Arvind Kejriwal cracks whip on officials violating orders

New Delhi: Cracking the whip against those officers who were not available in their respective offices to take up grievances of the general public on working days, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has directed chief secretary M.M. Kutty to take disciplinary action against the officers for violating his instructions. After facing humiliating defeat in the civic elections, the CM had instructed all the officers to meet general public without prior appointment in their respective offices on specified time schedules. The CM said that this step was extremely critical to make the government accessible to the people and any violation in its implementation would be viewed with all seriousness.

What’s become worrisome for the AAP government is the fact that officers had not been able to dispose off 50 per cent of the grievances they have been receiving on a day-to-day basis. In a review meeting with the heads of various departments, the chief secretary (CS) was informed that only 44 per cent of grievances had been disposed off till April 25. The poor grievance disposal mechanism had prompted the CS to issue directions to his secretary (administrative reforms) to review the status of grievances with all the departments on a weekly basis.

Taking serious note of the non-availability of the officers in their respective offices, Mr Kejriwal said he had himself directed that officers should be available in their offices to meet the public without any appointment on all working days. In his order, the CM said, “I am told many officers are not following this. CS should issue strict warning to all officers that anyone violating these instructions will face disciplinary action.”

Mr Kejriwal said the CS should ensure that small boards are put up outside the rooms of each officer declaring the specific time when people could meet him/her. He said in case an officer was not available in his/her office, people should be provided with the telephone number on which they could register their complaints.

Mr Kejriwal said that all the calls made on the telephone number provided to general public should be recorded and the transcription of the same be made available to his office on a daily basis. He said that the CS should also read these transcriptions and take appropriate action against delinquent officers.