New Delhi [India], July 16 : The Revenue Department of BJP-led government of Delhi has issued an advisory restricting frequent summoning of DMs/ADMs/SDMs by ministers and MLAs for meetings or inspections.
Aam Admi Party leader Saurabh Bharadwaj spoke in response to this: "The protocol of an MLA is equal to that of the Chief Secretary and the protocol of a minister is even above that of the Chief Secretary. Now, a minister will have to ask the Chief Secretary whether he wants to call the DM for a meeting. This shows that all is not well in the government. There is no coordination in the government."
Before specifying the instructions to be followed, the circular contextualised: "The office of District Magistrate is one of the most important offices in the district and it is entrusted with multifarious duties in addition to the main Revenue and Magisterial Duties. In some instances, Revenue Department Officers such as DMs/ADMs/SDMs are being called by Hon'ble Ministers or even MLAs for various meetings or asked to accompany for inspection."
"It may be noted that DM Offices are located in different parts of Delhi and calling them for various meetings or for inspections adversely affects the functioning of the office of DMs and leads to a scenario where general public dealing is affected. It has also been observed that multiple departments and agencies frequently convene meetings involving the District Magistrates (DMs) at short notice and throughout the day," the circular added.
The notification observed that while inter-departmental coordination is essential, such frequent and uncoordinated scheduling of meetings is adversely impacting the ability of DMs to perform their core responsibilities, including court work and other quasi-judicial functions, field inspections, grievance redressal, execution and supervision of departmental schemes, and law & order functions, monitoring of district-level developmental and revenue matters.
The office issued the following instructions for strict compliance by all departments:
All departments intending to schedule meetings involving DMs must first seek prior concurrence from the Chief Secretary, Delhi. This is to ensure prioritising and proper time management;
Wherever feasible, DMs may be permitted to participate in meetings through Video Conferencing (VC), especially in routine, review or briefing meetings, so that on-ground district work is not hampered; Departments are advised to coordinate among themselves to avoid repetitive meetings on overlapping issues. Consolidated meetings may be encouraged instead of department-specific, fragmented sessions.
Additionally, it notified that a minimum of 48 hours' advance notice must be given to DMs for any proposed meeting. This will help them plan their field visits, office work, and judicial functions accordingly or to nominate competent officer for the meeting; the necessity of physical presence of the DM must be clearly justified. If the agenda can be effectively addressed by ADM or other senior officers, departments are encouraged to accept representation at that level.