The government on Thursday cleared a proposal to provide secretarial support to the re-constituted National Advisory Council (NAC), headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The 35-member-strong secretarial staff would include a secretary, an additional secretary and three joint secretaries.
Interestingly, the sanction for these posts has come even before other members, likely to be eight to 10 in number, could be nominated on the panel.
The top babus in the government have, however, begun lobbying for the coveted posts in the council, as posting there would mean to actually control the government, sources in the bureaucracy confirmed.
Informing about the decision, information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni said, “The Union Cabinet, at its meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today approved 35 posts to the NAC.”
Elaborating further the minister said, the NAC has been tasked to act as a link between the government and the ruling coalition to “monitor implementation of various key flagship programmes”.
The posts sanctioned include a secretary, an additional secretary and three joint secretaries, Ms Ambika Soni added.
Official sources, moreover, confirmed that a sum of Rs 33 lakhs has been earmarked for expenditure on this count annually and the funds would come from the budgetary grants provided to the Prime Minister’s Office every year.
The NAC was re-constituted in March 2009 with Mrs Gandhi as its head. The re-birth of the panel took place about four years after the Congress president quit the post in the wake of the office of profit controversy.
The National Advisory Council was first set up after UPA-I came to power in 2004 as an interface with the civil society with regard to the implementation of the government’s National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP).
The term of the first National Advisory Council ended on March 31, 2008.