A few months back a case of misappropriation of funds by an employee of our organization came to light. Keeping in view the gravity of the offence, the disciplinary authority decided to terminate the services of the delinquent official, who had already confessed to his guilt and somehow also managed to deposit the misappropriated funds back to the treasury of the organization. He had brought his wife and young children along during the personal hearing granted to him before a final order is passed in his case. During the hearing, he pleaded mercy on the ground that his young children may not suffer for a misconduct which was entirely his fault.
Imagining the plight of the young children after their father is rendered jobless, the officer in charge caught in a dilemma whether to go for imposing the harshest penalty, i.e. ‘removal from service’ upon the erring official or to spare him his job by imposing a heavy penalty upon him. The disciplinary authority being my boss, I could sense that he would ultimately go for the second option and the erring official would not lose his job.
However, after pondering over the matter for about a week or so, my boss finally went on to dismiss the erring official from the service. This came as a surprise to me and I really felt bad for the ‘poor’ guy who had to lose his job. The disciplinary authority observed in its final order that retaining such a person in service considering the effect a harsh penalty would have on the family would set a bad precedent and every corrupt employee may plead mercy on such ground, which would not be in the best interest of the organization.
The reasoning which led the disciplinary authority to reach its final conclusion appeared justifiable. More so because this would not have been the only instance when the employee resorted to misappropriation of funds and, having spared of his job, what was the guarantee that he would not repeat such a misdemeanor in future? I however wondered how I would have decided the matter had I been the disciplinary authority. I would have spared the erring official his job for sure. For me, the fact of adverse impact on the family, especially on his two young daughters, would have outdone all the facts, evidence and reasoning of the matter. But again this is certainly not the manner in which an organization could afford to function. It would be a job of an ‘emotional fool’ to let such a person continue working for the organization who had least regard for the lone source of his livelihood and the well-being of his wife and children to which he was answerable. But then there are always people like us who think from their heart rather than using their head – called ‘emotional fools’.
I remember one such instance in my life. It was when my younger cousin was setting up their shop at a shopping centre within a large housing complex. Beside his shop, there was a general store and one lady customer was standing there. When it was time to pay, the lady suddenly realized that his wallet was missing. She looked around fanatically in search of the wallet saying it was with her just a moment before and she remembered it well. Just then, a bystander approached the lady and informed that he had seen one laborer who was passing through the corridor picking up ‘something’ from the floor. In fact, some wood work was going on in a shop at the first floor of the complex and the laborers were moving some large wooden planks to the first floor one after another. They confronted the laborer on his way back to the ground floor. Hearing the commotion, the owner of the first floor shop too had come down by now. The laborer emphatically denied having picked up any wallet from there and offered himself to be frisked. He was just wearing a sando vest and a lungi folded up to his waist. He even shook off his lungi to prove his innocence. He looked miserable and humiliated. I got convinced that he had nothing to do with the wallet.
Just then, the owner of the first floor shop, who are witnessing the whole drama calmly by then, suddenly charged at the laborer and violently punched him in the stomach two to three times. Holding his stomach, the laborer cried out in acute pain, but the shop owner did not stop and gestured to punch his face shouting – “बता कहाँ रख कर आया है” (tell me where you have kept it). It was a heart-wrenching sight and the shop-owner seemed nothing less than a monster to me. However, I got surprised when the laborer, weeping profusely cried out with folded hands “बताता हूँ, बताता हूँ” (I tell you) and indicated towards the bushes near the staircase leading to the first floor. People gathered there searched around the bushes and found the lost wallet. I felt like an idiot who paid no attention to the statement of the eye-witness in the matter who had seen the wallet being picked up by this laborer. There was no reason for the eye witness to tell a lie. However, swayed by my emotions, I became blind to the ‘fact’ which was quite evident.
As a child I always dreamt of joining police force and I now I know what mess I would have created had God granted me my wish.