Put Up Saheb

The Government Lives Here

A government Sahib is powerless if the clerk doesn’t put up the file to him. Even the boldest and most well-meaning officer is hamstrung if a file is not brought to his table. The custodian of the file is the section officer or sometimes a clerk. He can thwart the best of intentions and initiatives by simply not putting up the file. The sahib is reduced to requesting, “file toh put up kijiye.” The bada sahib, when frustrated, asks the chhota sahib to “get the file put up”. Now, the chhota sahib has no magic wand, except that he can be a bit more obsequious before the section officer, “Arre bade babu, bade sahib has been asking for the file. Why don’t you put up?” The section officer is now much in demand, smirks between his lips and says nonchalantly, “Dekhta hoon”.

Well, what does put up mean? It means that the clerk, through his section officer, punches the letter from the Head Quarters and ties it with a string on the letter-side of the file, which is already holding about three hundred pages on the subject. Then he writes, with full authority vested in him by the Constitution and passed on from the President downwards, through the Minister, the Secretary, the Joint Secretary and then the bada sahib of this story only to flow further down through the Under Secretary, the Section Officer and is now resting in his pen, which is mightier than, as you know, the sword.

Just why the bada sahib, through whom the power passes downwards to the clerk, can’t grab the power and the file at his level and put up the file unto himself is a mystery that the government hasn’t been able to solve.

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