DNA:Partha Sarathi Biswas:Pune:Friday, December 02, 2011.
At times it seems the bureaucracy not only alters, but also subverts the will of the chief minister (CM) of the state.
This shocking revelation was made by former state information commissioner (SIC) of Konkan division, Navin Kumar, based on documents procured by him under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. Kumar stumbled upon this startling fact while pursuing the case of sumptuary allowance granted to SICs. The allowance is given to officers of the rank of chief secretary of the state.
“According to the RTI Act, the SICs are to get salary and allowance on par with the chief secretary of the state. Although the SICs were given other benefits, the sumptuary allowance was neither granted to them nor to the chief information commissioner (CIC) of the state,” said Kumar.
In 2007, after a meeting with the then chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, and various SICs, it was decided that SICs be granted sumptuary allowance. However, the matter kept getting delayed, and in 2009, the principal secretary of the general administration department (GAD), conveyed the state government’s refusal to grant the allowance to the state information commission.
“The CIC immediately wrote to the CM about the decision and pointed out that it was not in the right spirit,” said Kumar. In February 2011, the chief secretary of the state again conveyed the state’s government’s decision to not grant the allowance to SICs.
After stepping down from the post of the SIC, Kumar asked the chief minister’s secretariat to provide copies of the file related to the sumptuary allowance.
“The documents revealed that the GAD had sent a proposal to the chief minister suggesting that the sumptuary allowance to SICs be discontinued. However, the CM had refused to give his consent to the proposal and has clearly stated so in the file,” Kumar said.
“But while preparing the official note, the CM’s secretary wrote that the CM has directed that the sumptuary allowance to the SICs be discontinued, thereby completely going against the wishes of the CM. This is a very serious lapse on the secretary’s part,” he said.
Kumar pointed out that the allowance has more to do with the prestige associated with the post of the SIC.
RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar said this was another example of the bureaucracy trying to toy with the office of the SIC. “The SIC on its part should take action against bureaucrats who have tried to subvert the CM’s decision,” he said.