Cabinet Secretary rap on late vacancy proposals

Secretaries to give delay statement if the proposals are not sent at least two months in advance

Cabinet secretary P K Sinha has sent a letter to secretaries of all ministries and government departments to comply with the guidelines on appointments.

Saying proposals were coming at the “eleventh hour” for consideration of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), he's said "delay statements: are needed if these are not sent at least two months ahead of a coming vacancy. This statement must show the time taken at various stages of processing a  proposal, reasons for delay and action taken to avoid such situations in future.

Sending proposals so late, his letter has said, gives the ACC "little time to adequately scrutinise...many a time becoming a fait accompli’’.

Also, he’s said, despite earlier reminders to all ministries, the positions in public sector enterprises, autonomous or statutory bodies and tribunals were not being regularly updated on the ACC vacancy monitoring system.

Bureaucrats under the Narendra Modi government have been regularly told to adhere to governance rules, especially on drafting clear notes for the Cabinet and inter-ministerial consultation, beside a focus on quick decision-making.

Recently, the cabinet secretariat had sent a memo to all secretaries that “preparation of notes for consideration of the Cabinet and (its) committees has to be completed in two weeks”. The sponsoring ministry or department has to indicate the date on which comments were sought from others and the date these did come.

Soon after the present government had come to power last year, secretaries were sent similar memos to follow deadlines for “expeditious decision-making”.