Good Governance Award to efficient Government Servants.

   A 'Good Governance Award', the first of its kind in the country, was set up by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha on Saturday, for state government staff who will make a ‘real difference’ in the delivery of a host of services and the reaching of welfare schemes to the people.

   Irrespective of whether a ‘Lokayukta’ will become reality of not in Tamil Nadu, in the wake of the Centre tabling the Lokpal Bill in Parliament which also enables lokayuktas as state level ombudsmen against administrative corruption, Jayalalitha sprung this surprise after paying homage at the ‘Samadhi’ of her political mentor, MGR, on his death anniversary. Incidentally, Saturday also happens to be the death anniversary of the late Dravidian leader Periyar.

   The expulsion of her long-time confidante V K Sasikala and her family members last week sent a strong signal that she would not brook interference in administration from ‘extra-constitutional authorities’. But Jayalalitha has followed that up with this new Awad which will recognise innovations in administrative delivery mechanisms and reward ‘excellent performance’ leading to better governance in the state.

   Jayalalitha’s objective through this initiative is to ensure a “transparent, corruption-free, efficient and responsive administration” to the people, said an official release giving the details of her decision.

   Under this new initiative, three officials from 54 administrative departments will be annually chosen for the ‘Good Governance Award’. The reward will carry a purse of Rs 2 lakh and a plaque in recognition of their efforts to tone up the state administration. The awards will be presented by the Chief Minister on Independence day every year.

Considering that it is the administration which is eventually responsible for implementing all the welfare and other planned schemes of the Government, the awardees will be chosen on the basis of their ability to induct into the administrative system, innovative delivery mechanisms and being ‘role models’ to others.

The officials will also be benchmarked to the ‘best practices’ relevant to each department, the release said.

An ‘expert panel’ of the Government will assess the various performance parameters of the employees over a period of time and three officials who have made a breakthrough in terms of the notified norms will be chosen each year, the release said.