CM Pinarayi displeased with move to amend Rules of Business getting leaked

Thiruvananthapuram: The Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, expressed his displeasure in a Cabinet meeting over the leak of the details of the move to amend the Rules of Business that aims to increase the authority of departmental secretaries and chief minister by reducing the powers of the ministers.

He pointed out that it is not appropriate to misrepresent things that are intended to be done with good intentions.

He said there is no intention to move towards any controversial centralisation of power. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that to clear the confusion, the Cabinet sub-committee with A K Balan as convenor should meet as soon as possible and submit recommendations on the amendments.

As the ministers want to suggest many changes to the proposed amendments, the sub-committee will have to meet again and prepare the final report, minister AK Balan said. This would require at least two weeks. The report will be submitted to the Cabinet after this, he said.

E Chandrasekharan and K Krishnankutty, who had opposed the controversial proposals in the last sub-committee meeting, did not talk about them in the Cabinet meeting.

The sub-committee may approve proposals aimed at avoiding the delays in movement of files that get caught in the many layers of the Secretariat. It may also provide legitimacy to holding meetings online.

However, the sub-committee is expected to avoid amendments that would seem to be giving more power to the chief minister, chief secretary and secretaries.

The draft for the amendments was prepared by a five-member secretarial committee headed by the chief secretary. M Sivasankar, the former principal secretary to the Chief Minister, was also a part of the committee.

Argument between Balan and Mercykutty Amma

J Mercykutty Amma and A K Balan were involved in an argument in the Cabinet meeting over the plan to install geotubes to replace the sea wall at Poonthura to protect the coast and prevent its erosion.

Mercykutty Amma said geotubes should be set up as soon as possible on an experimental basis. She said the file regarding the project is now with the law department.

Balan, however, opposed the project citing rules and regulations. He said some rules would be an obstacle to the project. The contract will have to be reconsidered, he said.

Mercykutty Amma pointed out that what is getting delayed is a project that has to be expanded to all over the state after implementing it in Poonthura on a trial basis. The project will not get completed during the tenure of this government if it is blocked by citing rules and regulations, the minister said.

She said the project is more beneficial than using stones to prevent erosion.