Lobby of OSDs, secretaries with ‘dubious’ records shown the door at Maharashtra Mantralaya

The government aims to prevent unauthorized appointments and enhance scrutiny of personnel integrity.

The Chief Minister’s Office has cracked the whip on unsanctioned and unaccounted for individuals working at Mantralaya either as personal secretaries or as Officers on Special Duty (OSD) with various ministers of the ruling three-party coalition.

Disciplinary action, including stoppage of salaries has been advocated if the 314 such personnel identified by the CMO are not regularised after approval and scrutiny by chief minister Fadnavis. (Photo by Bachchan Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

Disciplinary action, including stoppage of salaries has been advocated if the 314 such personnel identified by the CMO are not regularised after approval and scrutiny by chief minister Fadnavis.

A government resolution (GR) to this effect was issued by chief secretary Rajesh Aggarwal on Tuesday with the aim to curb appointments to ministerial establishments and other departments either on intra-departmental loan, deputation or who have been appointed on the strength of mere oral orders.

The steps to clean up ministerial establishments were first initiated in December 2024 and have now been taken up again as the CMO had specific information about an active lobby of officers who manage to remain in ministers’ offices irrespective of which party comes to power.

“There were officers with dubious confidential reports who were known for financial considerations involved in tenders and bidding for projects in their respective departments, as well as in transfers. When the exercise was first initiated, there was a lot of resistance from this lobby. Once these officers were weeded out of Mantralaya, a new breed, in excessive numbers, has made its way in. This has not only posed a threat to the government’s image but has also created a shortage of manpower in their parent departments,” said an official in the CMO requesting they not be quoted by name.

“These staff members are appointed without obtaining permission from the General Administration Department or the administrative head of their parent department…Their backgrounds, including integrity certificates, character verification, confidential reports and pending departmental inquiries, remain unchecked, despite the sensitive nature of work at Mantralaya.’

“In some cases, appointments were made on the oral orders of ministers, while in others, appointment letters were issued by personal secretaries who did not have the authority to do so. One minister had requested the appointment of a home guard to his office, while a BJP minister had sought the appointment of a police inspector as an OSD. The CMO rejected these requests and clarified that personnel from technical cadres or uniformed services would not be permitted to be appointed,” said another officer.

The GR states that appointments made without following due process must be cancelled immediately. Ministries have been given a deadline of September 10 to complete the process of sending such employees back to their parent departments and the CS has sought a compliance report by September 20. If they fail to report to their parent departments by the deadline, their salaries will be stopped and disciplinary action will be initiated under the Maharashtra Civil Services Rules. These personnel have also been warned that the facial recognition system will ensure that they are not allowed to enter Mantralaya if they fail to comply with the new guidelines.

Each minister is allowed to appoint 16 employees in all in their office, including one personal secretary and three officers on special duty, while ministers of state are allowed 14 employees. Deputy chief ministers are allowed 72 employees, while the Chief Minister’s Office can have 164 employees. A special review conducted by the Chief Minister’s Office found that most ministers and ministers of state had exceeded their sanctioned staff strength, with additional personnel being appointed without following the prescribed procedure.

The CMO had sent back more than two dozen PSs and OSDs to their respective departments after they failed the scrutiny process during the first six months of the Fadnavis government, which came to power in December 2024. “Despite strict warnings, some of them continued to work in ministers’ offices. The practice of appointing personnel from other departments, in some cases even from the ministers’ own districts, also continued. This prompted us to issue the GR,” he said.