NEW DELHI: In order to speed up public works, Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal has asked all the departments under the Delhi government to explore whether the practice of conferring powers by “virtue of office rather than on individual officer by name” could be adopted.
“Currently, when an officer is posted or transferred to an office, the powers of that designation are conferred on him/her. A new seal is made and many files are moved — all this process generally takes at least 15 days. In this ensuing period, the officer cannot work as he doesn’t have the powers to do so,”said an officer in the Delhi government.
“If this practice is changed, public dealing will be faster and the officer can start duty as soon as s/he is transferred to the post.” Incidentally, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government and the bureaucracy were at loggerheads after AAP legislators allegedly thrashed Delhi Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash at the CM’s residence in February 19.
Files piled up and work suffered as IAS and DANICS officers boycotted meetings with AAP ministers to seek a written public apology from Kejriwal. These officers had maintained only written communication with the CM and his ministers.
According to an official note from the L-G office, the Department of Weights and Measures had moved the proposal for conferment of powers by “virtue of office” for the post of controller/assistant controller and inspector. Its proposal was vetted by the Law department after which the file was moved to the L-G office, where this proposal was given the go ahead last week.
In addition, Baijal has asked the Delhi Chief Secretary to check whether all the departments could adopt the practice of conferring powers by “virtue of office rather than on individual officers by name”. The note has been forwarded to the head of all the departments by the chief secretary’s office to accordingly proceed in the matter.