Patna: Private secretaries of ministers in the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government have been advised to no longer write letters to government officials or carry out tasks related to ministerial functions. They can only accompany ministers on tours and engage in non-official works, Bihar chief secretary Amir Subhani instructed all department heads Friday.
The letter, a copy of which is with ThePrint, said that there are no clear instructions on the role of private secretaries (not picked from administrative services) in government and that this leads to problems in governance due to lack of clarity on the definitions of these roles.
Private secretaries picked from the administrative services are well-versed with rules and procedures, the letter said, adding that a decision has been made that only they will carry out all inter-departmental communications on behalf of the minister or department.
The letter added that a private secretary not picked from the administrative services will now only be responsible for a minister’s tours and outdoor political programmes, besides the minister’s non-department appointments. At the same time, it asked such private secretaries to refrain from engaging in any official correspondence, oral or written, with department officials.
“The orders are not a restriction. It is defining the roles of the two PAs of ministers. So far, the role of the two PAs were not defined,” Subhani told ThePrint Saturday.
He also refused to link the letter to the controversy involving state Education Minister Chandra Shekhar’s private secretary Krishna Nand Yadav. On 5 July, Yadav had said in a letter to K.K. Pathak, additional chief secretary of the state education department, that the minister was displeased with his style of functioning.
Later that month, the additional chief secretary reportedly banned Yadav from entering the offices of the education department. The episode emerged as a point of friction between Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) and the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal.
The education minister sulked for three weeks, refusing to go to his office, and relented only after RJD chief Lalu Prasad intervened. Chandra Shekhar, the RJD leader who is education minister in the Nitish government, represents Madhepura assembly constituency.
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Blurred roles over the years
In Bihar, the roles of personal assistants and private secretaries of ministers have always been blurred. Usually, ministers appoint close confidants as their private assistants.
Bhola Yadav, a private secretary to former chief minister Rabri Devi (from 2000 to 2005), was made an MLC and later became an MLA. “He wielded immense influence over government officials. One call from Bhola Yadav was enough for officials to come running with the files,” a former RJD minister told ThePrint. He added that “the same thing is happening with Sanjay Yadav calling the shots on behalf of Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav”.
Similarly, in 2014, former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi appointed his son-in-law Devendra Kumar as his personal assistant. Known to have been working with Manjhi when he was a minister, Devendra Kumar went on to become known for his influence over officials.
Former chief secretary V.S. Dubey said that chief secretary Subhani has only reinstated what was the norm from day one. “The private secretary of a minister has no right to poke his nose in government work. If he issues an order either written or verbally, officials are within their right to ignore it. The problem begins when departmental heads are too weak to stand up against the private PA issuing orders,” he told ThePrint.
However, Patna Sahib MLA and former Bihar BJP chief Nand Kishore Yadav felt that the chief secretary “belittled” the status of ministers by issuing such orders.
“If a PA — government or private — writes to anyone, it is understood that he is writing on behalf of the minister. The letter says that ‘nirdesh anusar’ (as per orders) of the minister. It is being done with the consent of the minister. The minister never calls himself. It is done through either of his PAs. I think by giving such orders the chief secretary has belittled the status of ministers,” Yadav, a former minister himself, told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)