Hyderabad: Chief Secretary P.K. Mohanty sought to play very safe in the controversial issue of re-circulating files cleared by the former chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and other ministers in the last two months in office. Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan had earlier asked the CS to re-circulate the files relating to controversial decisions. But the CS left it to the special CS, principal secretaries and secretaries to decide which file should be re-circulated and told them not to seek any instruction from him on the matter.
In a circular sent to the bureaucrats, the chief secretary said, the officers “shall examine such files and re-circulate to Hon’ble Governor after satisfying themselves on the need to re-circulate.” Further, he said “the officers may not seek any further instructions in the matter (from him) as they are competent to decide.”
Second, Mr Mohanty wanted the departmental heads to directly send the files to the Governor without involving him. Sources said there was a heated debate on this, between the chief secretary and several principal secretaries during the high level meeting held to discuss the bifurcation procedures. Defending his decision of not involving himself, the CS said that since the departmental heads did not circulate the file to him when the decision was taken, there was no need for him to look into the files now.
However, the officers, in particular, S.P. Singh and B.R.Meena who handle revenue and land matters respectively, did not agree with the chief secretary. Quoting business rules, they argued that a decision was taken by the then minister to circulate the file directly to the Chief Minister, bypassing the CS. But it is mandatory for the files to process through the CS. Following this the CS has finally agreed to process all the files to the Governor through himself with a condition that the departmental heads should give their view on the decision taken by the then political bosses.
