Fadnavis to screen appointment of Mahayuti ministers’ PAs

Nagpur/Mumbai: In a bid to weed out corrupt staff in ministerial establishments, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has made it mandatory for all the ministers in his government to get the approval of his office before appointing their personal assistants (PAs) and officers on special duty (OSDs). The chief minister said he has made it clear that he would remain firm and not blindly accept recommendations even if his stance upset the ministers.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Fadnavis revealed that his office had approved 109 out of 125 recommendations for PAs and OSDs made by cabinet ministers, rejecting those with questionable backgrounds. “I have not cleared the remaining names because there are allegations against them. Also, a few investigations are ongoing in some cases. Therefore, even if someone is upset, I will not approve such names,” Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis also responded to the comments made by state agriculture minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Manikrao Kokate, who had expressed his displeasure over the matter, saying there were barely any decisions left for cabinet ministers to take.

“Manikrao Kokate is perhaps unaware that the chief minister alone has the right to appoint PAs and OSDs of ministers of a state,” said Fadnavis. “Ministers send proposals in this regard to the chief minister. The chief minister takes the final decision on it. This is not something new. I had clearly said in the cabinet meeting that you can send the names you want. But I will not approve those whose names have been used as fixers or for wrong purposes.” Incidentally, Kokate was recently convicted in a 30-year-old cheating case by a Nashik court, which triggered a controversy.

In his second term as chief minister, Fadnavis has been cautious about the image of his new Mahayuti government. Apart from being strict about appointing non-corrupt officers, he was also not hesitant to order investigations into several decisions made by the previous Mahayuti government headed by the Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde. The deputy chief minister has been sulking ever since he was demoted to deputy chief minister in December and has skipped several meetings in the last two months, but Fadnavis has stood firm on his decisions.

Fadnavis recently put on hold a ₹900-crore mass housing project in Jalna, which had been approved during Shinde’s tenure. He also ordered an investigation into the project, which had been scrapped in 2020 due to feasibility issues and was revived in February 2023 under the urban development department headed by Shinde.

In December, he had ordered an investigation into the Shinde government’s decision to hire 1,310 buses for the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) after officials pointed out that the costs were higher than usual. That same month, the state home department headed by Fadnavis revoked and downgraded the Y+ security cover of over 20 MLAs from the Shiv Sena, keeping only one constable for their security.

On February 17, CM Fadnavis issued an order emphasising “irregularities” in the state’s Minimum Support Price (MSP) schemes and the selection of nodal agencies for crop procurement. He then formed a six-member panel headed by marketing minister Jaykumar Rawal to study the matter in detail and suggest possible solutions. The decision was taken in response to alleged irregularities and corruption by procurement agencies that were approved by the Shinde government under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Sanrakshan Abhiyan (PM-AASHA) scheme. The Shiv Sena’s Abdul Sattar was heading the state marketing department in the previous Mahayuti government.

Shinde has expressed his unhappiness over the investigations ordered by Fadnavis. On Friday, he even warned his detractors not to take him lightly. “When you took it lightly in 2022, I changed the government,” he had said, referring to his rebellion that led to the split in the Shiv Sena and the fall of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government headed by Uddhav Thackeray.