In a significant development, Delhi Chief Secretary Dharmendra (IAS:1989:AGMUT) has asked all additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries, and secretaries to first take the Lieutenant Governor’s opinion before executing the Cabinet decision.
Directing secretaries through a letter written on November 12, he has asked them to follow Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules (ToBR) while initiating execution of Cabinet proposals.
The order will be applicable to any welfare scheme/policy/programme targeting a specific group or class of person of the society, including interest of a particular community, the Scheduled Caste, the Scheduled Tribe and the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes or any other class of persons.
The letter also says that the Cabinet note must contain information “whether the provisions… are attracted or not for obtaining the opinion of L-G, before taking executive action on the cabinet decision.”
It emphasizes that the guidelines issued by Cabinet Secretariat must be strictly adhered to while preparing Cabinet note in all cases. Further, the note should contain modalities of implementation, financing and timelines.
