Stick to rules: Avoid discretion on cooling-off period for bureaucrats

Former finance secretary Ashok Jha was granted one to join as head of Hyundai India

Rules for the all-India services require that officials undergo a “cooling-off period” of a year after they retire and before they can join a private firm. The cooling-off period used to be two years earlier, but was cut by half by the current government in December 2015. Individual bureaucrats can apply for waivers, and one such was granted to S Jaishankar, who was till very recently India’s foreign secretary, and has now joined the Tata Group as its new president in charge of global corporate affairs. His appointment to an executive position in the private sector required the consent of