VIJAYAWADA: The Screening Committee, headed by Chief Secretary LV Subramanyam, has cleared the four-point agenda prepared by the Chief Minister’s Office for the proposed Cabinet meeting. The CS will now forward the agenda to the Election Commission of India (ECI), through the Chief Electoral Officer of Andhra Pradesh, most likely on Friday. After getting the ECI’s approval, the State government can hold the Cabinet meeting scheduled for May 14.
The committee, which met in the Secretariat on Thursday, discussed the agenda for the meeting to review the prevailing drought and seasonal conditions, drinking water scarcity, Fani cyclone relief and NREGS issues.
“The committee examined if discussion on the issues would lead to the Cabinet taking any new policy decision, which is violative of the Model Code of Conduct. The four points in question were examined and cleared by the committee. It will be forwarded to the ECI now,” said an official, who was part of the meeting.
While the CS, Secretary (Political) N Srikant and officials from CMO were part of the Screening Committee, the heads of the departments -- Special Chief Secretaries B Rajasekhar and Karikal Valaven, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Principal Secretary K Jawahar Reddy, Animal Husbandry Secretary B Sreedhar, Disaster Management Secretary D Vara Prasad and Finance Secretary Peeyush Kumar -- participated in the meeting.
On an earlier occasion, Chief Electoral Officer Gopala Krishna Dwivedi said the agenda needed to be sent to the ECI at least 48 hours before the scheduled date of a Cabinet meeting for scrutiny. He added that his office would immediately forward the agenda to the ECI after receiving from the CS.
It may be recalled that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu initially wanted to convene the Cabinet meeting on May 10, but later postponed it as it needed prior permission from the ECI.
“The objective of this meeting is to brief the officials concerned about the prevailing issues in the State. Since there won’t be any policy decision, we expect the ECI’s clearance,” another official added.
Sources said that the Chief Minister’s Office contemplated adding another point
regarding certain issues faced by employees, but later decided against it and sent only a four-point agenda of the Thursday’s meeting.