Ministries told to follow Cabinet norms

The Cabinet secretariat has instructed ministries to follow set procedures before sending proposals for approval.

Officials told Business Standard that the Cabinet secretariat was peeved at the way certain ministries had been skipping certain procedures. The instructions to this effect were issued last week.

"It is increasingly being seen that ministries make a presentation to the Prime Minister or a group of ministers and then move a Cabinet note, forgetting the intermediate stages of clearances," officials said.

Officials pointed out that the agriculture ministry had sent a proposal for the national horticulture mission, to be launched on April 1, for Cabinet clearance even before the expenditure finance committee headed by Expenditure Secretary had approved the project. The ministry had made a presentation to functionaries in the Prime Minister's Office.

Similarly, the urban development ministry had submitted a note to the Cabinet secretariat for a Rs 50,000-crore urban renewal mission without the comments of other ministries.

"There have been occasions when a cabinet note has come to us two days before it is to be submitted to the Cabinet secretariat. At times, it is a deliberate strategy to ensure that the comments of other departments and ministries are bypassed," an official said.