The Hindu : When Govt. staff go `missing'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 08, 2003

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Other States - New Delhi

When Govt. staff go `missing'

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI JULY 7. A strange phenomenon is being witnessed in the Delhi Administration for which a solution does not appear in sight. Taking advantage of loopholes in service rules and protection from political authorities, a large number of Government employees have been doing a "disappearing act'' by remaining absent from work for prolonged periods after availing simple leave for a brief period.

In fact, this fact has come to light time and again but no concrete policy has been framed to deal such employees who get away without any harsh punishment or departmental action. For instance, it is pointed out that an employee goes on leave for about three months on the plea of attending personal work or joining her husband in some other State or abroad for a brief period. Once this leave is sanctioned, then the misuse often starts and the loopholes in the service rules are exploited.

These employees keep on extending their leave despite being asked to join duty at the earliest. "In cases where employees go beyond the sanctioned leave period, memos are often served on the concerned employee asking him or her to join duty immediately. But such official communications are often ignored and the employees continue to illegally abstain from duty for some reason or the other. In some cases, the period often stretches not months but between one to three years,'' a senior official remarked.

Sources revealed that while in some cases the reason is genuine, in a large number of cases, it has been noticed that leave is often extended for years as the concerned employee joins some other job to earn quick money. The occurrence of such instances has been noticed most among nurses of Government hospitals. These nurses often taken leave and fly off to Gulf or African countries and join some lucrative job there. They keep on extending their leave and do not adhere to the notice served by the department to join duty.

It is only after they have completed their contract abroad that they return back home and by some pressure or pull rejoin their duty. Even if they are served notices or are suspended, many of them are re- instated by some manipulation or the other.

In a number of cases, the departments have gone ahead and suspended the concerned employees and then filed a chargesheet after a preliminary enquiry to ensure his or her termination for violating service rules. But these instances are not much as often political authority intervenes in the shape of elected representatives pleading for relief of such employees.

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When Govt. staff go `missing'