Ministers to write ACRs of IAS?

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, December 25

Giving powers to the ministers of the Delhi government to write the annual confidential reports (ACRs) of the IAS officers serving in departments under them, is the latest bone of contention between the politicians and the bureaucracy.

As Delhi is, for all practical purposes, a Union Territory instead of a full fledged state, only the chief minister and the chief secretary write the ACRs of the officers. The Lt. Governor then approves or disapproves it. Due to this discrepancy, the IAS officers prefer to ignore the ministers in several cases and instead have developed their allegiance to either of the two centres of power – the chief secretary or the chief minister.

After verbal protests by several Congress MLAs, chief minister Sheila Dikshit assured the Delhi Assembly in the Winter Session that the government was willing to write to the Centre for a change in rules to allow the ministers to write the ACRs. Dikshit said that according to the All India Service Rules, the government decides the reporting, reviewing and accepting authority for the IAS officers. In Delhi’s case, government means central government and not the state government. She said only the CM has been given powers to write such a report.

Some of the ministers in the government frankly admit that the officials, supposed to work under them, hardly bother about their advice and in some cases completely neglect their orders. “Getting an IAS officer transferred takes months after approaching the CM,” admitted a minister.

The bureaucracy, on the other hand, says that giving such powers to ministers would be counter productive. “We work in accordance with the laid down rules, law and procedures. Due to political compulsion, the ministers often give orders which violate the administrative and legal principles,” said a senior IAS officer. He said that Delhi is unlike any other full fledged state like UP or MP. “If ministers get powers to write the ACRs, it would violate the very foundations of the UT cadre and make things messy. (2005)