In a bid to curtail powers of Delhi Chief Secretary KK Sharma, the Arvind Kejriwal Government has issued a circular, rendering him toothless. The General Administrative Department (GAD) of Delhi Government issued the circular, wherein work allocation related to all Cabinet decisions has been redefined and Ministers and secretaries of departments concerned have been assigned paramount role in drafting the Cabinet note. Once the Cabinet note gets final shape, the role of Chief Secretary is just to circulate the Cabinet note among the Ministers. In sum, the present political dispensation has no faith in the top bureaucrat and has fully curtailed his powers.
“The department concerned will prepare a Cabinet note and would get the same approved from the Minister in-charge. After approval of the Minister, it will be sent by the Secretary of the department for inter-departmental consultation. For any Cabinet note, consultation with the Finance, Planning and the law departments is mandatory. Depending on the subject matter of the Cabinet note, consultation may be required from other departments. After the inter-departmental consultation, the views of other departments will be incorporated and the same would be sent to the Chief Minister through the Minister concerned for the approval of the same for being brought before the Council of Ministers,” the circular said.
It further says that after approval of the Chief Minister, the Cabinet note will be sent to the Administrative Secretary of the Department concerned who will forward it to the Secretary of the Council i.e. the Chief Secretary, who will arrange to circulate the same among the Ministers and simultaneously send a copy to the lieutenant-Governor.
After such circulation, the matter will be included in the list of agenda of the meeting of the Council of Ministers and on such inclusion, the Departmental Cabinet Note will be considered by the Council of Ministers. This note is issued with the approval of the Chief Minister.
The crux of the matter of the circular issued by the approval of the Chief Minister is that the Minister in-charge and the Secretary to the Department will hold the key in drafting the Cabinet note. The final approval will be given by Arvind Kejriwal and the Chief Secretary will just circulate the note among the Ministers. Thus the top bureaucrat will sit on the fringe and see the AAP Government take all the crucial decisions. Probably first time since the inception of Assembly in Delhi, the role of Chief Secretary has been denigrated to this extent that he has no role to play in the governance and decision-making process.
It is noted that the AAP Government has stopped routing about 70 to 80 per cent of files through the Chief Secretary office. Even some of the key decisions were taken either at the level of the Ministers or their respective secretaries. Even, heads of department meeting, which is normally chaired by the Chief Secretary every week, is now being chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. Besides, the AAP Government is not happy with Chief Secretary KK Sharma over the manner he had handled the issue of Rajendra Kumar functioning as the Home Secretary. Sharma had reportedly sent his report to the Ministry of Home Affairs and expressed displeasure stating the conduct of Kumar was not proper during the controversy related to his appointed as the Secretary (Home), in which he was at loggerheads with then Principal Secretary (Home) Dharampal.
According to sources, the AAP Government is also unhappy with senior officials -- including the Chief Secretary -- because they are following the transaction of business rule while the Government is expecting that officers should follow their directions.