The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c13.s1.15

c13.s1.15

Now this circumstance has consequences into which Scharfe does not go, but which decisively impair the concept of objective bureaucratic procedures. First, there is the strong emphasis on unanimity—a unanimity that is even enforced with heavy fines. It is difficult to understand the need for this, since the decisive factor in acquitting the accountable officer is in his written accounts, not in the unanimity of the judges. More serious is the fact that the mahāmātras are themselves interested parties, even though the officers whose accounts are to be audited may be lower in rank. They can hardly be considered to constitute an impartial agency. We have only to think of a mahāmātra like the samāhartṛ to realize what abuses this could imply. Enforced unanimity obviously would only worsen the situation.