Government reminds departments to check discretionary powers of Ministers

NEW DELHI: Over 30 central government ministries have failed to form guidelines to check arbitrariness in use of discretionary powers enjoyed by their ministers, nearly 21 months after the Centre had issued such a directive.

Irked over delay in finalising measures to check ministers' discretionary powers and putting them in public domain, the Centre has recently sent reminders to all such defaulting ministries to comply with its directive "urgently".

The Department of Personnel and Training ( DoPT), which acts as a nodal department to coordinate with Union ministries, on April 16, 2012 had issued a circular to all ministries to put in place regulating parameters for exercise of discretionary powers and making them available in public domain so as to minimise arbitrariness in exerting such powers.

In its another missive issued in May 2012, the DoPT had asked the central government departments to send a copy of such guidelines in case they already existed. In case they did not, DoPT had given them three months time to form guidelines.

Following failure on part of the ministries to timely adhere to its directive, the DoPT had issued reminders on April 1, July 11, August 7 and September 27, 2013.

"In this regard, several reminders have already been issued...However, the requisite information in respect of your Ministry/Department has not been received till date. It is therefore requested to kindly expedite the requisite information to this Department urgently," the DoPT said in its latest missive issued last week.

There are about 38 defaulting central government departments.

The DoPT's directive had come on a recommendation by a Group of Ministers ( GoM) to tackle corruption after examining the proposal related to "relinquishing discretionary powers enjoyed by ministers at the Centre".

The GoM, which was formed on January 6, 2011, was mandated to advise the government on matters including state funding of elections, fast tracking of all cases of public servants accused of corruption, ensuring full transparency in public procurement and contracts and introduction of an open and competitive system of exploiting natural resources.

The government has already done away with discretionary allotment of gas pumps and issue of gas coupons besides discretionary funds at the hands of some ministries like Social Welfare.