The message is loud and clear: The buck stops with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The tech-savvy PM, who is known for keeping himself updated on all key projects and reviewing the performance of ministries, will soon be monitoring the appointments of bureaucrats too.

A separate portal is being created for the purpose by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the Cabinet Secretariat, the Establishment Officer (Department of Personnel) and the Law & Justice Ministry, according to multiple sources in the know.

Currently, the ACC decides appointments to several top posts under the government. The committee comprises the Prime Minister (who is the Chairman) and the Minister of Home Affairs. Modi recently told the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), to develop a portal for all the bureaucrats so that he can monitor all the movements of these officials in future, sources told BusinessLine .

“The PM is making a monitoring system to manage senior positions. With this, the PM can himself monitor who is posted where, who is retiring when and who can refill the position. This way, there will no role for a coordinator in the middle and the PM can ensure that the bureaucrats are positioned as per the requirements,” a senior government official said, requesting anonymity.

Another official said: “This is more to improve governance. The PM, as he used to do as the Gujarat Chief Minister, wants minimum human interface and wants to use technology as much as possible to look after developments.” Sources said Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad at a meeting told the NeGP to develop the portal soon.

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