Personal Life & Political Career
Arun bhatia is the President of People's Guardian Party. He was an IAS officer and ex-Municipal Commissioner of the Pune Municipal Corporation before he entered politics. As a civil servant, Bhatia worked in various positions in the Maharashtra cadre. In 1984, he was selected by the United Nations for assignments. Later, he contested the parliamentary election as an independent candidate from Pune in 2004 and again in 2009 from the People's Guardian Party.
Education
1.B.A. History (Honors) - St. Stephen's College, Delhi University
2.M.A. History, Economic History and Political Thought - Peterhouse, Cambridge University
3.Training in Development Economics, Law, Public Administration, Land Reforms etc. - National Academy of Administration, Mussourie
4.Training for Public Administration in a Welfare State - Administrative Staff College, Bombay
5.Training in Community Development and Decentralized Planning - National Institute of Community Development, Hyderabad
6.Training in Management Skills (1994) - UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services), Thailand.
Career
1.Management experience (Asia, Africa) in United Nations multi-disciplinary rural development projects included monitoring, report writing, training, liaising with NGOs and national governments and the formulation of funding proposals for UN agencies.
2.In India, appointments were at secretariat and field levels and in rural and urban local bodies. Work pertained to physical and social infrastructure (watershed improvement, health etc.), rural employment, tribal development, land reforms, anti-poverty schemes, famine relief, drought recovery, resettlement of urban slums, project displaced persons and political refugees, and governance reform.
3.There was a focus on creating mechanisms for client participation in planning, execution and monitoring.
4.Detected wide spread corruption. But the continuous effort to combat corruption met with limited success in the long term.
5.1993-94: Managing Director, Maharashtra State Co-operative Marketing Federation
6Most of the country's pharmaceutical industry is located in Maharashtra State.
7.Drug quality in the market was monitored and action taken against the spurious drug business in numerous cases.
8.Took action against drug companies for manufacture of or involvement in the trade of spurious drugs.
9.Glaxo was defeated in the High Court.
1997-99: Divisional Commissioner, Pune
1.Supervised and coordinated work in five districts.
2.Focused on empowerment of women by entering their names in land ownership records, on providing women access to judicial remedies, on the re-settlement of households displaced by irrigation projects, on waging a losing battle against corruption etc.
3.Conducted enquiries and lodged prosecutions regarding corruption in urban bodies, government departments and the system of rural land management.
4.102 talathis and circle officers were trapped in cheating cases but he was transferred.
1999: Commissioner, Pune Municipal Corporation
1.Worked as the Chief Executive of a municipal body covering a population of 3 million.
2.The concentration was on curbing corruption, introducing good/participatory governance and transparency (mainly in terms of giving citizens access to official records pertaining to resource allocation, expenditure, permissions for land use etc.), and diverting funds to priority areas like urban slums and public health.
3.Prosecuted sitting Chief Secretary (the head bureaucrat in the state) for corruption in awarding road contracts. This predictably resulted in a premature transfer but citizens approached the Bombay High Court in a public interest litigation defeating the government and reversing the government order.
4.The Chief Justice, on 13.4.1999, in Writ Petition 1395 of 1999 observed that "the decision to transfer Bhatia, in the facts of the present case, is so outrageous that it defies all logic and any moral standard. No reasonable person could have arrived at such a decision. We wish to emphasise that during the present days when, unfortunately, corruption and dishonesty are at their peak, honesty and action as per law deserve a pat, rather than punishment. The transfer of Bhatia, in our view, is in the nature of punishment".
Whenever Bhatia detected corruption and initiated action against the culprits protected by the establishment, he was transferred. In subsequent postings when he raised the old issues and asked for action against offenders, Bhatia's protests and findings remained suppressed and law breakers walked away unpunished, unassailable and stronger than before.
Some Examples of corruption cases detected/reported to Government /Police by Arun Bhatia and action taken (or not taken) by Government :
1.Illegal buildings in south Bombay by land mafia (Arihant, Pratibha etc. (Collector, Bombay)
2.Corruption in implementation of ULC (Urban Land Ceiling Act) (Collector, Bombay)
3.Manufacture of fake drugs, drugs using expired ingredients etc. Action taken against giant companies like Glaxo for violating rules end enabling distribution of fake drugs up to Agra, German Remedies etc. (Commissioner, Food and Drugs Administration)
4.Employment Guarantee Scheme in Dhulia district (Collector, Dhulia)
5.Cement distribution in Raigad district (Collector, Raigad)
Corruption in the Pune Municipal Corporation in recruitment, procurement, tender approvals (school uniforms, medicines, electrical items etc.), measurement books of road specifications. Did physical audit, suspended officers, lodged police complaints etc. Was removed by vote of municipal councilors within a few weeks. (Commissioner, PMC).
1.Corruption in irrigation department (Divisional Commissioner, Pune)
2.Corruption in the revenue department pertaining to land ownership/transfer records. Detected 102 cases after months of probing. (Divisional Commissioner, Pune)
3.Sent reports and started cases against senior officers and bosses including the sitting Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, the sitting Divisional Commissioner of Pune, Collector of Pune, Member of UPSC etc.
4.Corruption in ashram shalas (residential schools) under politically dominated trusts in tribal areas of the state (Secretary, Social Welfare)
5.Corruption in land distribution to project displaced persons (Divisional Commissioner, Pune)
6.Corruption in land records regarding recording women’s right to land through inheritance in five districts (Commissioner, Pune Division)
7.Illegal construction in Pune city (Pune Municipal Commissioner)
8.Construction of houses for rural landless labourers (Collector, Dhulia.)
9.Illegal construction in Nagpur city (Addl. Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur)
10.Materials supply to Bangladesh refugees (Director Rehabilitation, Chandrapur)
11.Supply of building material to govt. (Pune Municipal Commissioner)
In 26 years of service (excluding the training period and service in the United Nations), Bhatia was removed from his post (transferred) 26 times. He paid the price of denial of promotion, numerous charges and enquiries, bad assessment reports, ridicule by peers, seniors and subordinates, lack of support when giant offenders like Glaxo or senior officers and politicians were prosecuted, ugly threats from the Bombay land mafia and so on.
