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Kerala govt cracks down on absenteeism among its employees

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Government employees in Kerala are on the tenterhooks with the state cabinet deciding to introduce the punching system in government offices with immediate effect. The cabinet, which met here today, has decided to introduce the system in phases following a discussion Chief Minister E K Nayanar had with the leaders of various employees organisations last month.

Initially, the system would be launched in the offices of the district collectors at Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Thrissur and Kannur, the secretariat annexe and the director of health services in the state capital. Lightning checks conducted by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in some of the offices surprised the cabinet about the level of absenteeism in the offices.

Vigilance sources revealed that more than 70 per cent of the officials were found absent during duty hours. This included a large number of gazetted officers, who are supposed to set an example to their subordinates.

The vigilance team found that only one of 12 gazetted officers was present in the principal agriculture office in Thiruvananthapuram. The official record showed that four were on tour. There was no mention about the remaining seven. They were obviously absent without taking leave. In the non-gazetted category only 24 of the 65 officials were present during duty hours. In the district education office, 18 out of 23 officials were absent. In the district industries centre the vigilance officials found 24 employees absent without leave.

The Kerala government had empowered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau to conduct surprise checks in government offices as part of its strategy to improve attendance in government offices. Vigilance sources said that they would be submitting a report to the government on the basis of the findings of these checks.

A senior official here said that the level of absenteeism in the offices in Kerala is quite high. He said that it was a habit among the employees to absent themselves for days together in connivance with senior officials. He said that the junior employees could not be blamed as the senior officials themselves were often absent from duty.

He told rediff.com that the situation is more alarming in the state secretariat, where thousands of employees work. He said that it is easy to skip office in the secretariat since different offices are scattered in the large complex. One finds vacant tables in many offices in the secretariat. The employees keep off their desks under the pretext of visiting other offices in connection with official work.

Employees associated with trade unions are rarely found in their offices. A large number of them 'use' the exemption given to certain office bearers of the employees organisations from attending office to skip their duties regularly.

The government's move to introduce the punching system a couple of months ago had met with severe resistance from the lower level cadres. The employees' organisations agreed to it after the chief minister had several rounds of parleys with the leaders. The government has been insisting on full attendance while the employees keep demanding more benefits. The salary and allowances of government employees in Kerala are said to be even higher than that of their counterparts in the central government.

It may be recalled that the 10th Finance Commission, which had visited the state recently, had refused to consider the state's plea for additional assistance pointing out that it had a highly irrational salary structure.

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