NE BUSINESS BUREAU
COIMBATORE, NOV 1
Stating integrity is “do what you say and say what you do,” former Central Vigilance Commissioner and Independent Director of Reliance Industries K V Chowdary on Monday said corruption is a product of demand-supply meet and it exists in both public and private sectors.
He said this while addressing the students and members of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore. “Corruption is a product of demand-supply meet. You can put a price for it, but there is no legality about it,” said K V Chowdary.
To substantiate his statement, Chowdary cited booking of Tatkal tickets in railways. “Sensing the demand for tickets in trains, Tatkal booking was introduced and a price was fixed. Earlier, people were approaching touts for tickets and shelling huge amounts to get a ticket. Even today, most people think that corruption is a matter related to the government. They are instantly reminded of bill collectors, department officials and the like. But you must also understand that there is equal or much larger amount of corruption in the private sector. This is worth analysing,” he said, urging the audience to come forward for a debate on this topic.
Chowdary termed corruption as a system-driven oiling mechanism. “But I am not justifying corruption,” he added.
Emphasising the importance of ethical or moral values vis-à-vis the law, the former Central Vigilance Commissioner said, “Laws are meant to be obeyed, but ethics is above law. It has to be dealt with in a subtle way.”
Urging associations like the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to sensitise its members about the recent amendment to the Prevention of Corruption Act, he pointed out “as per the amendment, if you are a bribe giver, you are as much prosecutable as a taker of bribe. So be warned. The law or something beyond the law is pushing you to prepare procedures to be followed by your people, so it is in the compliance list.”
“Every organisation will need to build a culture from day one, such that it is not merely legally compliant but ethically too. Each company will need to have a Code of Conduct, which the employee will have to read before signing. This way, they actually pledge not to put the organisation at risk. Integrity is “do what you say and say what you do,” said Chowdary.
He advocated the need for building a strong Standard Operating Procedure and following the same very judiciously.
