Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 10 (IANS): The first meeting of a committee of Kerala Ministers that met on the revamp of the 'Rules of Business' did not have smooth sailing after two Ministers objected to giving more powers to the Chief Minister and also to the secretaries.

At the meeting chaired by Law Minister A.K. Balan, those who protested included Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekheran of the CPI and Water Resources Minister K. Krishnankutty representing the Janata Dal (S).

The meeting could not come to any agreement as the two Ministers who opposed it pointed out that if the present rules are tweaked in the way it is being conceived it would see the powers of the Ministers getting pruned, while giving more powers to the bureaucracy and the Chief Minister who would then be able to interfere in the department of any minister.

At present the last word in any ministry is the respective Minister and the state cabinet has the power to decide on a number of issues.

It was also pointed out that certain decisions which the cabinet hitherto had to clear, could then be cleared by the Chief Minister.

Those dissenting also said that the collective decision making of the cabinet would be a thing of the past.

Following the strong opposition to the draft rules, the meeting ended without any accord. Now the matter will go before the full meeting of the ruling Left Democratic Front.