New Delhi: In a move to accelerate “good governance”, chief minister Rekha Gupta has enhanced the financial powers of administrative secretaries and heads of all Delhi govt departments, officials said on Thursday.According to CM, administrative secretaries will now be able to directly procure all IT-related items, and undertake repairs, rentals, and maintenance, in addition to purchasing equipment and other related material, without procedural delays.“CM highlighted that this is the first revision in officers’ financial powers in nearly six years, with the last amendment made on Aug 7, 2019,” CM’s office said in a statement, adding that technological progress, rising costs, and the introduction of new welfare-oriented schemes have brought about significant changes in the execution of projects.“To build a ‘Developed Delhi’ and to ensure that the benefits of govt schemes reach the people promptly, her budget this year has risen to Rs 1 lakh crore, compared to Rs 54,800 crore at the time of the last revision. Therefore, the decision has been taken to make effective use of the allocated budget, prevent unnecessary delays in departmental work, speed up the execution of projects, and ensure their timely completion by increasing the financial powers of senior officers,” the statement read.In special cases, Gupta added, administrative secretaries have been granted complete financial powers. These include the appointment of individual consultants, consultancies, professionals, project management units, and other specialists; the procurement, repair, rental, and maintenance of all IT-related items; the hiring of human resources; the purchase of equipment; and the acquisition of new vehicles in place of condemned ones.“This change in financial powers has been made to protect public trust and to accelerate Delhi’s pace of development. It is our responsibility to ensure that public funds are used at the right time, in the right place, and for the right purpose. This decision will not only strengthen good governance but will also make service delivery to the public more effective and timely, while eliminating delays caused by unnecessary inter-departmental movement of files,” she said.
