MUMBAI, Aug 25: Ministers will no longer be able to meddle in the routine transfers of officials if the report of the high-level Cabinet sub-committee headed by Education Minister Sudhir Joshi is accepted in toto by the State Government.

``Cabinet members should adhere to the rules of business. They should not interfere in each and every transfer, which might result in criticism and damage to the government,'' the committee observed in its report, which will be submitted to Chief Minister Manohar Joshi in a day or two.

The committee was set up following a recommendation by Justice S W Puranik, who was appointed by the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government to probe charges of corruption against former Agriculture Minister Shashikant Sutar and former Irrigation Minister (now Finance Minister) Mahadev Shivankar. Justice Puranik had suggested that the government chalk out a comprehensive and transparent transfer policy to reduce criticism.

The two ministers were charged with manipulation of transfer orders issued during their tenure. The Cabinet committee examined all the existing guidelines and service rules in connection with transfer of officials.

It also surveyed the rules of business under which a Cabinet member allocates work to the minister of state.

It found that by and large, the existing rules were not followed in letter and spirit and that political interference was rampant in the allocation of postings and approval of transfers of officials even at the lowest level.

Also, some ministers often succumbed to pressure from legislators or Members of Parliament.

The committee felt that transfer of officials below the rank of Executive Engineer in the Irrigation Department and Public Works Department and equivalent officials in all the other departments need not be submitted to Mantralaya for approval.

Such transfers should be effected in accordance with the five-year norm (according to which the officials should be transferred every five years) with the approval of a committee headed by the Chief Engineer of the region and comprising two Superintending Engineers.

In the case of executive engineers, the proposal should be mooted by a three-member committee comprising two secretaries and an administrative officer and it should then be approved by the Cabinet Minister.

Proposals for the transfer of Superintending Engineers and Chief Engineers should be approved by the Chief Minister only, said a senior official.

When his attention was drawn to the large scale transfers in the police department and Zilla Parishads, the official said the Chief Executive Officers of the Zilla Parishads had already been empowered to take a final decision.

In the case of transfer of officials in the police department, the official said cases of officials of the rank of Superintendent of Police and above must come to the Chief Minister or the Home Minister.

Under the existing rules, the Director General of Police is empowered to take a decision on the transfer of officials of the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police/Deputy Superintendent of Police.

On transfers of police inspectors and other officials below them, it was for the District Superintendent or the Commissioner of Police to take a decision, he added.

``There are standing guidelines and rules and transfers and postings. The recommendations of the Sudhir Joshi committee will be yet another document for the government to dwell upon. But the moot question is whether the government will implement the recommendations,'' the official said.

If the Chief Minister implements the recommendations in letter and spirit, he is bound to face criticism from his own Cabinet colleagues since the decision will virtually render the ministers powerless, the official pointed out.

In the erstwhile Congress government, there was clear division of work between the minister and the minister of state. The transfer of executive engineers and those above was entrusted to the Cabinet member, while those occupying positions below the executive engineers were the responsibility of the minister of state.

Meanwhile, Irrigation Minister Eknath Khadse confirmed that his office had served show cause notices on more than 129 senior engineers of the Irrigation Department for bringing political pressure to bear on him. ``We are now planning disciplinary proceedings against them,'' he said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.