The proposed plan met with opposition from government ministeries and departments
NEW DELHI (TrustLaw) - A plan by the Indian government to curtail the discretionary powers of ministers amidst rising accusations of corruption has been scrapped, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday.
A recently established ministerial group -- charged with coming up with a check-list of anti-graft measures -- last month agreed to curb some of their own powers as part of a crackdown on corruption.
The plan would have prevented ministers from directly allotting government land, changing the terms of land use, approving projects and appointing and transferring civil servants.
But, according to the daily newspaper, feedback from most of the government's 64 ministeries and departments has forced the panel to drop the proposal.
"It was seen that in a majority of cases, the discretionary powers are in fact powers exercised by the ministers in performance of their bonafide duties," a government document obtained by the paper was quoted as saying.
"It was felt that in such cases there is a need to ensure that such powers are exercised under prescribed guidelines/rules."
In recent months, a series of major scandals have plagued Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress-led coalition government as it struggles to emerge from charges that India lost $39 billion due to graft in the granting of telecoms licenses in 2008, forcing the resignation of the telecoms minister.
Singh has also been under fire for appointment of senior officials and earlier this month said that he accepted responsibility after the Supreme Court struck down his choice of a tainted civil servant as the country's anti-graft chief.
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