Observing that the violation of Transaction of Business of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Rules, 1993 (ToBR), was not in the interest of transparent and accountable governance, the Lieutenant-Governor’s (L-G) Secretariat has written to Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, who is also Secretary to the Cabinet, to look into the issue and ensure adherence to laid-down statutory provisions of the ToBR, both in letter and spirit.

“Of the 234 proposals considered by the Cabinet in their meeting from April 2020 till July this year, 79 proposals were received in the L-G’s Secretariat one day before the scheduled meeting of the Cabinet, 63 were received on the same day of the meeting and 40 such proposals were received after the Cabinet meeting was held. It is clear that the compliance of the ToBR in this matter happened only in 22 per cent of the cases, while in 78 per cent instances the ToBR was violated without any justification,” sources said.

“Citing the provisions of the ToBR that provide that a copy of the memorandums or proposals and Cabinet Notes to be considered by the Council of Ministers or Cabinet be made available to the L-G Secretariat ‘at least two days before the scheduled date of the meeting of the Council of Ministers’ the note observes that a significant number of such Cabinet Notes are received just prior to the scheduled meeting of the Cabinet or even after conclusion of such meetings, without recording any reason for such transgression of the ToBR,” they stated.

“There are also many instances where such Proposals or Cabinet Notes are placed before the Cabinet directly and a copy of the same is not provided to the L-G’s Secretariat at all,” they said.

“As per information provided by the General Administration Department, 102 proposals out of 274 proposals (37.22 per cent) during the above period were considered and approved by the Council of Ministers either as Tabled Agenda or through Circulation among the Ministers without effective deliberations - something that should be done sparingly in interest of transparency, accountability and effective governance,” they said.

“The L-G’s office has noted with concern that such non-compliance of ToBR, prima facie result in grant of little or no time for study of proposals required for effective deliberations during the meeting of the Cabinet. It also results in insufficient time for the L-G’s office to form an opinion, if any, thus affecting overall governance of the national Capital,” sources informed.