Indian Express: Mumbai: Wednesday, October 29, 2014.
In the 29
days since the President’s rule was imposed in Maharashtra, the state administration under Governor C H Vidyasagar Rao has issued 144 government
resolutions.
Maharashtra
came under President’s rule on September 28 after the erstwhile Congress-NCP
government fell.
On October
16, for instance, the Social Justice and Special Assistance Department issued a
resolution rescinding its earlier move to provide Rs 258 crore in additional
government guarantees to five backward class corporations. Ahead of the
Maharashtra polls, the Prithviraj Chavan-led cabinet had taken a decision to
grant the additional guarantee to the five corporations Mahatma Phule Backward
Class Corporation, Lokshahir Annabhu Sathe Development Corporation, Sant
Rohidas Leather Industries and Charmakar Development Corporation, Vasantrao
Naik VJNT Development Corporation and Maharashtra OBC Development Corporation
to get loans from the National Backward Classes and Finance Development
Corporation. The Chavan government had then claimed that the guarantee amount
would help these corporations secure loans from the National Backward Classes
Finance and Development Corporation and that the move would help at least 35,000
backward class beneficiaries.
Under the
President’s rule, a letter directing all state departments to shed financial
indiscipline has also been issued. After the Comptroller and Auditor General of
India (CAG) pointed out that utilisation certificates for grants worth a
staggering Rs 71,563 crore were pending, the state finance department issued a
GR on October 9 making various head of departments (HODs) responsible for
ensuring that all pending cases were settled in a month. The CAG had also
indicated that detailed bills for Rs 1027 crore drawn from contingency funds
since 1990 had not been submitted. The GR has directed all departments to complete
this process before the year-end. It further instructs HODs to file criminal
cases without delay in instances of financial misappropriation. A cut in
development spend was imposed under the Chavan regime due to state’s tight
fiscal position, which is still in place.
A
controversial decision tweaking Right to Information (RTI) procedures was also
taken with the state’s General Administration Department (GAD) issuing a GR on
October 17 instructing public information officers in various departments “to
desist from issuing information that did not constitute public interest”. The
move has since invited the wrath of several RTI activists.
Matters of
general administration received highest priority, with GAD along issuing 24 of
the total 144 GRs. Issues concerning the Rural Development Department came
second with 13 GRs, followed by the Agriculture, Dairy Development and
Fisheries Department (12 GRs).
Orders
regarding implementation of the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and another one
calling for a fresh survey for banning manual scavenging in Maharashtra were
also issued. A senior official in the Governor’s office said all decisions had
been taken in accordance with the Maharashtra Rules of Business (Amendment)
Rules, 2014 that were notified after the President’s rule was imposed. The
rules lay down guidelines on how and to whom files are to be routed. On October
4, Rao had appointed retired IAS officer Anil Baijal as his adviser. He is now
Rao’s link with the state bureaucracy.
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