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THE ARTS: MUGHAL ARTIFACTS
"Rules Only To Rule"
Industry Minister
P.N. Singh, without naming Industry Director A.K. Singh or Secretary S.C.
Tubid, admits to facing opposition from officials everyday. He says that
in a democracy skirmishes between ministers who want a fast pace of development
and bureaucrats who "use rules only to rule" is common. There
would be no need for an elected government if everything were to be done
by the bureaucracy, he adds.
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MARANDI HAS NOW ASKED HIS COLLEAGUES AND OFFICIALS
TO STRICTLY ADHERE TO RULES.
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"Ministers
must understand that the Government is not a private company. Every
decision is subject to review."
V.S. Dubey, Chief Secretary
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"What's
wrong with it? I am the minister and unless I am also the chairman
of RRDA, development schemes will fail."
Bachcha Singh, Urban Development Minister
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The confrontations do not faze Chief Secretary
V.S. Dubey. "Ministers must understand that the government is not
a private company," he says, and adds that for implementing a decision,
certain rules have to be followed and a number of referral departments
have to be consulted. "Every decision is subject to review,"
says Dubey.
To add to Marandi's woes, there is a growing
desire among his ministers to live in plush bungalows and travel in air-conditioned
cars. The chief minister, after initial resistance, bowed to his colleagues'
pressure to allow the ministers and the head of departments to travel
in air-conditioned cars. A more than willing Cabinet put its seal of approval
on the issue on April 28 with changes to be implemented within a week.
The Government is now spending about Rs 90,000 every month on the perquisites
and salary of each minister.
Finance Minister Singh, whose job is to keep
a tight control on wasteful expenditure, tried to suppress his worries
while admitting that the Jharkhand Government opened its account books
with a deficit of Rs 52 crore but had a surplus of Rs 72 crore at the
beginning of the new financial year.
Fed up with the growing conflict between the
ministers and officials, the chief minister has now started monitoring
their relationship. He said in a recent interview that according to his
own analysis there were many factors responsible for the conflict: ministers
were yet to understand their responsibilities and sometimes some of them
considered themselves above the law. "They had seen such things in
Bihar and think this is the way ministers should function," Marandi
says wryly. He adds that he has now told his colleagues as well as officials
that they must strictly adhere to rules and not exceed their briefs.
With ministers like Bachcha Singh, Lalchand
Mahto and Ramesh Munda trying to keep officials under their thumbs, implementing
his words could be a tough task. If the ministers refuse to pay heed,
he will have to spend many more sleepless nights under a canopy in his
courtyard rather than in the confines of his air-conditioned rooms.
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