(Text of Administrative standing instructions No. 1/2014 – Issued by the Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran that has been challenged in courts by the Chief Secretary Vijayaletchumi Ramesh)
1. Channel of communication.
Except instances relating to matters explicitly Indicted in the Constitution all reporting and submissions to the Hon Governor and to any others outside the Provincial Council shall be done only with knowledge of the Minister in charge. Chief Secretary, Secretaries and Heads of departments will be held responsible for any breach of communication channel at their respective levels.
2. Permission to travel out
of province.
Senior officers shall travel out of Province only with the prior approval as indicated below:
Officers – Approval by
Chief Secretary – Chief Minister with copy to Governor
Secretaries – Chief Secretary with consent of the Ministers
Deputy Chief Secretaries – Chief Secretary
Heads of Departments – Respective Secretaries
Other officers – As arranged internally
3. Advance programme
All staff officers who are required to attend programmes outside the working stations shall work on a Monthly Advance Programme with prior approval as indicated below. Any deviations from the programme should get the approval by the approving authority.
Officers – Approving Authority
Chief Secretary – Chief Ministers
Secretaries – Chief Secretary with intimation to the Ministers
Deputy Chief Secretaries – Chief Secretary
Heads of Departments – Respective Secretaries
Other officers – As arranged Internally
4. Briefing on programmes attended by officers outside the working station.
Staff officers attending any programmes outside the working station shall on return submit a briefing in each of such programmes within five days and in the case of travel abroad within ten days to the authority who approved the travel.
5. Workshops & Training
Officers attending workshops and trainings shall on return, within five days submit briefs indicating the benefit obtained from the programme and the ways in which the practices learned, if any, be adopted by their institutions.
6. Appointments.
All appointments including contract appointments and re-employments of all category and inducting of any officer of the All Island Services into the Provincial Administration should be done with the prior approval of the Board of Minister.
7. Transfers
7.1 All annual transfers and other transfers in between shall have an ultimate object of strictly enforcing the transfer policies at least until the end of the next two years. This means all institutions shall make advance arrangements to discourage any particular individual becoming indispensable at the end of the next two years. Secretaries shall ensure that no officer shall be in the same office for more than five years. Unless for reason of exception approved by the board of minister. To achieve this end proper succession plan, trainings and capacity building programmes shall be undertaken. The Secretaries and Heads of Departments and District/Divisional/Regional Heads of Departments shall be responsible for this at their respective levels.
7.2 Any transfer into the Provincial council and out of Provincial Council should have the prior approval of the Board of Ministers.
8. Officers retained more than five years in the same office.
Every head of department shall maintain a chart of officers working in particular stations for more than 5 years indicating how and when they will be replaced. This chart shall be regularly updated in a data base by DCS, Public Administration for monitoring and references at any time.
9. Scholarship & Foreign Trainings.
A. There shall be in each Ministry a committee headed by the respective Secretaries for selection of candidates for scholarships and foreign trainings. Selection shall be done on the basis of set criteria as specified in the offer. Candidate so selected shall be nominated by the Minister in charge. In case of Chief Minister’s Ministry the Chief Secretary shall be the Chairman of the Selection Committee. Other Members will be nominated by the respective Ministers.
B. Any specific nominations by any Agency shall not be transferred to another officer without the approval of the Chief Minister.
C. Any request for nominations from any Agency without any criteria for selection or with only basic criteria opening to large number of prospective candidates, shall be first brought to the notice of the Chief Minister for guidance.
D. There shall be no delay in the process of nominations. If it results in late application the Secretary in charge will be responsible for the lapse.
E. All nominations for scholarship and foreign training shall be maintained in a data base for reference by the Director MDTD.
10. Leave of Secretaries & Heads of Departments
Casual leave and Vacation leave of Heads of Departments & Secretaries will be approved as indicated below
Officers – Approving Authority
Chief Secretary – Chief Minister – with copy to the Governor
Secretaries – Chief Secretary with consent of the Ministers
Deputy Chief Secretaries – Chief Secretary
Heads of Departments – Respective Secretaries
Other officers – As arranged internally
No leave shall be approved without proper acting arrangements
11. Foreign leave and Duty leave abroad
All private leave and duty leave abroad shall be according to the provisions of the Establishment Code and PA circulars. In case of applications of officers which need to be approved by the Presidential Secretariat or Prime Minister’s Office, they shall be processed only with the recommendation of the Minister in charge.
12. Control of Imprests
A. The DCS Finance shall submit the details of imprests received from all sources monthly to the Chief Minister in detail.
B. Similarly DCS Finance shall submit the imprests released during the previous months to various agencies & departments in detail.
C. No imprest shall be released to any agency or department without the prior approval of the Chief Minister as Minister in charge of Finance. This approval shall be obtained by the DCS Finance from the Chief Minister on the basis of a monthly forecast of release of imprest.
D. No Department or Institution shall receive any imprest directly without accounting for in the Provincial Fund and informing DCS Finance first.
13. Meetings
All important meetings shall be held according to a structured agenda and minutes of the meetings shall be prepared and approved within five days from the date of meeting.
14. Disciplinary actions
A. Heads of Departments and Secretaries shall be responsible for expediting disciplinary actions without delay. Preliminary Inquiries should be held not later than one month from the date of complaint and charge sheets issued not later than one month from the date of preliminary inquiry and the formal inquiries shall be held within three months from the date of issue of charge sheet.
B. The DCS Public Administration is responsible for assignment of inquiring officers within one month from the date of request made by heads of Departments or Secretaries.
15. Renting of building
All buildings rented by any Provincial institution and their locations shall be done only with the approval of the B.O.M.
16. Follow up action on decisions of BOM & Assembly
The Secretaries in charge of the Ministries will be responsible for the implementation of the decisions taken by the Assembly and the BOM in their respective Ministries. This shall be included in the agenda of Sectoral Monitoring Committee as a matter to be regularly monitored. The Secretaries shall regularly obtain the details of such decisions from their respective Ministers.
17. Reporting to media
No officer without permission from the Chief Minister shall have any media conference on his own. All inquiries by media should be directed to Media Unit. Media Unit will be constituted without delay. No information pertaining to the activities of the Provincial Council should be released without the concurrence of the Ministers concerned.