T’puram: Signalling a major administrative course correction under the new UDF govt, chief minister V D Satheesan on Monday asked Kerala’s top bureaucracy to rethink outdated laws, reduce delays in decision-making, improve coordination between departments and make governance more responsive to changing economic and social realities.The directions came during a nearly two-hour meeting attended by IAS officers of the rank of special secretary and above. The meeting began with departmental secretaries outlining the functioning of their departments and the challenges they face before the CM laid out his expectations from the administrative machinery.One of the key messages from Satheesan was the need to revisit several laws that have remained largely untouched despite repeated calls for reform. In line with the UDF’s declared policy direction, he said there was a need for timely and relevant amendments to legislations such as the Plantation Act, Land Reforms Act, and Paddy and Wetland Act. He asked departmental secretaries to come up with concrete suggestions on reforms required to make these laws more relevant to present-day realities.Seeking to encourage decision-making within the bureaucracy, Satheesan assured officers that the govt would protect officials who took decisions in good faith as part of their official duties.The chief minister also stressed the need for stronger coordination among departments, noting that lack of coordination often slows down governance and project execution. He reiterated that all proposals involving financial liabilities for the state should necessarily be routed through the finance department.In what could become one of the govt’s major administrative reform initiatives, Satheesan proposed reducing the multiple layers involved in file processing. He said an expert team of officers would soon be constituted to recommend ways to streamline file movement and speed up decision-making. The CM identified delays in land acquisition as one of the biggest reasons behind cost overruns in public projects. Delayed acquisition, he noted, often leads to significant escalation in project costs and financial leakages.Satheesan also raised concerns over the state’s dependence on external agencies for preparing detailed project reports (DPRs) and said govt should build stronger in-house technical capacities. The CM also sought closer monitoring of govt litigation. He asked departmental secretaries to ensure that govt pleaders keep them periodically informed about the status of court cases involving their departments.Satheesan also directed secretaries to closely monitor centrally sponsored schemes and undertake a review of missions, technical support units, external agencies and other special-purpose bodies that continue to function even after their original objectives have been achieved.Several secretaries used the meeting to explain not only policy bottlenecks but also operational shortcomings within their departments. Issues relating to office infrastructure and the availability of basic facilities for senior officers were also raised, with the CM assuring that such concerns would be looked into. Some of the concerns aired, however, reflected the everyday frustrations of the state’s top bureaucracy. One senior officer is understood to have flagged delays in the settlement of medical reimbursement claims relating to treatment in a private hospital, while others raised the issue of inadequate availability of official vehicles for IAS officers.While most officers confined themselves to departmental issues, some appeared eager to display their intellectual range before the new CM. One officer reportedly offered an extended observation that Kerala’s planning board was following a ‘Russian system’ of planning, a remark that left a few participants privately wondering whether the discussion was centred on governance reforms in contemporary Kerala or economic theories from another era.
