As Administrative Officer, Rajesh is regularly interacting with his immediate boss, who is his reporting officer for writing his ACR. One day he calls Rajesh and wants him to buy computer-related stationery on priority from a particular vendor. Rajesh instructs his office to initiate action for procuring these items. During the day, the dealing Assistant brings an estimate of Rupees Thirty Five Lakhs covering all stationery items from the same vendor. It is noticed that as per delegated financial powers, as provided in the GFR (General Financial Rules) as applicable in that Organisation, expenditure for office items exceeding Rupees Thirty Lakhs requires sanction of the next higher authority (boss in the present case). Rajesh knows that immediate superior would expect all these purchases should be done at his level and may not appreciate such lack of initiative on his part. During discussions with office, he learns that common practice of splitting of expenditure (where large order is divided into a series of smaller ones) is followed to avoid obtaining sanction from higher authority. This practice is against the rules and may come to the adverse notice of Audit. Rajesh is perturbed. He is unsure of taking decision in the matter. ,(a) What are the options available with Rajesh in the above situation?(b) What are the ethical issues involved in this case?(c) Which would be the most appropriate option for Rajesh and why?
What the examiner wants
In this Public Procurement & Order Splitting case (As Administrative Officer, Rajesh is regularly interacting with his immediate boss, who is his…), separate facts/constraints from the value conflict and resolve the explicit asks in order: What are the options available with Rajesh in the above situation; then What are the ethical issues involved in this case; then Which would be the most appropriate option for Rajesh and why. Defend the preferred option against realistic alternatives.
Demand-wise check
- 1What are the options available with Rajesh in the above situation?≈65 words
- 2What are the ethical issues involved in this case?≈65 words
- 3Which would be the most appropriate option for Rajesh and why?≈65 words
Open in about 30 words and close in about 30.
Answer plan
Where marks usually go
- Over-writing ‘What are the options available with Rajesh in the above situation’ while reducing ‘What are the ethical issues involved in this case’ to a token paragraph
- Naming values without testing each feasible option for legality, affected stakeholders, consequences, implementation risk and reversibility
Value addition
- Public Procurement & Order Splitting: stakeholder map beside a 4-column option matrix — option | legality/ethics | consequences | mitigation
→ Draw it in the body, next to the point it supports.
Official source anchors
These are authoritative sources selected for this exact PYQ. Where a card is an official-domain anchor rather than a fact-level citation, verify the precise provision, definition or data point on the linked source before using it.
Next: plan for one minute, write it in 14 minutes, then get it checked.