Bengal govt warns depts against taking policy decisions

Describing as a "serious matter" a few recent instances of individual departments taking policy decisions on important issues without the approval of the state cabinet or the Chief Minister, a senior West Bengal government bureaucrat has issued a memorandum saying any such action would be considered a "serious lapse" and personal responsibility will be fixed.

State Finance Secretary H.K. Dwivedi, who issued the memorandum, said prior approval of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee should "invariably be taken" in all matters involving any policy decision, and warned that any decision in contravention of the order "shall be treated as null and void".

"It has recently been seen that in a few instances, individual departments have taken policy decisions on important issues on their own without the approval of the state cabinet or honourable chief minister. This is a very serious matter," Dwivedi said in the communication sent out on Thursday.

"It is hereby ordered that prior approval of the honourable chief minister through the chief secretary should invariably be taken in all matters involving any policy decision of the department. Any action to the contrary will be considered as a serious lapse and personal responsibility will be fixed on the departments. Moreover, such decision taken in contravention of the above shall be treated as null and void," said the memorandum.

The memorandum refered to the laid-down norms of governance in the state governments, under which policy decisions on all matters are taken with the approval of the state cabinet or the chief minister. "These policy decisions may either have immediate and future financial implications or legal and administrative implications or both," it said.

Though the memorandum did not refer to any particular department, It was sent out on a day when Tourism Secretary Atri Bhattacharya and West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation Managing Director Tanmay Chakraborty were transferred to other departments.

However, there has been no official confirmation that the transfers were linked to any issues related to the memorandum.

( With inputs from IANS )