Conflicting public administration and finance departments; Consultancy to study job reform report

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After allegations that files are piling up in the secretariat, there is a plan to appoint a private consultancy to study the report to speed up the administration. The first Pinarayi government had considered appointing PricewaterhouseCoopers to study governance reform but it didn't happen.

It is indicated that the Center for Management Development will be assigned to study the work-study report prepared by the former Joint Secretary of the Public Administration Department for administrative reform. A decision will be made soon.

The finance department had completely rejected the report, which contained harsh remarks against them. That's when the suggestion was made to let an outside agency study it.

The fight between the two main departments became a headache for the government when top officials of the finance department came forward against the report prepared by the top officials of the public administration department under the chief minister.

The position of the finance department is that the posts in the public administration department should be reduced first. Even though all the departments, including the public administration, have reduced the thresholds of file movement, only the finance department is not ready. The main reason for the pile-up of files and the reference to the closure of KIIFB, which is seen as an achievement of the government, came in the work study report.

Public Administration Department has asked that the ranks between the Finance Department Section Officer and the Department Secretary be reduced to two. The report pointed out that the main reason for the increase in workload in the finance department was unscientific file management and unnecessary appointments in the finance department.