New Delhi
24 August 2007
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to "revise" the
procedure for appointment to the level of Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary and
Secretary in all the ministries or departments of the Central Government by rendering the
approval of the UPA ministers irrelevant may have opened a Pandora's box of
consequences far beyond its planned purpose.
Sources familiar with the procedural aspects said that "usurping" the powers of
appointment has "dangerous implications" for the administration of governance. They
cited the new procedure of requiring only "ex-post facto" approval of the Minister of
Home Affairs and the minister in-charge of the ministry concerned to suggest that
concentrating the power of appointment in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) went against
democratic traditions.
Incidentally, the fact that such a revision had been effected, and that the new procedure
was in vogue since June 15, 2004, became known only this month, when the PMO sent a
sealed envelope to the two-member Principal Bench of the Central Administrative
Tribunal (CAT), which was hearing an application challenging the appointment of Mr
Shivshankar Menon as the foreign secretary.
The Transaction of Business Rules, which was issued on January 14, 1961, provided
that all business allotted to a department under Government of India were to be disposed
of by or under the general or special directions of the minister in-charge. But the revised
procedure renders the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) redundant by
requiring only ex-post facto approval. The Prime Minister chairs the ACC. The Minister of
Home Affairs and the minister in-charge are the other members of the ACC.
Other sources felt that the revision of procedure as per the Prime Minister's directions
was an "internal, housekeeping" matter. They maintained that there was "great virtue" in
not seeking advance approval of the ACC and there was no need to notify the change if
the change was within the existing Transaction of Business Rules and if it was not
violative of the Rules in letter and spirit.
The CAT, in its order delivered on August 21 this year, said the government has offered
the explanation that heading a coalition government necessitated a certain degree of
confidentiality in such matters and that the procedure has been simplified and
streamlined as per the Prime Minister's directions.
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