Formal decisions taken in ‘informal’ cabinet meeting of Khattar govt

It was yet another “informal” meeting of the council of ministers of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Haryana on Tuesday. But in this ‘agenda-less’ meeting that lasted near two hours, the cabinet took a host of decisions such as giving liberty to the ministers to transfer employees of their departments till April 30.

As a section of the ministers pitched in the proposition of opening the general transfers demanding that they should be allowed to transfer employees on their own, the agenda was readily accepted with unanimity.

And within hours, the office of the chief secretary DS Dhesi issued formal orders to implement the general transfer decision. “…on consideration of the matter (general transfers), the government has decided that the Ministers-in-charge would be competent to effect transfers in their respective departments…,” reads the formal order, pointing out that transfers will be open for Class-3 and

Class-4 employees, excluding the teaching staff of the education department.

In the Khattar council of ministers, there are nine cabinet ministers (including CM) and five ministers of state with independent charge who meet every week in the absence of ‘nosey bureaucrats’ to discuss hot-button political and administrative issues. “Issues to be tabled in the formal cabinet meetings are debated in this informal meeting. The objective is to iron out the differences, if any. This exercise saves time during the formal cabinet meetings and the deci- sions are quick,” a cabinet minister said.

SPECIAL SESSION TO PASS GST BILL

While the cabinet meeting was fixed for April 18, it was also decided to convene a special session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha to pass the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. The cabinet left it to chief minister Khattar to decide when to hold the assembly session. Besides, a cabinet sub-committee headed by agriculture minister Om Prakash Dhankar will be set up to hold a survey of the below poverty line (BPL) families.

Sources say the contentious issue of illegal beneficiaries of social security pension also cropped up in the meeting. During a function in Sirsa last Sunday, the chief minister had stated that social welfare department had identified persons who were taking pension illegally and that recovery notices were issued.

According to social justice and empowerment minister Krishan Kumar, the chief minister decided that those availing benefits of social security pension schemes in a “wrongful manner” but had now crossed the age of 60 years will be given the benefit of pension. “However, the amount of pension availed wrongfully would be recovered by deducting half of their monthly pension,” the minister said.