Kailash Gahlot’s list of ‘dos and don’ts’ for govt officials

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) minister Kailash Gahlot, who holds the charge of five departments — law, transport, revenue, administrative reforms, and IT  — has asked officers under him to seek the government’s view on each agenda point before attending meetings of boards, corporations, societies, statutory and non-statutory or private bodies to which they have been nominated.

In a ‘list of dos and don’ts’ given to the officers for attending such meetings, Mr Gahlot issued a standing order that if the official nominee can’t attend a meeting, he or she will seek approval from the minister-in-charge for the same.

In his order, Mr Gahlot said, “Before the meeting, (the officers will) seek on each agenda point, the government’s view from the respective minister-in-charge. The order came just before the hike in Delhi metro fare on October 10.

Following the Metro fare hike, the AAP government accused chief secretary M.M. Kutty, who is also the government’s nominee in the DMRC’s board, of trying to “sabotage” its stand against the controversial Metro fare revision.

Mr Gahlot also said that after returning from those meetings, the official nominee would submit a written report to the minister-in-charge on the proceedings within two days. He said this order, issued under Rule 15 of Tran-saction of Business Rules, has to be strictly complied with. 

Before the Metro fare hike, the minister had written to DMRC managing director Mangu Singh, nominated by the Delhi government, that he was expected to put forward the government’s view in the board meeting.

The AAP government had been opposing the Metro fare hike, which came into effect from October 10, with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal terming the move as “anti-people”.