Ministers must approve circulars: Satyendar Jain

In an attempt to ensure that city bureaucrats do not pass any notification or official circular without the consent of minister concerned, health minister Satyendar Jain has ordered that no such directions be issued by his department without taking his concurrence.

In a recent order, Mr Jain said, “In exercise of powers conferred under Rule-15 and 16 of the Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules, 1993 (TBR), it is hereby ordered that no notification or order or circular or any other instrument would be issued by the department, without the concurrence of the minister-in-charge.”

The order said: “In exercise of the above said powers, it is further ordered that authentication of above mentioned documents under the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Authentication of Orders and other Instruments) Rules, 1992 dated 25 November 1993 and 4 July 2000 shall be issued by principal secretary/secretary, additional secretary, joint secretary, deputy secretary or under secretary to the government as directed by the minister-incharge.”

The health minister’s order has reportedly not gone well with a section of bureaucrats who feel that by keeping all such powers with the minister would not only undermine their authority but could also slow down day-to-day decision making in the administration.

A bureaucrat said that the officers generally issue orders which are approved by the government. He said that some circulars and notifications are issued from time to time in a routine manner. “Now the bureaucrats will be bound to take concurrence of the minister even for issuing such regular notifications or circulars.”

This is not the first occasion when Mr Jain has directly targeted his bureaucrats. He hogged the headlines when he accused principal secretary (power) Shakuntala D. Gamlin, who has since proceeded on long leave, of favouring a private electricity discom. He had alleged that the officer was in the process of issuing a letter of comfort to the company to raise money from financial institutions.

The officer had hit back, saying the government had on earlier occasions also issued such letters. She had clarified that the letter of comfort does not mean that the government was in any way guarantor for the money raised by the company from any financial institution.

Recently, Mr Jain courted another controversy after he drastically curtailed the powers of his principal secretary (home) S.N. Sahai for reportedly opposing the government decision to suspend two deputy secretaries. But Mr Jain took a U-turn and immediately restored all the departments to Mr Sahai.