Rediff On The NeT: Rajasthan Chief Minister Shekhawat's panacea for better governance

Centre not attacking decentralisation of power with vigour: Shekhawat

Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhairon Singh Shekhawat criticised the Centre for ''not attending to the task of decentralisation of power to the states with vigour and sincerity.''

''Proposals from state governments remain pending in the ministries for months together without any sympathetic response,'' he told the chief ministers conference on Saturday.

Shekhawat said the central ministries looked to the state governments as their surrogates in federal policy and generally had a condescending attitude towards them.

The chief minister said there should be more rigorous scrutiny of officers for higher level posts than was being done at present. ''Senior managerial posts should be manned only by those who are honest and efficient.''

He said a tendency had grown in the civil service to consider itself as a parallel centre of power. ''In a democratic set-up, there is no place for such thinking. The civil service is accountable to the political executive, which, in turn, is answerable to the people through the legislature.''

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