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Days after writing to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over the absence of his signature on important files, the Lieutenant Governor’s (L-G) secretariat has returned 47 files that were not personally signed by the CM, said officials.
Files that were sent back were related to the Education department and Waqf Board among others and were signed by staff of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), despite the matter being flagged by the L-G earlier this week, said officials.
According to officials, all files sent to the L-G through the CMO have to be duly signed by the CM as these files, apart from being related to administration and governance of the city, also include extremely “sensitive matters”.
On August 22, L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena had asked the CM to sign all files personally before sending it to him for consideration and approval. “It has been observed that in recent months, a significant number of proposals, as a matter of routine, have been submitted by your office for my approval or for my opinion… by your Jt. Secretary or Additional Secretary, with the remarks ‘Hon’ble CM has seen and approved the proposal’ without specifying any grounds of urgency warranting such a communication,” Saxena had said in his letter to CM.
The L-G also urged the CM to sign every file in the interest of smooth and effective governance. “However, even after this letter, the CM/CMO has continued to send files not signed by CM,” said officials.
The Delhi government did not respond to queries on the issue.
However, a senior government said on condition of anonymity: “In every government, there is a hierarchy which has to be and no file from a department can go directly to the L-G. In Delhi, the CM is the Cabinet head, so any decision or project by departments or the government goes to the Cabinet for final approval and then the file is sent to L-G as he is top official. So, it is necessary that files that are being routed through the CMO to the L-G should be duly signed by the CM.”
In other states, the CM is the head of government, so files don’t have to go through the L-G, said officials.
Further, officials said it is a laid-down procedure being followed for years. “In the past, from 1993 to 2013, all such files sent to the L-G were duly signed by CMs,” said L-G House officials.
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