Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Wednesday, May 21, 2003 |
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Kerala
By Our Special Correspondent
In an article discussing the performance of the UDF Government, which had just completed two years, Mr. Jayachandran said a Chief Minister was, first and foremost, expected to be a good administrator. But, Mr. Antony was yet to make the grade in this respect. ``A Chief Minister is the head of the Council of Ministers, whether in a coalition set-up or a single party set-up. Mr. Antony is not able to assert his position due to the conflicts in his own party and the indiscipline of the coalition parties.... He should have realised at least after the Marad incident that strong and impartial positions adopted by him on crucial issues would receive popular support,'' Mr. Jayachandran said. He said the hallmark of the Antony administration so far had been the tendency to allow the Ministers, especially those belonging to the junior parties in the coalition, to deal with their portfolios as they pleased. Even the Congress Ministers were, reportedly, treating their portfolios as their fiefdoms. They would bring to the Cabinet only those issues, which had to statutorily cleared by the Cabinet. For administrative efficiency the Government should have a policy. Each department should be guided by a clear policy. However, the Ministers were behaving as though `the policy' followed what they deemed fit to do. "The absence of a clear policy for the Government may be due to the fear that it will cause many inconveniences,'' Mr. Jayachandran said. He referred to the Government's decision to issue `no objection certificates' to all and sundry who had applied for self-financing professional colleges as a typical instance of the lack of a policy. "The future generations are sure to suffer from the consequences of this decision,'' he said. The main portfolios with the Chief Minister included Public Administration, Home and Administrative Reforms. The efficiency of Public Administration was at an all-time low now. The nerve centre of Public Administration, the Secretariat, was in total disarray. Even the `personal register', which recorded the origin and movement of files, was not being maintained in the Secretariat nowadays. He said the restructuring of the Secretariat was still a distant dream. There were 35 departments in place of just 15 needed for efficient administration. The deployment of secretaries followed no logic. Though there was an Additional Chief Secretary in position, he had not even the duties of an ordinary secretary to perform. He said the way Mr. Antony started off with the Home portfolio, matters had looked quite promising. However, the consequences of freeing the police of all outside interferences were not little. At the district levels, there was no interaction nowadays between several District Collectors and the Superintendents of Police. "Our policemen are wont to pretend that they possess several powers that they actually do not have. At the same time, they exercise their powers only according to wish of their political masters. The Chief Minister should hold the police by a tight leash to ensure that it carries out its function of keeping the law and order diligently,'' he said.
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