In a strongly worded letter to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday, former Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao said the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), which started as a small outfit to help the CM in clearing files, had grown in size and strength and, more or less, became a parallel Secretariat.
Mr. Rao said as per his information, the CMO did not maintain any record of the aid or advice given by the officers to the Chief Minister and none of them signed on any of the files before forwarding them to the Chief Minister for decision-making, and that they maintain certain informal notes and destroy the same as per their convenience.
Mr. Rao asserted that such “unregulated” way of functioning of the CMO was detrimental to public interest and a major anomaly that should be rectified.
There was a peculiar situation of absolute power without responsibility playing havoc with the system, thus endangering the public interest at large, he alleged.
The former Chief Secretary cited the relevant legal provisions of the A.P. Secretariat Office Manual (APSOM) issued by the General Administration (I.C) Department in 2005, in support of his argument.
The Chief Minister and his office constituted a public authority and their decisions and activities were accountable to the general public, he added.
