By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 25 Apr: Senior Cabinet Minister Satpal Maharaj has continued to press for the right to write the ACRs of the officials of the departments he holds charge of. In a statement released today, Maharaj demanded that the convention of writing ACRs, which has existed in the past, should be implemented. He says that, in the past, the ministers were getting to write the ACRs of the Secretaries and that this convention should be restored. He has also claimed that all the ministers in the cabinet have expressed their consent in this regard.
Maharaj has claimed that the majority of the people of the state want that, like in other states, here also the ministers should get the right to write their opinion on the annual confidential report of the officers so that along with transparency in the development works, the departments can be reviewed properly. He asserted that the ministers in other states have the right to write their opinion on the annual confidential reports of officers and in Uttarakhand also the ministers in the previous ND Tiwari government had the right to write ACRs of officers.
He felt that there should be no hesitation in implementing the practice. He said that it is undisputed that the minister is the head of the department, so it is necessary that his opinion is recorded in the ACRs, If the opinion of the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary is being mentioned in the ACRs, then the minister should also be mentioned. It is true that the Chief Minister is the accepting authority in this system, but it does not mean that the minister cannot express his opinion.
Maharaj said that writing ACRs does not mean at all that the minister will write only something against his subordinate officer. Those officers who do good work will be marked well on their character entry. So when the Secretary can write the ACR of the officers below him, then why can’t the Departmental Minister, being the head of that department, write the ACR of the Secretary working under him, he questioned reminding that the ministers in other states have the right to mark their opinion.
