Chennai, June 24: Get that image of the waffling, weasel-like Sir Humphrey Appleby out of your mind. The bureaucrat needn’t be a byword for obstruction ? whatever the writers of Yes, Minister might say.

The babus in Tamil Nadu last year bypassed their chief minister on no less a matter than a World Bank project ? worth Rs 1,852-crore ? out of impatience when she sat on it for too long. They just cleared it through a government order without Jayalalithaa’s signature.

“The matter needed urgent action,” the present chief minister, M. Karunanidhi, said as he made the startling revelation at a function of state secretariat staff last night.

The project was a housing and rehabilitation scheme for the state’s tsunami-hit, involving vocational training for them, Karunanidhi said.

“She should have signed it immediately?. But, for whatever reason, she didn’t,” he added, gloating as he wondered if his arch-rival didn’t care enough for the tsunami victims.

He saluted the babus. “You have issued a government order involving such a huge amount even without the chief minister’s signature and I cannot but appreciate your courage,” Karunanidhi gushed, without clarifying if he wanted the same pro-activeness from them now that he was chief minister.

The World Bank project was meant to help the government in “housing, reconstruction and restoration of livelihood, repair and reconstruction of public buildings and public works, technical assistance and training and implementation support to the tsunami victims”, Karunanidhi read out from his notes.

The file had been sent to Jayalalithaa sometime in 2005, he said. “A GO (government order) was issued (for implementation) on July 1, 2005, without the chief minister’s signature.”

The file was sent back to Jayalalithaa in early January this year via the public works department and finance ministry. In government offices, this is known as “after issue” ? obtaining a formal clearance from the chief minister after an order has been issued.

“Sending an after-issue file to the CM involving even Rs 1 crore in an emergency situation is understandable, but can it be done for an amount so huge as Rs 1,852 crore?” Karunanidhi asked in wide-eyed wonder.

Yet, “she didn’t sign it and sent back the file” on May 15.

The audience was entirely sympathetic: Jayalalithaa had summarily sacked nearly 1.75 lakh striking staff and teachers in July 2003 before having to reinstate them on the Supreme Court’s orders.

Friday’s function was held to honour Karunanidhi for his commitment to employees’ rights.

The chief minister told the function he had met the collectors of all the 13 tsunami-hit districts along with officials from all departments concerned at the secretariat this morning to assess the progress of rehabilitation.