Discretionary power of officials under scanner

The central government order directing all ministers to detail the discretionary powers they presently enjoy has been expanded to require information on such powers of secretaries, additional secretaries and joint secretaries as well.

Earlier, a group of ministers (GoM) constituted on the issue of corruption had favoured relinquishing of all discretionary powers vested with central ministers.

Some officials said the new order on officials wouldn’t change much. “Only ministries which have something to do with granting permits or licences could be impacted by this order,” a senior government official said.

Another official said if one took a closer look, every decision taken by a ministry official was of discretionary nature. “We have been doing it for ages. If we are not required to exercise our discretion, we can be replaced by programmed machines,” he said.

The GoM on corruption is headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. It also has the ministers for home, defence, law, agriculture, telecom, railways and fertiliser.

A minister’s discretionary powers include allotment of land, change in land use, appointments and transfers of bureaucrats, etc. There are 38 departments with such discretionary powers for their ministers.

The suggestion to end these powers was made by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the party’s plenary last December. It was part of her five-point charter to combat corruption.

Following this, the department of personnel and training sought details of ministers’ discretionary powers from all ministries last month. It subsequently compiled the information and sent it to the eight-member GoM examining the issue.

The GoM discussed the issue at length and recommended the ending of discretionary powers which could be misused by ministers.

Officials said the GoM also considered the issue of summary dismissal of officials charged with serious allegations of corruption and favoured exemplary penal action against such officers.