Upset over many ministers in the habit of dashing off notes late for the Cabinet to take decisions, the prime minister has asked the Cabinet Secretary to throw out all such notes to bring some sort of discipline.
"I have strict instructions from the Prime Minister not to accept any notes after the scheduled time on the day prescribed," writes Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar in a letter sent to all secretaries on October 13, urging them not to put him "in the embarrassing situation of not being in a position to accept any note received later."
A copy of the Cabinet Secretary's letter is in possession of rediff.com.
All notes meant for consideration by the Union Cabinet or any Cabinet Committee must reach the Cabinet Secretariat seven clear days before the meeting, says a new regime conveyed to all ministries through a letter of Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar.
Asking ministers to strictly adhere to the new time-frame for Cabinet notes, the letter says: "You will appreciate that the objective of this revision in schedule is to provide clear seven days for PMO to process the notes for consideration of the Cabinet."
The letter cites the rules already in vogue that 'only notes received seven working days before the meeting of the Cabinet/Cabinet committee will be circulated by the Cabinet Secretariat, provided they meet with the procedural requirements'.
Even in the exceptional cases of extreme urgency, the notes are supposed to reach the secretariat by Friday 10 am, preceeding the week in which the meeting is held on Thursday.
The Cabinet Secretary noted that he had repeatedly stressed the need to adhere to the time limits but the Cabinet Secretariat continues to receive requests for consideration of proposals well beyond the time limits specified.
Citing the Prime Minister's direction that the list of items proposed to be included in the agenda of the Cabinet/Cabinet Committee meetings should be sent to the PMO well ahead of the meetings, he says that "it has been decided that procedurally correct notes received up to one week prior to the date of the meeting will alone be considered for inclusion in the proposed agenda."
