The term unbecoming conduct is not defined anywhere. Any conduct which is not appropriate or befitting the position of a Govt. servant may be considered as unbecoming conduct. A government servant is expected to maintain a reasonable and decent standard of conduct in his private life and not bring discredit to his service by his misdemeanors. For instance, where a Govt. servant neglects his wife and family he acts in a manner unbecoming of a Govt. servant and departmental action can be taken against him. It is an accepted principle that a public servant holding a responsible position in life has to maintain certain standards in his private life also.

The words do nothing unbecoming of a Govt. servant are not vague. Even though they may relate to public as well as private life and to do nothing inappropriate as unsuited to his position as a Govt. servant, yet what he is asked is to keep within the bounds of administrative decency. It will not be difficult to judge what conduct amounts to unbecoming. What is unbecoming, can always be ascertained having regard to the entirety of conduct
Khaja Khan vs. P.M.G. Andhra, 1975 SLJ 512-Goa).

Integrity is another term frequently used to signify an ideal or pure conduct of a public servant. It is uprightness that will not compromise with expediency. Devotion to duty is faithful service. A significant observation of Calcutta High Court (Sripathi Ranjen vs. Collector of Customs, AIR 1966 Cal. 415) is reproduced below:

"…It is sometimes argued with sophistry that it is difficult to prescribe the outside limits of integrity in a complex system of modern administration, in which considerations of expediency occasionally outweigh other considerations. Considerations of expediency may be irresistible a times but their evils are merely to be put with and not to be extolled or prescribed as standards of life and work. If a public officer is required to maintain and to be devoted to duty, he is merely asked to keep within the bounds of that administrative decency, which goes by the name of civilized administration."

The term "moral turpitude" is defined as quality of crime involving grave infringement of the moral sentiments of the community. "Turpitude" is defined as the inherent baseness or wiliness". (Cunningness)(Webster's Dictionary) Moral turpitude is defined as an act of baseness, wiliness or depravity in the private and social duties which a man owes to his fellow men or to a society in general, contrary to the accepted customary rule or right and duty between man and man.

What are the tests to classify an offence/misconduct as involving moral turpitude?

1. Whether the act leading to a conviction was such as could shock the moral conscience of society in general;

2. Whether the motive, which led to the act, was a base one?

3. Whether on account of the act having been committed the perpetrator could be considered to be of a depraved character or a person who was to be looked down upon by the society.
   (Baleshwar Singh vs. District Magistrate, AIR 1963 All. 71)

Enforcement Discipline and service integrity in Public Services is implemented by means of a two-fold approach by the Government Institutions or public bodies: -

1. Formulation of Rules of Conduct by means of statutory Conduct Regulations, which are to be followed strictly by employees in public

2. Enforcing strict adherence to the conduct regulations by employees through Discipline and Appeal Regulations (DA Regulations in short), which specify the procedure for taking disciplinary action and punishing employees violating conduct regulations. DA regulations also provide the procedure for hearing appeals of aggrieved employees, who feel that the punishments inflicted upon them, is unjust and that they have not received a fair deal in the inquiry conducted by the disciplinary authority.

These are statutory regulations and are formulated by the Central/State Governments or Public Sector Organizations under delegated power derived either from specific articles of the Constitution of India (in case of Civil Servants) or specific enactment of the Parliament. The Central and State Governments are empowered by such enactment to further frame rules to regulate the conduct of their employees from time to time. This power of the Central Government is specifically conferred by Art. 309, 310 and 311 of the Constitution of India.

Art.309 empowers Central/State governments to regulate the recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of any State, with reference to all classes of Government services. There are also other specific articles relating to the higher hierarchy of officers including the highest courts of law of the State as well as of the Union.

Under the powers derived from the Constitution, the Parliament/State Legislature passes an enactment giving the broad outlines and delegates the power to the executive authority to formulate detailed Rules.

If you peruse PNB, Conduct, or Discipline and Appeal Regulations, the preamble or preliminary statement in the opening part reads uniformly as under:

"In exercise of the powers conferred by section 19 read with sub-section (2) of Section 12 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act 1970 (5 of 1970), the Board of Directors of MYBANK in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India and with the previous sanction of the Central Government hereby makes the following regulations,…"

You will consequently be interested to know the text of Section 19 and Section 12(2) of the Banking Companies (Acquisition & Transfer of Undertakings) Act 1970. These are reproduced as under:

Section 12 (2) reads as under:

"Save as otherwise provided in sub-section (1), every officer or other employee of an existing bank shall become, on the commencement of this Act, an officer or other employee, as the case may be, of the corresponding new bank and shall hold his office or service in that bank on the same terms and conditions and with the same rights to pension, gratuity and other matters as would have been admissible to him if the undertaking of the existing bank had not been transferred to and vested in the corresponding new bank and continue to do so unless and until his employment in the corresponding new bank is terminated or until his remuneration, terms or conditions are duly altered by the corresponding new bank."

Section 19 reads as under:

1. The Board of Directors of a corresponding new bank may, after consultation with the Reserve Bank and with the previous sanction of the Central Government, make regulations, not inconsistent with the previsions of this Act or any scheme made thereunder, to provide for all matters for which provision is expedient for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Act.

2. In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, the regulations may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely :- (only relevant sub-sections are quoted)

   1. (sub-section"d")The conditions or limitation subject to which the corresponding New Bank may appoint advisers, officers or other employees and fix their remuneration and other terms and conditions of service;

   2. (sub-section-e)The duties and conduct of advisers, officers or other employees of the corresponding New Bank;

   3. (sub-section-f)The establishment and maintenance of superannuation, pension, provident or other funds for the benefit of officers or other employees of the corresponding New Bank or of the dependants of such officers or other employees and the granting of superannuation allowances, annuities and pensions payable out of such funds;

   4. (sub-section-k) The persons or authorities who shall administer any pension, provident or other fund constituted for the benefit of officers or other employees of the corresponding New Bank or their dependants;

   5. (sub-section-m)Generally for the efficient conduct of the affairs of the corresponding New Bank

The conduct Regulations of the Bank approved by the Board came into force with effect from 01.07.1977. Some of the salient regulations covered are given below. This excludes the general provisions found in all such conduct regulations already dealt with earlier. Only brief gist (title) of important regulations is narrated. Please refer to the latest amended version of the Regulations for a detailed understanding.

The Bank can enforce the provision of PNB DA Regulation and punish an employee only if anyone of the Regulations contained in the Conduct Regulation are violated as per Regulation 24 as already stated earlier.

The country has a powerful anti-corruption set up both at the National and State levels set up to deal with erring public servants, but at present there is no powerful check against political corruption and corruption by the business and industrial houses.

In a developing country like ours combating corruption among public servants and maintaining purity and integrity of administration is a momentous task. The manifold activities of the Government in economic, industrial social spheres, has necessitated the employment of a formidable force of Public Servants, vested with powers. If these powers are not used for bonafide public service, but misused for personal gain the situation results in corrupt practices. Combating this menace warrants the creation and functioning of specialized agencies, to ensure that public services function with purity and probity.

At the Government of India level the following organizations function with responsibility for implementation of anti-corruption measures.

1. Administrative Vigilance Section in the Department of Personnel, in Cabinet Secretariat

2. Vigilance units in Ministries/Departments and their attached and subordinate offices and Public Undertakings

3. Central Bureau of Investigation

4. Central Vigilance Commission.

However recently the Central Vigilance Commission has been made an autonomous statutory body to act as the Apex Vigilance body. The Administrative Vigilance Section in the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms is abolished. The Department has been renamed as "Department of Personnel & Public Grievances". Chief Vigilance officers in individual departments of the Government of India and Statutory Corporations function under the control and supervision of the CVC. Similarly the CBI in terms of its responsibility for investigating and prosecuting offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, also functions under the jurisdiction of the CVC. CVC now possess the unified machinery and autonomous control on vigilance functions.

We will skip the State Level setups in our study, as vigilance and anti corruption set up varies from State to State and this is too wide a subject. Corruption in all its manifestations and features is studied in detail in chapters 4 and 5. Function of these anti-corruption bodies is dealt with separately in Part II.