Advisors asked to dispense with participation of Heads during Darbars
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 1: In significant decision to avoid inconvenience to the general public, the Governor’s administration has ordered that Heads of Departments and Deputy Commissioners should not be called either to the Secretariat or to the Divisional Headquarters for meetings unless it is absolutely essential.
While issuing a circular in this regard, the Government has impressed upon all the Administrative Secretaries and Divisional Commissioners to ensure that HoDs and Deputy Commissioners are not called for frequent meetings or discussions.
According to the circular number 36-GAD of 2019, dated 01-07-2019, not only the Administrative Secretaries and Divisional Commissioners but also the Advisors to the Governor have been requested to dispense with the participation of Heads of Departments during their public outreach programmes or Darbar as far as possible.
These directions have been issued keeping in view of the Government’s observation that some Administrative Secretaries as well as Divisional Commissioners call the Heads of Departments frequently to their headquarters for meetings. The non-availability of these Heads of Departments at their respective headquarters therefore causes disruption in the functioning of their offices and also inconvenience to the general public.
Taking a serious notice of the matter, the Government today issued the circular, according to which a protocol be observed in regard to attending of meetings by the HoDs with Administrative Secretaries and Divisional Commissioners.
“HoDs should not be called either to the Secretariat or to the Divisional Headquarters for meetings unless it is absolutely essential while use of technology like Video Conferencing, telecom etc be maximized for meetings with the HoDs,” says the protocol in this regard.
Besides these directions with regard to HoDs, the Government has also reiterated the instructions, issued vide Circular number 21-GAD of 2018, dated 02-07-2018 with regard to the presence of Deputy Commissioners at district headquarters.
As per this last year circular, no Deputy Commissioner shall be called for meeting to the Civil Secretariat without prior permission of the Chief Secretary.
Impressing upon all the Administrative Secretaries and Divisional Commissioners to ensure that Deputy Commissioners are not un-necessarily called for meetings, the circular instructs for maximizing the use of video conferencing besides urging the Divisional Commissioners to visit the districts more frequently, at least once in a month, so that they have a good idea of developments and happenings in the district.
These circulars assume significance in view of the fact that general public was facing inconvenience because of non-availability of HoDs and Deputy Commissioners at their respective headquarters owing to frequent meetings at the capital cities.
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