New Delhi: In a bid to curb late arrivals, the Centre’s Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has mandated that all government employees, including senior officers, must arrive at the office by 9:15 a.m. and record their attendance using the biometric system. According to a recent report, staff members who fail to comply with this directive will lose half a day’s casual leave.
The circular specifies that employees are required to use the biometric attendance system instead of the traditional register-based system. It also states, “For any reason, if the employee is not able to attend the office on a particular day, it should be informed in advance and casual leave should be applied for,” as reported by the Times of India. The biometric system had seen reduced usage since the COVID-19 outbreak four years ago.
The DoPT has instructed senior officers to oversee the attendance and punctuality of employees in their respective sections. Although Central government offices operate from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., staff members have garnered a reputation for arriving late and leaving early, causing inconvenience, particularly in departments that interact with the public.
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Senior officers contend that they often work beyond their fixed office hours, noting that with the availability of office files electronically post-COVID, they frequently work from home, including on holidays and weekends.
The Modi government initially introduced the Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system in 2014 to enforce strict office timings. The system was temporarily halted during the COVID outbreak but was resumed in February 2022.
The latest directive warns of strict action against habitual tardiness and early departures among government officials. This move is expected to enhance the efficiency of government operations.
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Timely reporting and timely departing offices will surely enhance discipline and time bound completion of the days work. Working till late means inefficiency of the servant and cutting own family time for the slow work. 😁😁.
Oh no