<div>Dismantling a legacy of UPA rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today abolished all the 30 GoMs and EGoMs and told ministries and departments to take decisions on pending matters.<br /><br />Announcing the decision to scrap nine Empowered Groups of Ministers and 21 Groups of Ministers, the PMO said this would expedite the process of decision-making and "usher in greater accountability in the system."<br /><br />The Ministries and Departments will now process the issues pending before EGoMs and GoMs and take appropriate decisions at the level of Ministries and Departments itself, said the statement.<br /><br />It said wherever the ministries face difficulties, the Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister's Office will facilitate the decision-making process.<br /><br />The statement announcing the abolition of EGoMS and GoMs termed it as "major move" to empower the ministries and Departments.<br /><br />Former Defence Minister A K Antony was heading most of the EGoMs. The panels were formed to take decisions on issues like corruption, inter-state water disputes, administrative reforms and gas and telecom pricing.<br /><br />EGoMs had the power to take decisions on the line of the Union Cabinet. The recommendations of the GoMs were placed before the Cabinet for a final call.<br /><br />Government sources said the major policy step of abolishing the GoMs and EGoMs has been taken to speed up the decision-making and "restore the authority of respective ministries and the Cabinet".<br /><br />The step is aimed at reducing the levels of decision-making and streamline the system, they said.<br /><br />The Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Secretary will do the "hand-holding" and intervene whenever necessary, they said.<br /><br />Any inter-ministerial dispute can be solved by the Committee of Secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary, which is already in place, the sources said.<br /><br />On the GoMs which existed during the 10 years of Manmohan Singh government, the sources said a number of them had hardly met and only a few had delivered decisions.<br /><br />The main drawback of the GoM system was that there was no timeline fixed for arriving at conclusions, as a result of which they dragged for years with diffusion of accountability.<br /><br />(PTI) </div>
