Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Thursday rebutted the criticism of DMK president M. Karunanidhi that the real power lay with advisers in the State government.
He termed a figment of imagination Mr. Karunanidhi’s statement in the context of the government practice of appointing advisers. He said the responsibilities of the Chief Secretary differed from those of advisers, and their functions were well defined in the Secretariat service rules. The chief role of an adviser was to advise the Chief Minister and the government on policy matters. He or she neither perused files nor signed on them.
The Chief Minister recounted how Mr. Karunanidhi, while in power, had appointed several retired IAS officers as advisers or officers on special duty or coordinators: S. Guhan in 1989; K.A. Sundaram in 1996; A.K. Venkat Subramanian in 1997; and K. Lakshmikanthan Bharati in 1998.
Mr. Panneerselvam wanted to know how Mr. Karunanidhi justified their appointments and said the Central government, too, had advisers such as the National Security Adviser.
At present, there are two advisers in the State government, both retired. Sheela Balakrishnan belonged to the Indian Administrative Service and served as Chief Secretary. K. Ramanujam was a former Director-General of Police.
