Run all Cabinet notes past LG V K Saxena two days in advance, CS Naresh Kumar told

NEW DELHI: Lieutenant governor V K Saxena has asked chief secretary Naresh Kumar to ensure that the provisions of the Transaction of Business Rules (ToBR) under the GNCTD Act are adhered to and all cabinet notes, memorandums and proposals are made available to his secretariat “at least two days before the council of ministers’ meet”.
Sources said that out of 234 such proposals considered by the cabinet from April 2020 to July 15, 2022, 79 were received by the LG’s secretariat one day before the meeting, 63 the same day and 40 after the meet. “It is clear that the compliance of ToBR in this matter happened only in 22% of the cases, while in 78% instances, it was violated without any justification,” the LG said in his note to the chief secretary, a copy of which was sent to the secretary of the chief minister. The chief secretary is also the secretary of the cabinet in the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
A Delhi government source, however, said the LG was acting like a primary school headmaster. “He is always fighting, finding petty faults. We do not wish to fight with him. The government wishes to concentrate on public welfare,” the source said.
Sources said the LG had observed that the violation of Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules, 1993 was “not in the interest of transparent and accountable governance”. The note cited Rule 11 and Sub Rule (3) of Rule 13 of ToBR while pointing out that a significant number of such communications were received just prior to the scheduled meeting or after they were held, without showing any reason. “There are also many instances where such proposals and cabinet notes are placed before the cabinet directly and a copy of the same is not provided to LG secretariat at all,” sources privy to the information said.

Sources pointed out that the period of two days could only be curtailed by the chief minister under Sub Rule (3) of Rule 13 “in case of urgency”. “The note from LG secretariat has underlined that in none of the cases, any reason was provided for curtailment of the statutory period of at least two days as mandated in ToBR,” said a source.
Quoting the information provided by the general administration department of the Delhi government, sources said 102 of the 274 proposals in the past two years were considered and approved by the council of ministers either as “tabled agenda or through circulation among the ministers without effective deliberations”, which, they said, “should be done sparingly in the interest of transparency, accountability and effective governance”.

“Non-compliance of ToBR results in grant of little or no time to study the proposals required for effective deliberations during the meeting. It also results in insufficient time for the LG office to form an opinion, if any, thus affecting the overall governance,” a source said.