‘No more top-level changes at MoF for now’

Our Economic Bureau

New Delhi, Nov 5: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said on Monday that there will be no further changes in the top brass at North Block and that the new team installed in the ministry would be in charge of the Budget-making exercise for 2002-03.

Mr Sinha’s statement assumes significance as currently nobody has been designated as finance secretary in place of Mr Ajit Kumar who has been shifted to Planning Commission. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate a web circular system of the Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Mr Sinha said that the new team installed in his ministry will alone be responsible for the Budget making exercise and no new person from outside will be called in for the purpose. Replying to questions regarding taxing share transactions, Mr Sinha said that finance ministry was not considering any such proposal.

Earlier, inaugurating the intranet-cum-web circular system (WCS) of CGA, Mr Sinha said greater transparency, efficiency and speed needed to be built into the system of government accounts. He said one office which needs to move fast on e-governance is that of the CGA, which was the principal accounts adviser to the Union government and was responsible for establishing and maintaining a technically sound management accounting system.