With no ministers in state cabinet, secretaries are given quasi-judicial powers

The move will allow them to conduct hearings, review decisions of the administration, and pass interim orders as a quasi-judicial authority. The decision was taken as there is no minister in the Shinde-Fadnavis government to continue these proceedings.

As the cabinet expansion is getting delayed for over 38 days now, the Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government have decided to empower all the secretaries with quasi-judicial powers.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde (Hindustan Times)

The move will allow them to conduct hearings, review decisions of the administration, and pass interim orders as a quasi-judicial authority. The decision was taken as there is no minister in the Shinde-Fadnavis government to continue these proceedings.

In the state government, only ministers have quasi-judicial powers.

Chief minister Eknath Shinde admitted that the decision was taken to avoid delay in the functioning of the government in the absence of ministers. “Powers have been delegated to the secretaries. This is to ensure the functioning (of the government) is not affected. Both of us, deputy chief minister (Devendra Fadnavis) and I are taking all the decisions,” the chief minister said in Delhi.

“Following the order of the chief minister, all the quasi-judicial powers for holding immediate hearings over appeals, reviews by the ministers have been delegated to the additional chief secretary, principal secretary or secretary of the concerned departments,” states an order issued by the chief secretary Manukumar Srivastava on August 4.

The opposition leaders have slammed the state government over the decision. Following this, the chief minister’s office issued a clarification saying that no ministerial powers have been delegated to the secretaries, except in quasi-judicial matters.

“All these powers are still vested with the minister, chief minister and council of ministers as they were in the past. Thus, it is completely wrong to say that all the decision-making powers have been given to the hands of the secretaries,” the CMO clarified in a statement.

Bhushan Gagrani, additional chief secretary to the chief minister, said that various departments provide quasi-judicial powers to their ministers following provisions of the concerned legislations under which the concerned minister can hold a hearing on an appeal and pass an order as a quasi-judicial authority.

For instance, if a municipal council has demolished a structure or refuses to permit construction then an appeal can be filed with the concerned minister. These hearings cannot be stopped as it is an ongoing process, Gagrani said.

“The state government also recently filed an affidavit in a case pending before the Bombay High Court saying that such hearings will not be stopped and, in that connection, these powers are delegated to the secretaries temporarily,” he added.

Leader of opposition Ajit Pawar criticised the state government and said that the Shinde-Fadnavis government is murdering the democracy by delegating ministerial powers to the bureaucrats. “What sort of functioning is this? The state government has handed over powers to commissioners and other officers then why don’t you two (Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis) hand over your powers to the chief secretary and go back home,” Pawar said taking potshots at the chief minister and deputy chief minister.

Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe said that this is happening for the first time in the history of Maharashtra. “The Shinde-Fadnavis government has to run the state of affairs through bureaucrats because of the absence of a cabinet. The governance of the state should be handled by peoples’ representatives and not by the bureaucrats,” Londhe said.