government had taken any final decision before. A Cabinet Spokesman said that the idea of screening was to streamline the administration. King Mahendra, referring to administration, said on July 24 that the Government machinery was being made "efficient, simple, economical and upto-date."

Among the top officers named on July 25 were General Shobhag Jung Thapa and Rana Pratap Thapa, both of whom continue to be Secretary to Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministry, respectively. General Thapa additionally will be Cabinet Secretary. Mr. Kulnath Lohani, another senior officer, has been named the Planning Secretary. A couple of Secretaries have been dropped out and a few Deputy Secretaries have been promoted as

Secretaries.

It is also proposed to reduce the number of officers which at present is about 500. Salaries of lower grade officers would be in

creased to make the Goverament service attractive to efficient to efficient youths on financial grounds.

Pakistan

Drive Against Corrupt Inefficient Officers

Karachi administration on Jure 19 compulsorily retired 24 Gazetted officers and demoted two on charges of corruption, after the screening of service records. These included seven additional city magistrates and nine police officers. The list of 24 compulsorily-retired officers, who included four deputy superintendents of police and five police inspectors, was in addition to the list of 84 officers retired or dismissed on June 27.

The administration also announced another list of 86 Class III officers, who have been

demoted or retired on the same charges. Seventy-eight of these have been compulsorily retired and the rest demoted. Twentyfour officials were sub-inspectors of police. 1,662 Officers Punished

It was announced in Karachi on July 2 that a total of 1,662 Central Government

employees had been punished for misconduct, corruption or inefficiency as a result of the screening operation begun by President Ayub Khan's military regime six months ago. The majority of officials concerned had been compulsorily retired and the remainder reduced in rank or censured.

Former I.C.S. Officer's Writ Petition

A Division Bench of the West Pakistan High Court on July 2 dismissed a writ petition filed by Mr. Zafrul Ahsan, formerly of the Indian Civil Service, against an order of the Pakistan President placing him under compulsory retirement. Mr. Zafrul Ahsan in his petition had contended that at the time of joining the Indian Civil Service in 1936 he had entered into a covenant governing his service conditions and that his conditions of service could not be altered without his consent. He had further argued that breach of terms contained in covenant of service offended against international law and that the order compulsorily retiring him from service had not been passed by the authority (Secretary of State for India) that appointed him.

The Division Bench observed that the British Government was no longer interested or competent to deal with cases of its former servants who chose to become servants of Pakistan. It further opined that although

it was true that conditions of service of persons appointed by the Secretary of State for India was guaranteed at the time of partition of British India in 1947, those conditions were changed from time to time and recently by the Laws Continuance in Force Order, promulgated by the President after abrogation of the Constitution. Further, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had held that fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution were no longer part of legal order as the Constitution had been expressly excluded from the list in the President's order.

away by the President, we fail to see on what principle of law, justice, equity or common sense it should be held that rights of servants of State could not be altered by the Laws Continuance in Force Order", the court said. It, however, granted permission to Mr. Zafrul Ahsan to appeal to the Supreme Court. Empoyees of Carporations

President Gen. Ayub Khan on July 24 promulgated an ordinance providing for suspension, reduction in rank and dismissal from service for corruption, misconduct or inefficiency, of persons holding whole time paid office in a public statutory corporation within the purview of the Public Conduct Scrutiny Ordinance issued two months earlier. Action against over 1, 600 Government officers had already been taken under the ordinance. Corruption Charge Against Ex-Ministers

Three former Ministers in the East Pakistan Awami League Congress coalition Cabineth-Mr. Manoranjan Dhar, Mr. Mansur Ali and Mr. Masiur Rahman-were arrested on July 29 charged with criminal breanch of trust in connection with disbursement of funds for rehabilitation of political prisoners earmarked in the budget for 1957-58. According to the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the three Ministers were members of the five-member Cabinet sub-committee formed for dosbursement of Rs. 2, 50,000 for the "rehabilitation of political prisoners". It has been alleged that 256 political prisoners, none of whom had suffered any imprisonment, were allotted Rs 59,000. The first information report lodged by the Anti-Corruption Bureau said that "by these illegal allotments the accused obtained pecuniary advantage for political persons party workers who mostly belonged to the Awami League", and that in making these allotments cases of political prisoners were ignored. The other two members of the Cabinet committee were Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Mr. Khairat Husain.

Action Against Legislators

also

The President of Pakistan General Ayub

Khan on July 30 issued on order granting immunity to the Government from any legal proceedings against acts of Government under the Pakistan Security Act since October 10 last year. The order forbids any court to proceed with the hearings of any suits now before it. Actions against the Government had been lodged by Mr. Iftikharuddin, Chairman of the Progressive Newspapers Ltd. of Lahore, which was recently taken over by Government order.

Simple Dress for Employees

Pakistan Government has issued a circular to all Ministries outlining specific measures to be adopted by all Pakistanis, particularly by Government servants, to eliminate the baneful effects of overspending and artificially high standard of living. The circular asked all Government employees to dress simply and discourage the use of alcoholic drinks at public functions.

The circular laid down the mode of dress as follows: bush shirt and trousers in summer and trousers, jackets and necktie or sherwani in winter.

The Government, the circular added, would convey its displeasure to officers who live beyond their means.

Former P. M.'s Election Fund

Instead they wore the "uniform" of the strongly left-wing anti-colonial PAP which won 43 of the 51 seats in the May 30 election. It consists of white open-necked shirt and

trousers.

Austerity & Efficiency Drive

Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's Prime Minister, told the Legislative Assembly on July 15: "The People's Action Party intends to govern. We need no public servants to be our executioners." He was speaking on a Bill that would allow the Finance Minister to

charge civil servants with losses in public funds for which they were responsible.

The Minister for National Development said it had been found that the Public Works

Department had only a part-time Accountant and the Telecommunications Department and Postoffice no accountants at all. The Minister said this might lead to some disclosures. Cut in Government Servants' Pay

Singapore Government on July 24 issued orders suspending from service Mr. F. V. Rajendra, Chairman of the Government Employees' Council of Action, which had planned to hold a mass meeting on July 31 to protest against a cut in the allowance imposed by the new Government soon after its taking office. A statement issued by the Finance Ministry added that the Government also intended to frame charges against him and to ask him to show cause why he should not be dismissed from service in view of his activities.

On July 29 pictures of Singapore's Ministers exhibited at public places were found either defaced or torn and with slogans across them. Pictures of Mr. F. V. Rajendra, who is under suspension, were also found superimposed on Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's photographs.

U. K.

Woman Gets Top Govt. Job

A woman has been appointed to one of Britain's top Civil Service jobs. She is Dame Mary Smieton, who has been in the Civil Service ever since 1925, when she passed "the stiffest examination in the world" to enter government service. She has now