Govt mulls delegating more power to secys

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The government is poised to heighten the administrative powers of secretaries as a plan to expand the size of the government has run into a legal bottleneck, an official said.
The cabinet division has recently asked all ministries and divisions to identify areas in which the powers of secretaries could be increased, the official requesting anonymity told bdnews24.com Sunday.
The chief adviser has recently delegated 21 financial and administrative powers to the home secretary, while other ministries have also been asked to identify some powers that could be delegated to the chiefs of directorates in a move to decentralise the powers of secretaries.
The moves came in the wake of negative reactions-particularly from legal sources-to the government's announcement to increase its size.
For the same reason, the government is looking to increase the powers of secretaries or further decentralise such powers as an alternative arrangement to the expansion of the government.
Concern over legal barriers came when law adviser Mainul Hosein told the media Thursday that the plan for a bigger government was being reviewed, as there were constitutional considerations in altering the size of the government.
The same day, adviser MA Matin took questions from reporters on the issue. He said: "I don't think there is any need to expand the size of the government."
Additional secretary of the cabinet division Md Zahid Hossain recently met the joint secretaries of all ministries and divisions to discuss delegation of powers within their ministries and divisions.
Among the matters discussed were: decentralising the work of the secretaries by delegating some of their responsibilities to other officials under the ministries and divisions, quick disposal of the government pension issues, recommendations for updating the existing laws, rules and policies for running the ministries, divisions and other government offices smoothly.
Zahid Hossain told bdnews24.com: "At the meeting, the joint secretaries of all ministries have been reminded of implementing a string of issues."
Several officials with the knowledge of meeting details said that some joint secretaries alleged in the meeting that many government officials duck responsibility and accountability by passing files on to the advisers to release.
"As a result, a backlog of files is growing as each adviser including the chief adviser is in charge of up to four ministries or divisions," one of the officials said.