Cabinet Secretary asks govt departments to inform about signed agreements

Directive issued asked ministries to get prior approval of the Cabinet in a time-bound manner

All central government departments have been asked to inform the Cabinet Secretariat as soon as they sign any agreement and also get the nod from the Cabinet or its committee in a time-bound manner.

The directive came after it was noticed that certain ministries were informing the Cabinet Secretariat about accords signed with other stakeholders after the stipulated period of one month.

As per norms, any agreement related to culture and science and technology matters, not impacting the national security or India's relations with other countries, which are duly approved by the Minister-in-Charge of the department concerned and the Minister of External Affairs, need to be circulated to the Cabinet for information.

"Ministries/departments are requested to send an intimation to this secretariat as soon as such agreements are entered into along with a copy of the signed agreement.

"Ministries/departments may also ensure that notes for information are forwarded to this secretariat well within the stipulated period of one month for timely consideration of such notes by the Cabinet/Cabinet Committee," the Cabinet Secretariat said in an order.

Referring to its previous directive, it said that all the departments need to take ex-post facto approval on any decision already approved by the Prime Minister and on Memoranda of Understanding signed by them within a month.

In another order, the Cabinet Secretariat has asked all the secretaries to hold inter-ministerial consultations only with departments concerned with the matter and that too within the prescribed time limit of two weeks.