Case study The Chief of Staffs Daughter The Chief Minister of Punjab was re elected on a campaign pl...........

 The Chief-of-Staff''s Daughter

The Chief Minister of Punjab, was re-elected on a campaign pledge to make the state more responsive to its citizens. During the campaign, one irate citizen described how difficult it was to obtain state’s budget data. "I just found the state’s bureaucracy to be a labyrinth, a maze, to work through." As a member of assembly, you agree "a lot of people don''t know who to call. I think it just shows we''re not as user-friendly as we might be."

"What should we do?" you ask. A colleague pipes up: "Why not appoint an ombudsman a person who can troubleshoot citizen problems and perhaps get things done faster and more effectively." The idea is brought to the mayor, who thinks it is terrific. "Let''s do it! There''s

money in the current year''s budget to cover the position; all that we need to do is to write the job description."

A few weeks later the job description is posted in the state''s personnel job directory. Seven finalists are interviewed; all are well qualified. Among the finalists is the Chief Minister''s personal assistant’s/OSD’s daughter, Jasleen. Her work experience includes nearly three years as a persona assistant for Governor ShivrajPatil of the same state. The Chief Minister reviews the list of finalists and appoints his personal assistant’s/OSD daughter.

Discussion questions

1. Is this an act of cronyism?

2. Is it an act of nepotism? Jasleen does not report directly to her dad, the OSD, but reports to the director of the Citizen Information Center. The Chief Minister did have to sign a waiver of State Ethics code which bars the state from employing a supervisor''s immediate family members in the supervisor''s department.

3. Should you speak to the Chief Minister about this decision? Make an issue out of it at the next assembly meeting?

By: Mona Kaushal