After facing flak for allegedly coming to the rescue of a hotelier charged in cheating and forgery cases, Union home minister P. Chidambaram has directed officials to show him all communications requiring his clearance.
It was found that in many cases officials were giving approvals on the minister’s behalf without even showing him the draft of documents. Strong action is likely if there is any violation of the new diktat.
A MHA circular states: “Sometimes communications are issued by officers with the statement that ‘this is with the approval of the home secretary’ or ‘this is with the approval of the home minister’. In many such cases the draft of the letter is not put up to the home secretary (or) home minister for prior approval.” In cases where the approval of the home minister/home secretary is not required, “it should be issued under the signature and on the responsibility of the officer issuing it”.