In an effort to tone up the administrative machinery and ensure timely clearance of files, the State Cabinet on Thursday decided to pull up secretaries of various departments who have failed to clear 50 per cent of pending files.
Briefing presspersons after a Cabinet meeting here, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs T.B. Jayachandra said the government had decided to simplify governance by ensuring timely delivery of services. It was decided to issue notice to all those secretaries who have failed to clear 50 per cent of pending files on a regular basis. Ministers would also be held responsible for any delay in clearance of files, he said.
Asked about vacancies, the Minister said Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee had been instructed to submit a report on the number of vacancies in various departments.
The file-clearance percentage in different department is as follows: Animal Husbandry – 45, Commerce and Industry – 49.08, Energy – 39.77, Primary and Secondary Education – 49, Finance – 36.2, Youth Services – 40.5, Medical Education – 32.76, PWD – 44.15, Revenue – 46.68, Urban Development – 45.23, Infrastructure – 40.19, and Forest – 31.31.
He said the total number of pending files in the State Secretariat was 2.62 lakh. The total number of closed files was 1.25 lakh and the number of files pending for more than a year was 1.22 lakh.
It was found that secretaries clear only one file a week. If a Minister asks for one file, it would take at least a week to reach him as it had to pass through five to six officers, Mr. Jayachandra said.
The government has decided to focus on speedy clearance of files. All files received between April 1, 2013 and October 30, 2013, which were pending before Ministers/secretaries, would be cleared in six months.
A few months ago, the State Cabinet decided to cut the salary of latecomers (officers or employees), besides initiating stern action against them.
AllowancesA decision had been taken to increase the monthly allowance of livestock officers from Rs. 400 to Rs. 500, he said. Officers, totalling 227, have been demanding Rs. 1,000 as allowance.
The Cabinet decided to release Rs. 5 crore for Davangere University, Rs. 5 crore for the Karnataka State Women’s University, Bijapur, and Rs. 15 crore for the Postgraduate Centre of Karnatak University in Gadag for infrastructure development.
A decision had been taken to close down Karnataka State Coal Mining Company, which was set up under Karnataka Vidyut Nigama, Mr. Jayachandra said. The previous government set up the company for management of coal blocks allocated to the State.
Cases withdrawnThe Cabinet also decided to withdraw police cases registered against sugarcane growers of Afzalpur taluk. The cases were registered when the growers staged a protest in Gulbarga in 2011.
