‘Ethics in private life is necessary but not sufficient for ethics in public life.’ Discuss with reference to the special features of a public office.

Definition: Private ethics governs personal relationships and self-regarding conduct; public ethics adds the special features of fiduciary trust, scale of impact, asymmetric power and the visibility that office attracts.

Illustration: A scrupulously honest individual may still falter in office because public ethics demands additional virtues: procedural fairness, impartiality across constituencies and stewardship of resources not one's own. T.N. Seshan's private rectitude alone would not have transformed the Election Commission; what mattered was his enforcement of Model Code on the powerful. Conversely, an officer kind in private life may sign environmental clearances that harm thousands. The Nolan Principles — selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, leadership — list precisely the surplus that public office demands. Ashok Khemka's documentation discipline is the public-ethics complement to private honesty.

Application: The Civil Services Code of Ethics drafted by DoPT operationalises this surplus, translating private virtue into public-office obligations.