Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan has asked senior bureaucrats to shed “playing safe” approach and delegate greater authority to junior civil servants, emphasising that excessive centralisation can slow government functioning, overwhelm senior officers and deprive subordinates of opportunities to develop as decision-makers.
Event Context
A central principle of the guide is that while authority can be delegated, responsibility cannot. An officer who assigns a task to a subordinate and gives them the powers and resources needed to execute it remains responsible for the final outcome. Delegation, therefore, cannot be used as a defence if something goes wrong.
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In a communication to all secretaries to the Union government on July 21, Somanathan has made a case for building a “culture of trust” in government departments, saying officers are “often uncomfortable delegating important work because they fear subordinates may not perform it as effectively, could misuse their authority, or make decisions that may bring criticism to the government or organisation.”
But such concerns, he added, should not become an excuse for concentrating decision-making at higher levels. Officials entrusted with authority generally become more responsible, with a person taking a decision independently likely to exercise greater care than one merely recommending a course of action to a superior, Somanathan said in the communication, seen by HT.
The Cabinet secretary also identified reluctance at the other end of the administrative chain: officers who have been delegated powers but continue to send matters to their superiors for approval. Such officials, he noted, may have become conditioned to the mindset of “playing safe”. “The challenge, therefore, lies both with seniors unwilling to delegate and juniors hesitant to exercise the authority already given to them,” he said.
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Somanathan invoked the well-known maxim that a ship may be safest in harbour, but that is not what ships are built for, to underline the need for calculated risk-taking in administration. His message is part of a broader Cabinet Secretariat effort to issue practical guides for civil servants, following an earlier communication in June on conducting effective meetings, people familiar with the matter said.
The latest intervention comes with a “Guide on the Art of Delegating Work”, which lays down practical principles on what can be delegated, whom authority should be entrusted to, how much power should be transferred and how the resulting work should be supervised. The document makes clear that its suggestions are advisory and should not override formal government rules or instructions.
The push is also aimed at addressing a familiar contradiction in government: administrations are frequently perceived as slow, while senior officers often find themselves overworked and struggling to clear their workload on time.
Judicious delegation, Somanathan said, could be “thrice blessed” — improving organisational efficiency, saving the scarce time of senior officers and building the capabilities of subordinates.
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This also means delegation cannot amount to abdication. Senior officers are expected to monitor and supervise delegated work, with the intensity of oversight depending on the sensitivity of the assignment and the experience and competence of the subordinate.
At the same time, the guide warns against micromanagement. Officers should not delegate work and then repeatedly intervene in its execution. Assignments should be clearly defined, officials should understand both what is expected and why the task matters, and they should be provided adequate resources and authority to deliver.
The document recommends selecting officials according to their competence and workload, distributing opportunities fairly to avoid perceptions of favouritism, and using delegation to prepare the “next line of leaders” who could eventually assume greater responsibilities.
It also flags “reverse delegation”, where an official subtly pushes a delegated decision back to the superior by seeking approval or asking the senior officer to solve problems that fall within the subordinate’s authority. A common manifestation, it says, is sending files upwards on matters that the junior officer is already empowered to decide. The guide notes that seeking unnecessary instructions to evade responsibility is contrary to conduct rules.
Somanathan has asked all Union government secretaries to circulate the guide among civil servants under their jurisdiction and encourage a culture of delegation in their ministries and departments.
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The larger message is that decentralising decision-making is not simply about reducing the burden at the top. Done with adequate safeguards, the Cabinet Secretariat argues, delegation can speed up administration, strengthen institutional trust and nurture a new generation of officers capable of taking responsibility rather than merely pushing files up the hierarchy.
