Centre tells staff to be in office by 9.15am or lose 1/2 day casual leave

NEW DELHI: Cracking the whip on latecomers, the Centre's department of personnel and training (DoPT) has decided to condone a maximum delay of 15 minutes, and instructed employees across the country to be in office latest by 9.15am and mark their attendance. All employees, including senior officers, have been told to use the biometric attendance system, something several of them have not been using ever since the Covid outbreak four years ago.

Staff members have been cautioned that half-day casual leave will be deducted in case they do not turn up by 9.15 in the morning. "For any reason, if the employee is not able to attend office on a particular day, it should be informed in advance and casual leave should be applied for," the circular said, adding that officers will monitor the attendance and punctuality of employees in their sections.

Central govt offices are open from 9am to 5.30pm but it is normal for junior-level employees to turn up late and leave early, including those in public-facing jobs, inconveniencing people.

 No fixed hours, we take work home too, say senior officials Senior officers complain that they do not have any fixed office hours as they usually leave after 7pm. Besides, they argue that post-Covid, with access to electronic files, they often end up working from home, including on holidays or over the weekend.

Soon after coming to office in 2014, Modi govt had sought to enforce office timings, which was resisted by employees, many of whom argued that they travel long distances.

Aadhaar-enabled biometric attendance system was monitored to ensure that people were on time, until Covid led to suspension of the mechanism. Several senior officers had installed biometric devices on their table to avoid standing in queues to mark their attendance.

The latest directive refers to instructions issued last year which had asked central govt employees to revert to biometric attendance, which was resumed in Feb 2022. "Habitual late coming and early leaving of office should be viewed seriously and discouraged. Action against the same may be initiated," it had said.

In departments, where IT-enabled faceless mechanism of dealing with public has been put in place, several employees routinely skip office or come in for a short while. The move is expected to enforce greater discipline but will also annoy employees who routinely walk in at 10am or even after that.