bureaucrat of the month

Though he is back after he was shunted out, the decision of removing him from the investigation has not broken the morale of this Income Tax officer. He still has to go a long way.

The tide is shifting. Society is no longer about unity; it's about individual progress. As this selfish attitude becomes more firmly established, we find that our happiness is slowly slipping through our fingers. The mantra seems to be true in the case of Ujjwal Chaudhary, Director of Income Tax Department (Bihar and Jharkhand), who was in the news not for what he did to unearth the Madhu Koda scam in Jharkhand, but for the embarrassment he called to his own department for exposing the truth.

Fifty-one-year-old Chaudhary has become the topic of discussion of the entire nation, be it the politician, the bureaucrat fraternity or the common man, every one is talking about him . He is being discussed for all good and bad reasons. 'Bad' because he has been refrained to do whatever he wanted to do sincerely and 'good' because he is getting support from the true Indians.

Chaudhary has always believed in integrity and honesty and has always honoured every decision of his seniors. "And I think that is why the nation is contented with the stay order on his transfer by the Ranchi High Court, which happened in the middle of the investigation (multi-crore scam)," says one of the close associates of Ujjwal Chaudhary.

An IT officer with a career spanning over 30 years, has earned a reputation for exposing the shortcomings and corruption in the very system he worked for. Chaudhary has paid the price for his actions - sudden transfers. But nothing has deterred this bureaucrat; he just continues digging out carefully guarded skeletons from within the institutions of governance. Further commented one of his colleagues, "Being 51 years of age he is very active and full of life. He has always believed in honesty and transparency and that is why his seniors have always praised him. He has his own tactics to please his bosses in the department. Truth, transparency and authenticity have always given him potential to take seniors into confidence. He has always shared every little detail of the matter with his immediate boss."

Born and bought up in a village Keota, district Samastipur in North Bihar, discipline and integrity are the soul of Chaudhary's life. "He has spent more than three decades of his life in Delhi. After his schooling and college from Patna, he got admission in Delhi University for pursuing Masters Degree course in History. And there started his love life. He met Anita, a Kashmiri girl and later on, they got married." says one of the close friends. "Chaudhary has always tried to occupy himself with certain hobbies. He has a small orchid and a fish farm and there he loves to spend most of his time after work. He is also associated with an NGO named Swasti Sewa Samiti. His wife, Anita, is Vice-Principal of the Delhi Public School, Indirapuram, and his daughter recently got married after doing her PhD in Biotechnology from Cambridge University. And Chaudhary junior is pursuing Master's in Economics from the Delhi College of Engineering." Ujjwal Chaudhary has now become an ideal for all those aspirants who have recently joined the Civil Services. His commitment for work has set an example for many. For him it is not enough to say 'I am honest.' According to Ujjwal one should enforce one's honesty and confront the system. That's the bottom line."