With the installation of the new UDF government under Chief Minister V D Satheesan, the Kerala bureaucracy enters a phase of a major administrative course correction. The new CM held a nearly two-hour-long meeting with the state’s top bureaucrats on Monday and spelled out his reform pitch.

The CM asked them to revisit outdated laws and make governance more responsive to changing economic and social realities by reducing delays in decision-making and improving coordination between departments.

The meeting, attended by IAS officers of the rank of Special Secretary and above, began with departmental secretaries briefing the CM about the functioning of their departments and the challenges they face. CM Satheesan laid out his expectations from the administrative machinery.

One of the key directions from the CM was the need to reform several laws that have remained largely untouched despite repeated calls. While detailing the policy direction of his govt, Satheesan said there was a need for timely and relevant amendments to legislation such as the Plantation Act, Land Reforms Act, and Paddy and Wetland Act.

The CM asked departmental secretaries to come up with concrete suggestions on reforms required to make these laws more relevant to present-day realities.

In order to encourage bureaucrats for decision-making, Satheesan assured them that his government would protect officials who took decisions in good faith as part of their official duties.

Another key issue addressed by the CM was the need for stronger coordination among departments. Satheesan said that lack of coordination often slows down governance and project execution. He reiterated that all proposals involving financial liabilities for the state should necessarily be routed through the finance department.

But in what could be described as one of the govt’s major administrative reform initiatives, Satheesan proposed reducing the multiple layers involved in file processing. The CM said an expert team of officers would soon be constituted to recommend ways to streamline file movement and speed up decision-making. The CM identified delays in land acquisition as one of the biggest reasons behind cost overruns in public projects leading to significant escalation in project costs and financial leakages.

Satheesan stressed the need to build stronger in-house technical capacities in order to reduce the state’s dependence on external agencies for preparing detailed project reports (DPRs).

Besides, Satheesan made special mention of the need for closer monitoring of govt litigation, for which he instructed departmental secretaries to ensure that govt pleaders keep them periodically informed about the status of court cases involving their departments.

Similarly, with regard to centrally sponsored schemes, Satheesan directed secretaries to closely monitor them and undertake a review of missions, technical support units, external agencies, and other special-purpose bodies that continue to function even after their original objectives have been achieved.

Apart from detailing policy bottlenecks, several secretaries used the meeting also to voice concerns regarding operational shortcomings within their departments, like insufficient office infrastructure and the basic facilities for senior officers, with the CM assuring them that such concerns would be looked into.