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15. The learned A. G. P. has however submitted that payment of salary of Rs. 1,00,989/- to 20 daily rated employees appointed without prior permission of the competent authority per se was misapplication of the funds of the municipality and therefore, the petitioner has been rightly held to be liable to make good the loss to the municipality.

16. The Court has already touched this aspect in para 12 hereinabove. The court would further like to observe that the submission of the learned A.G.P. not only overlooks the object of the statutory provision but reflects typical bureaucratic mentality and attitude which has been causing tremendous harm to public administration in our country. The impression seems to have gone round amongst various statutory functionaries and holders of public offices, high and low, functioning in the midst of a maze of procedural rules in any field that if any action required to be taken in public interest is likely to expose the functionary to the charge of violation of technical procedure, the functionary considers it safe in personal interest not to act at all rather from take the risk of facing any proceedings for such action. If no work is done, nobody is going to find fault with him, because if he does not work, there would be no possibility of charge of violation of procedural rules. This approach aggravated by insensitivity to the needs and hardships of the people has become so endemic that the initiative of a large number of public functionaries and officials has been curbed to the detriment of the society.