Don't attend meetings of Oppn leaders: Maha govt to officials

Maharashtra Government on Tuesday issued a circular to all the government offices of State stating that the government officers are not expected to attend meetings called by opposition leaders including Members of the Parliament, Member of the Legislative Assembly and other non-governmental members.

The Maharashtra Government on Tuesday issued a circular to all government offices of the State stating that the government officers are not expected to attend meetings called by opposition leaders including members of the parliament, member of the legislative assembly and other non-governmental members. In the circular, it is stated that as per a circular dated March 11, 2016, all departments of government offices have been instructed that only government ministers have the power to oversee the administrative work and to issue orders to the concerned officers by convening a meeting or inviting them for an official visit.

However, no such powers are given to non-governmental members like opposition leaders of the legislative assembly and the legislative council. Therefore, government officials are not expected to attend meetings or visits organised by such non-official members / members of parliament / members of the legislative assembly. In the circular, it is also mentioned that in order to avoid problems in the public interest as well as in the disposal of public works, the District Collector should call for a list of pending works from the members of the district who are willing to convene a meeting to expedite the disposal of pending works in the constituency.

Also, one day of each month should be fixed and a meeting should be held with the concerned government officials. The concerned member of parliament / member of legislative assembly should also be invited for this meeting for discussion. All the departments of various ministries are advised to bring these directions to the notice of all the heads of departments / offices under their administrative control and to strictly follow the instructions in the circulars. Reacting to this circular, opposition leader of legislative council Praveen Darekar termed it as an anti-democratic move, and said the government has issued this circular to put a restriction on the opposition leaders' rights given by the Constitution.

Slamming the government for this move, he said, "Being responsible opposition leaders me and Devendra Fadnavis met and visited various places in the state and COVID-19 centres here to see the current situation. We have not given any such orders to any officers." (ANI)

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