Page:T.S.R. Subramanian vs Union of India.pdf/30

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"6.20. We have already mentioned the existence of 'contact men' and 'touts'. Obviously these do not include genuine representatives of commercial and industrial firms. In this regard our recommendations are :-

(i) No official should have any dealings with a person claiming to act on behalf of a business or industrial house or an individual, unless he is properly accredited, and is approved by the Department, etc. concerned. Such a procedure will keep out persons with unsavoury antecedents or reputation. There should, of course, be no restriction on the proprietor or manager etc. of the firm or the applicant himself approaching the authorities.
(ii) Even the accredited representatives should not be allowed to see officers below a specified level - the level being specified in each organization after taking into consideration the functions of the organizations, the volume and nature of the work to be attended to, and the structure of the organization. However, care should be taken to limit permissible contacts to levels at which the chances of corruption are considered to be small. This would often mean that no contact would be permitted at the level of subordinate officers.
(iii) There should be some system of keeping some sort of record of all interviews granted to accredited representatives.
(iv) There should be a fairly senior officer designated in each Department to which