Jharkhand officials now need to inform nodal heads before giving papers to external probe agencies
Ranchi: The Jharkhand cabinet on Tuesday approved guidelines to deal with notices to state officials by external probe agencies, making it mandatory for them to inform the Cabinet Secretariat and Vigilance Department through departmental heads about the communications, an official said.
The decision came when Chief Minister Hemant Soren and a number of state government officials are facing summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The cabinet's decision to formulate a standard operating procedure (SOP) was taken at a meeting chaired by Soren in view of "handing over of documents to external probe agencies without bringing this to the knowledge of state officials concerned".
Briefing the media after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Vandana Dadel said, "The cabinet secretariat and vigilance department have been made nodal departments to deal with such issues and legal actions in the matter."
She said that according to the new SOP, if any official receives any notice or summons from any external probe agency, he or she will immediately inform the department head concerned.
"The nodal department will obtain legal advice accordingly. In light of the advice from the department, the official will provide necessary cooperation to the probe agency," Dadel said.
According to a cabinet note, it came to the notice of the state government in recent past that many summonses or notices were issued directly to officials asking them to appear before external probe agencies without providing information to the competent authority of the state government.
"In many cases, government documents/records are also demanded by an (external) investigating agency.
"In certain cases,… officials hand over the documents/records to the agency without bringing it to the notice of their senior officer/departmental head, which is not in accordance with the prevailing rules. This adversely affects the activities of the state government," the note read.
