-The Indian Express
Pitching for changes in laws to deal with corruption, the Prime Minister’s Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu has said bribe-givers should not be penalised in case he has to pay money for getting the work done.
In his revised paper to deal with corruption, Basu argued bribe giver could be penalised only if he or she benefits from government contracts. But in that case too, the penalty for bribe taker should be substantially greater than that for the bribe-giver.
"Such a change in the law will cause a dramatic drop in the incidence of bribery as in the post-bribe situation, it is in the interest of the bribe-giver to have the bribe-taker caught," he said in the revised paper published as part of Essays on Contemporary Issues. The book was released by Home Minister P Chidambaram here today.
Basu suggested that in the case of "harassment bribes", the punishment should be reserved only for the bribe-taker and the bribe-giver must not be penalised at all.
Harassment bribe refers to bribes paid by people for getting work done like getting passport, driving licence, ration cards etc.
"Law should be changed so that, at the time of committing harassment bribery, both parties know that the giver has immunity and that the taker not only has a heftier penalty but has to return the bribe,” he added.
He further said if penalty is imposed on bribe-takers only, the incidence of harassment bribes would drop significantly.