Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to appoint integrated financial consultants across all departments as part of a major administrative reform to reduce bureaucratic delays, speed up file processing and improve project implementation.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister V D Sathisan.
Announcing the decision at a press conference here, the Prime Minister said the reform was modeled on the system introduced by the Center in 1974 and was aimed at ensuring faster decision-making while maintaining financial scrutiny.
“Many files are routinely referred to the Ministry of Finance, including a large number that do not need to be sent there,” he said. “In many cases, departments send files without adequately examining financial rules and procedures. This leads to delays in government decision-making, slows down project implementation, and creates administrative obstacles.”
Under the new system, each department will have an integrated financial advisor, who will be responsible for financial management with at least the rank of joint secretary.
Consultants will examine proposals and provide financial guidance to department secretaries before files are processed, ensuring financial oversight is available within the departments themselves.
The Prime Minister said that this move will effectively decentralize some of the powers currently exercised by the Ministry of Finance and accelerate administrative processes throughout the government.
He said Finance Ministry officials would act as financial advisors and the reform would not entail any additional expenditure for the state government.
The Prime Minister described the decision as a “revolutionary administrative reform” and expressed confidence that it will lead to significant improvements in governance and project implementation.
“Through this mechanism, financial auditing will remain intact, while delays caused by frequent referrals to the finance department will be reduced. We expect this to lead to significant improvements in administrative efficiency,” he added.
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