IT SEEMS, complaints against serving secretaries of Government of India have risen substantially during the recent time forcing the government to constitute a committee under the cabinet secretary to differentiate the frivolous and vague complaints from what it calls grave complaints.
The other members of the committee are secretary to the Prime Minister, secretary (coordination) in the Cabinet secretariat, secretary in DoPT, and secretary, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
According to an office memorandum issued by department of personnel and training (DoPT) recently, complaints against secretaries to the Government of India will be scrutinized carefully, and appropriate action be taken based on their “gravity, seriousness and the nature of the allegations”. The complaints against the secretaries, whether
anonymous or otherwise, will now first be scrutinized by the group headed by the cabinet secretary which is entrusted the power to close the complaint if it is found to be frivolous. The group of the secretaries would however inform the relevant office from where the complaint was received. According to the newly laid out procedures, if some substance is noticed in a complaint, the committee would have the options to do one or more of the following: a) seeking comments of the secretary concerned, b) calling for the concerned file(s), c) calling for the relevant records including annual property returns, other reports etc.
As the complaints are received by the CVC under the CVC Act or the Public Interest Disclosure Resolution, the CVC would be kept informed at regular intervals.
The actual OFFICE MEMO on complaints against secretaries, dated January 14, 2010
Norms relaxed for inter-cadre deputation to Jharkhand
The government has relaxed the norms of eligibility for inter-cadre deputation to the Jharkhand cadre thanks to the shortage of officers in the state. Now, the officers seeking deputation to the Jharkhand cadre will be exempted from the requirement of having completed nine years in their own cadre. The officers who have completed three years in their allotted cadre would now be eligible to seek an inter-cadre deputation to Jharkhand. Also, they may be considered for deputation even if they are in super time scale. Initially, the period of deputation would be for three years which could be extendable to a maximum period of five years, a DoPT letter to all state chief secretaries said.
Click here for the DoPT’s letter on Jharkhand postings, dated February 2, 2010
Why should such a high profile committee not have non-bureaucrats as members too?
ReplyDeleteITS A VERY NICE STEP TAKEN BY GOVT OF INDIA TO FORM A COMMITTEE ATLEAST TO PREVENT THE CORRUPTION IN THE SECRETARY LEVEL. COMMITTEE SHOULD BE FORMED EARLIER BECAUSE MAXIMUM CORRUPTION OCCURS IN THIS LEVEL THAN THE OTHER LEVELS IN INDIA.
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