'Bureaucracy is a maze, ambiguous rules enable corruption': Ex-IAS on customs bribery row

Former IAS officer Sanjeev Ahluwalia has described Indian bureaucracy as a "maze" and called for simplifying rules and writing them originally in Hindi to reduce corruption and confusion. Responding to questions about systemic issues in customs and regulatory compliance, Ahluwalia pointed to poorly drafted laws as a root cause.

"Bureaucracy is by definition a maze, so you can't get away from that," he said in an interview with India Today. "The only difference is that in our case, the rules and regulations-and this is not new, this has always been there-have three problems: one, they are extremely and unnecessarily complicated and intrusive."

Ahluwalia made the remarks during a discussion on the recent bribery allegations levelled by Tamil Nadu-based logistics firm Wintrack Inc against Chennai Customs. The company announced it would shut down its India operations from October 1, alleging "relentless harassment" by customs officials and claiming over Rs 2.1 lakh in bribes were paid for a shipment. The Finance Ministry has since ordered a fact-based inquiry.

The former IAS added that more recently, "the new rules that are being written are being written very shabbily. They are not explicit. They are not clear and they could have two or three meanings...So this is a policy problem that needs to be solved almost entirely across the whole gambit of rules and regulations that we have."

Ahluwalia cited past controversies involving import duty misclassification to argue that porous, ambiguous rules give room for both misuse and coercion. "These practices will always be there where the rules are porous and shabbily written. We have to write these rules properly and we have to write them simply," he said. "Now there's a problem that most rules are written in English… So maybe we should reconsider that the original copy of everything should be written in Hindi."

Former finance secretary S.C. Garg, also speaking to India Today, said the alleged bribery faced by Tamil Nadu-based firm Wintrack Inc reflected a widespread, systemic reality. "This is a very common sort of business practice in India. I am sorry to say but that's a fact. Mostly it remains under covers. That is considered as part of the cost to some extent," he said.

Referring to recent regulatory changes, Garg added: "There is a requirement for batteries import to get an EPR certificate from environmental authorities. There's another requirement from the metrology department and BIS. So this gives the handle in the hands of the customs official. It's a very sad situation."