Minister for Handloom and Textiles G. Prasad Kumar has complained to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy against two senior Secretaries to Government for issuing nine GOs without his prior knowledge.
The Minister, who recently raised the violation of protocol norms by government officers took exception this time that two Secretaries -- D. Sreenivasulu and Sabyasachi Ghosh -- did not brief him about the GOs before issuing them between November 8 and 29. “I don’t keep files pending with me and I clear the files that come to me within a day or two. So where was the need to keep me in the dark,” Mr. Kumar said.
The issue came to light when his attention was drawn to a GO issued by Mr. Ghosh appointing himself as the Full Additional in-charge CEO of AP Khadi and Village Industries Board in place of Mr. Kantilal Dande, Director, Handlooms and Textiles, who was transferred and posted as Director, Tourism.
The Minister also did not take kindly to the release of Budget Release Orders by Mr.Ghosh to the tune of Rs.11 crore towards salaries of KVIB staff and other administrative purposes and for investments in LIDCAP without his knowledge.
The Minister reportedly felt it was a case of violation of business rules and undermining the importance of a democratically elected people’s representative.
Routine matter
But senior IAS officers claimed that the officials were within their powers to issue GOs on routine matters. Unless it was a policy decision, normal administrative, disciplinary or financial powers were exercised by the Secretaries in accordance with the business rules.
The procedures are clear with division of powers between the Minister and the Secretaries.
However, the misunderstanding could have been avoided had the Minister been informally informed about Budget Release Orders.
It was also common for a Secretary to be in-charge head of a department in case of vacancy to ensure work would not suffer. Thus it was not unusual for Mr. Ghosh to take additional responsibility as CEO of KVIB, a temporary arrangement, they said.
