Chief Secretary should act hurriedly to save it

SYSTEM FAILURE IN ASSAM SECRETARIAT

Udayan Hazarika

(The writer can be reached at udayanhazarika@hotmail.com)

Recently the Assam Cabinet has come up with several interesting decisions which include the decision on serving of pith- pona – traditional Assamese eating in the government meetings and that of presenting only hand-woven gamosas in such meetings, etc. This was disclosed after the meeting by a Cabinet representative and also circulated widely as Cabinet decisions. Doubts prevail and people also wonder whether all these could make subject matters of Cabinet discussions needing a Cabinet nod! Nowadays the Cabinet meetings are held regularly on weekly basis and the departments are invited to place their matters before the Cabinet. Most of the Departments are left with no important issues to place before the Cabinet. But there is also the fear that the non-inclusion of any subject from the Department for a long time would mark the Department as non-performing. To come out of this dilemma, many administrative Departments have now seen placing even their decisions on day-to-day matters before the Cabinet for getting it passed through. It is undoubtedly that the position of the Government Departments has been relegated to a mere office of the Head of the Department. Most of the Departments are now busy translating dictations that they receive from the CMO. The departments are not supposed to find any issue of their own. The issue comes directly from the CMO. Against this backdrop, there has been a role crisis for the top-level bureaucrats as well as the middle-level bureaucrats in running the day-to-day show.

Middle-level officers are waiting for their new assignments as desk officers- the task that is performed by a Section officer at the Government of India level. A desk officer is supposed to handle the matter entrusted to him and he runs his show as a team consisting of junior officers and assistants. The system is obsolete now as multitasking has been the keyword or the new normal today in the administrative setup. The shortage of officers and assistants at the State-level makes it further difficult to introduce effectively this system in the State offices. Today, an officer is required to conceive the idea of a particular subject which he is to translate by typing it out as a draft mailing it out to his superiors and thereafter attend the meeting or the VCs on another subject and then attend the judicial Court on a still different subject. Thus, it is difficult to afford one officer and a few assistants for specific one or two subjects only. The system requires huge numbers of Assistants. This is an obsolete system now but as per the media report, CM has opted for this system. It might be the fact that officers surrounding him has neither conveyed to him the difficulties in putting in place the system nor they do not know the system for themselves. As per the Secretariat system- the assistants are the custodian of the files and not the middle-level officers or the branch office. Whenever a matter comes up it is the concerned Assistant who is supposed to put up the paper in the appropriate file or open a new file. This is a tested system and is flexible and can be corrected to achieve any expected results.

The Chief Secretary of the State as it appears either has put his back on the Secretariat administration (which is his own House) or he is fully exempted from this supervisory function. The notifications, OMs and other government communications that have been coming up in recent days are in a pathetic shape which is an example of a complete breakdown of the system. They are either i) full of literary mistakes or, ii) the wrong assumption of power while issuing the communication or iii) just issued it without disclosing the sources of power and whatnot. The question is how these mistakes skipped the eye of the CSO and for that matter the Chief Secretary when such files came to him for approval. It is difficult to believe that communiqués on such important matters have been issued without the knowledge of the Chief Secretary of the State.

Let us examine a few of the policy decisions conveyed in the form of notifications or letters during 30 days beginning from 14th June 2021. As a first example, we may take note of the communiqué issued by the Chief Secretary himself vide U/O No CS/Correspondence/2020/174 Dated June 19 2021 from his office. The letter was addressed to "all senior most Secretaries of the Government of Assam" while there cannot perhaps many senior-most secretaries of the Government of Assam but the one who is the Chief Secretary himself. It should perhaps have been correctly addressed as "all senior-most secretaries of the Department". Secondly, the first sentence of the U/O started with the phrase "it is hereby directed that" but to whom and what has been directed and to what to do are not mentioned, rather the sentence only conveyed about a government arrangement of vaccinating officers. The last sentence of the letter reads as "it is to be ensured that no employee refrain from attending regular office from 1st July 2021 on the pretext of not having been vaccinated." But who will ensure this – the senior-most secretary or the DC or the Guardian officers?

It is also perhaps known to everybody that no one can force anyone to take a vaccine.

Another communiqué in the form of notification was issued by Personnel (A) Department on June 14 vide AAI 16/2021/15 by which 13 senior IAS officers were "posted" as Guardian Officers in various districts. Nowhere, in the Notification, it was mentioned as to whether it is an addition to their present posting or a separate post has been created as such to make a substantive posting. What are the terms and conditions and tasks to be performed by these officers at least showing how many days they will remain outside the headquarters? Notifications are meant for the public as well and these are of durable value. Therefore, notifications must be conclusive in themselves. After 5 years nobody would know why these positions were created and such senior bureaucrats were posted.

In yet another notification, the Secretariat Administration Department and General Administration Department were merged. But nowhere in the Notification is it mentioned under what authority the notifications were issued. Similar is the case with the notification of the merger of GDD and UDD (AR44/2018/Pt.26/14 dated 20th July 2021).

The most interesting notification issued was by the AR & T Department recently vide AR 29/2021/1 dated 17 July 2021 renaming the Public Works Department as Lok Nirman Bibhag. The Notification was issued exercising power under Article 163(3) of the Constitution. Neither the Chief Secretary nor the Secretary in charge of the Department had any time to check what is the power authorized by Article 163(3). This article authorizes the Government to "make rules for the more convenient transaction of business". Accordingly, Schedule-I under Rule 4 of the Assam Rules of Executive Business should be amended.

In the above two cases, power should have been exercised under Article 166(3) for amending the Schedule-I of the Assam Rules of Executive Business which was formulated exercising power under Article 163(3) of the Constitution. Thus in all the above cases, Constitutional provisions have been violated.

Thus, along with the correction of the name and indicating the position of the schedule-I where this new name shall take effect amendments should have been prepared. It may be noted that the word "Purta" meaning construction of roads, bridges etc for the welfare of the public could have been the appropriate word for the PW Department. "Purta" is a Sankrit word. West Bengal PWD is known as "Purta Bibhag." People nowadays prefer to imitate the Delhi style.

Another notable example of carelessness is in the case popularly called the "Goru Bill" or the cow Bill. The Bill was recently presented before the House indicating in the Financial memorandum that there is no financial involvement for implementation of the Act. But Section 11(6), and Section 20 concerning establishment of Gosalas and "taking care of the cattle involve money".

The above examples show that most of the above steps were taken without following the proper guideline laid down in the Assam Rules of Executive Business. In certain cases, even the Law Department does not know about the passing of such memorandum implying thereby that views of those departments were not obtained. These are the serious lapses amounting to a contravention of constitutional provisions which are subject to judicial scrutiny.

Government policy decisions should not be taken so hastily. The proper guidelines should be followed to save time, energy and money. A small mistake may cost millions of public money. Already millions of rupees are on the verge of draining out for hurriedly committing some election promises.