From The Hindu Archives, February 12, 1976: Attendance in offices: directive reiterated

FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Feb. 11: Following the special drive in Government offices to ensure punctuality by officials and the finding that there is still some absenteeism, the Department of Personnel in the Cabinet Secretariat has asked all the Ministries to take care that the earlier instructions about attendance in Government offices are fully complied with.

The Department of Personnel is heartened by the general improvement during the past few months in the “administrative ethos” of the country. Instructions are in fact being issued from time to time by the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding punctuality, promptness and integrity of Government servants. It is, however, considered essential that the improvement in administrative efficiency and the intensity of supervision should be maintained as a permanent feature of the administration.

It is brought to the notice of the staff once again that persons who hold supervisory posts will take all possible steps to ensure the integrity and devotion to duty of all Government servants under their control and authority. Smoking in the corridors by Class Four staff and playing cards outside Government offices and buildings after the lunch-hour by Government servants is declared undecorous practice “which detracts from the atmosphere of discipline”.