Babus blame traffic for tardiness

The state government's bureaucrats seem to have joined hands with their boss — Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal — in blaming the Delhi police for the state of affairs in the Capital, including the traffic. After being pulled up for coming late to office by Chief Secretary MM Kutty, most of them were quick to put the blame on traffic.

This is the second time that Kutty has asked officers to come on time since he became the Chief Secretary on November 30, 2016. He said that if officials are not punctual, their salaries would be deducted. Thereafter, various government departments directed their staff to come on time. Additionally, the General Administration Department is preparing a list of departments, and habitual latecomers.

"He (Kutty) is annoyed with the officers as well as the lower-rung staff as they come to the Secretariat late every day. Many high-level and routine meetings scheduled at 10 am get delayed by at least half an hour," a source in the Secretariat said.

This has not gone down well with Kutty, who has warned his subordinates that the next time they come late, they will have to give a written explanation. Government offices are usually open from 9 am to 5.30 pm, with a half-hour lunch break. The employees need to clock in 40 hours of work a week and 176 hours in a month. Officials are supposed to report to work by 9.45 am, but most of them reach by 10.30 am.

When Kutty informally queried a few of them, they blamed either the traffic police or traffic jams. After a few days, he checked with the bureaucrats again, and their response remained the same. Kutty also noticed that while the staffers come late to office, they clock out on time when it's time to head home.

Earlier, in a meeting of all principal secretaries and secretaries, Kutty told various departmental heads that it would be their responsibility to ensure staffers and employees arrive on time. "The principal secretaries and secretaries must ensure officials arrive to work on time. If an officer is a habitual late-comer, then action may be taken against him or her as per rules," he said.

According to the rules, employees who arrive at 9.30 am should be marked as availing a half-day, but department heads have the power to condone the delay.

The Department of Personnel and Training had also issued similar directives.

"Arriving late to work regularly is unbecoming of a government servant, and disciplinary action may be taken against these officials. It is also added that punctuality is to be observed by government servants at all levels," the department had said.

Meanwhile, a senior official said the issue regarding punctuality was not new and directions in this regard have dated back to the 1970s. In fact, to make the staff accountable and to keep a check on them, the Central government has installed an Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system in the Secretariat.