29 October: the dormant account
Thursday 29 October 2026
GS Paper 4 · case study · 250 words · 20 marks
You are working as an executive in a nationalised bank for several years. One day one of your close colleagues tells you that her father is suffering from heart disease and needs surgery immediately to survive. She also tells you that she has no insurance and the operation will cost about Rs. 10 lakh. You are also aware of the fact that her husband is no more and that she is from a lower middle class family. You are empathetic about her situation. However, apart from expressing your sympathy, you do not have the resources to help her.
A few weeks later, you ask her about the well-being of her father and she informs you about his successful surgery and that he is recovering. She then confides in you that the bank manager was kind enough to facilitate the release of Rs. 10 lakh from a dormant account of someone to pay for the operation with a promise that it should be confidential and be repaid at the earliest. She has already started paying it back and will continue to do so until it is all returned.
(a) What are the ethical issues involved? (b) Evaluate the behaviour of the bank manager from an ethical point of view. (c) How would you react to the situation?
(UPSC Mains 2023, GS Paper 4, Q7)
You have fourteen minutes. Write your answer before you read anything below.
Open only after you have written
How to approach this question
The directive. The case has three parts. Answer each one under its own label. Part (c) asks what you would do, so choose one option.
The six-part shape, applied to this case.
| Part | What goes in it here | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The situation | Two lines: money from a stranger's account was used in secret, and you now know | Opening |
| 2. The stakeholders | Colleague, her father, the manager, the bank, its depositors, you. Also the account holder, who is not mentioned | (a) |
| 3. The ethical issues | Which duties conflict: compassion and integrity, loyalty and duty, purpose and method | (a) |
| 4. The options | Stay silent, report at once, or ask the colleague to disclose first. Each with its cost | (c) |
| 5. Your decision | One of them, chosen | (c) |
| 6. Your reason | The reason you would give in public | (c) |
Part (b) fits after the ethical issues. Judge the manager's motive and his act separately.
Mistakes to avoid.
| Mistake | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| Praising the manager for saving a life | Judge the act as well as the motive |
| Forgetting the account holder | Name the person whose money was used |
| Three options and no choice | Choose one and say why |
| Staying silent because the money is being repaid | Repayment does not undo the misuse or the secrecy |
| No help for the colleague | Name a lawful source of support |
A model answer
The situation. My manager secretly used a stranger's dormant account to pay for my colleague's father's surgery. She is repaying it.
Stakeholders. My colleague, her father, the manager, the bank, its depositors, me, and the account holder, who does not know.
(a) Ethical issues.
- Compassion against integrity. A life was saved with money that was not the manager's to give.
- Loyalty to a friend against duty to the bank and its customers.
- A good purpose against an unlawful method.
- Secrecy. If I keep quiet, I become part of the concealment.
(b) The manager. His motive was kind. His act was a breach of trust. He used a depositor's money without consent, outside any procedure, and hid it. He also exposed my colleague to disciplinary action.
(c) Options.
- Stay silent because the money is being repaid. Cost: I share the concealment, and the manager may do it again.
- Report at once. Cost: my colleague gets no warning.
- Ask my colleague to disclose it herself first, and report if she does not.
My decision. Option 3. I would tell her I cannot keep this confidential. I would give her a few days to go to the vigilance officer herself. If she does not, I would report it. I would also help her find lawful support, such as a staff loan.
My reason. I could defend this in public. It protects the depositor and the bank, and gives my colleague the first chance to set it right.
Word count: 247.
| Where | What earns credit |
|---|---|
| Stakeholders | The account holder, who the case does not mention |
| Part (b) | Motive and act judged separately |
| Part (c) | One option chosen, with costs shown for the others |