The fight against corruption and a clean and transparent government are important themes of the NDA-II Government's third anniversary celebrations.

The 20- day programme, which kicked off on 26 May, has as its key slogan, saath hai, vishwas hai, ho raha vikas hai.

Vishwas is the mintnew core in the formulation, which has been around since 2014. It is meant to communicate people's trust in governance structures in a democratic polity.

Perhaps coincidentally, a few days prior to the launch of this programme, clean-up ops, investigative and judicial, from the scam-tainted UPA regime, chugging along at proverbial desi pace, received a landmark spike in the judgment of Bharat Parashar, Special Judge, Prevention of Corruption Act.

On 19 May, in CBI vs. Kamal Sponge Steel and Power Ltd & Othrs, three senior IAS officers, HC Gupta, KS Kropha and KC Samria, Secretary, Joint Secretary and Director, respectively, of the Coal Ministry, along with a private company, were indicted under Sections 13 (1) (d) (ii & iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 120B read with 420 of the Indian Penal Code.

On 22 May, they were sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and pay a hefty fine of Rs.50,000 each. They were branded as white-collar criminals and convicts who caused huge financial losses (unquantified) and inflicted immense damage to public morale.

This related to the infamous Coalgate scam, with the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, at its helm, which the CAG Report of 2012 billed as among the world's biggest, with a presumptive loss of Rs.1, 86,000 crore to the national exchequer.

The Supreme Court, in 2014, declared illegal all coal blocks allocated through the Screening Committee mechanism, by the Ministry since 1993 and constituted a Coal Bench to supervise the 20-odd cases emanating therefrom, barring High Courts from intervening in them.

Clubbing has been disallowed. Being the first ~ and undeniably most high profile ~ conviction under the controversial Section 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the reaction has been predictably strong and vociferous.

While a few, like a former Cabinet Secretary , have taken the unconvincingly sanctimonious stand that senior officers must fearlessly uphold public interest, others have underscored the much more relevant and burning issue of letting the political executive, with whom the buck actually stops, off the hook altogether.

The 350-page judgment is a testament to the deep animus against the IAS officers who were unceremoniously pitchforked into the dock and held solely responsible for a decision in which there were many other active participants, as per standard procedure in Government, the most critical being the minister.

Incidentally, this was one case where, after a preliminary enquiry, the CBI had filed a closure report.

However, the Court sought further investigation, on the basis of which charges were framed on 14 October, 2015.

This raises doubts on what may well have been an entrenched coloured perception of bureaucrats being corrupt and manipulative, ever ready to maim and twist the system.

The excruciatingly detailed scrutiny to establish non-compliance of administrative guidelines to filter applications for coal blocks and portray it as a sinister act of criminal conspiracy, without any evidentiary support, makes it plain that crucifiction was a foregone conclusion.

It is strangely true that the PCA sections in question absolve the Court of that solemn duty and almost automatically declare the accused as convicts.

Some observations in the judgment are interestingly revelatory. Roundly trashing the IAS officers, the judge lashed out that they completely abdicated their responsibility.

All their acts of omission and commission were conscious and deliberate and clearly attributable to the despicable attitude of "who cares"?

In stark contrast, there was extreme understanding and indulgence for the Prime Minister who approved the recommendation of the Screening Committee, headed by the Coal Secretary.

He goes so far as to say ~ believe it or not ~ that the Prime Minister was "misled" by not being told that the guidelines had not been followed! If this does not qualify as bizzare, what does?

Wonder which governance style it alludes to? To take away even an iota of blame that may perchance fall on the Prime Minister, the officers are, in an odd twist, also lambasted for not taking up a postapproval cross-check to turn the green signal granted, into a safe amber or red.

From all this flows the grandiloquent pronouncement that a case of criminal conspiracy has been clearly made out, with abuse of position as public servants.

This must be music to the ears of the political executive. It must be recalled that apart from Dr Manmohan Singh, other politicians have been embroiled in Coalgate but they are neither scared nor scarred. One such favourable judgment is bound to impact other cases in the pipeline, to the definite disadvantage of bureaucrats.

The deafening silence of the Government on this evident miscarriage of justice is bound to have long-term implications.

It is not only a matter of working around Parliament to obtain an amendment of the inherently flawed PCA in the upcoming Monsoon session.

That may not be very easy to market politically.

Moreover, it is not the panacea for all governance-ills, most prominent among them being scapegoating, to help easily pick up populist dividend at the hustings.

Where there is a will to persecute there is always a way to do so.

Law is taking its own course and what a course it is. Most definitely , it is alien in a democratic landscape where it is the elected representative who is accountable in the final analysis.

This may just be the new normal. The FIRs which have been registered recently pertaining to other scams of the UPA regime in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Ministry of Finance have yet again NOT mentioned any one from the political executive.

The accused are unnamed public servants and private companies. P Chidambaram has categorically stated , "it is clear that I am the target of the FIR, yet it does not name me".

He must be accorded full credit for that forthrightness. This brings us back to the vishwas quotient in institutions of governance. Resultant inaction in the higher echelons, as yet another former Cabinet Secretary lamented, looms large on the horizon, as also an insidious fear-factor.

H C Gupta may still be a role model but no one, ironically, would want to be where he is today, shattered and bludgeoned , with only grim uncertainty to keep him tormented company.

The Central , UP and Meghalaya IAS Associations have pledged their solidarity to support the officers in the legal yudh foisted so unfairly on them, but it obviously cannot be unlimited. In this tragic context, it is necessary to red flag that legal expenses for the former disgraced Director, CBI, Ranjit Sinha, in the very same Coalgate scam ( he is under investigation under orders of the Supreme Court for having attempted to scuttle and influence investigations) are being paid by the Government, apparently without any formal and legal authorization for it.

The "favoured" treatment whispers its own unsavoury tale for those who care to listen.

We, the people, care about good governance and we want the netasto be made accountable for their misdeeds. 

The judiciary and other hallowed portals must ensure that law earns our vishwas and does not end up with an unmentionable moniker draped indecorously around it. 

The writer is a retired IAS officer and comments on governance issues.