Secretaries to explain all delays to central Cabinet

New Delhi: In a bid to make higher bureaucracy in ministries and departments more accountable and adhere to a strict timeline in finalising the Cabinet note, the Modi government, through the Cabinet Secretariat, has shot off a fresh missive that inter-ministerial consultations for the purpose should be completed within two weeks and if the concerned authorities fail to communicate “critical inputs” at the time of the consultation process, they need to do the same at Cabinet meetings, along with “reasons for not having been able to provide the comments in time”.

Seeking to end any ambiguity, the circular says that the two-week timeline will begin from the day the ministry concerned delivers the draft Cabinet note to other ministries for consultations.