Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Secretary VP Joy’s ultimatum to tighten punching system in government offices. It is proposed to implement this from January 1, 2023. Punching will be made mandatory in the Secretariat and the offices of the Heads of Departments in the Collectorate.
Efforts have been made to make biometric punching stricter before but might not be implemented. The purpose of strict enforcement of punching is to prevent loitering during office hours and to increase employee efficiency.
Biometric Punching is in effect at the Secretariat from January 1, 2018. It was announced that this will be extended to all government offices from November 1, 2018. The Chief Secretary’s ultimatum is in case it has not happened yet. A strict recommendation is to link employee attendance to Spark.
The order to the Collectors and Heads of Departments is that no further extension of time will be granted for any reason. The order applies to all offices including Raj Bhavan, High Court, PSC RTI Commission office, universities.
As the next step to prevent drowning of employees in the secretariat, access control system will now be implemented to avoid the loophole where people can punch out in the morning and leave the office and come back in the evening to punch out. Access card can be identified with punching card including time out of office.
