Weekly Public hearings reduce attendance of administrative secretaries to less than 15 days

Srinagar: Weekly public hearing for which a schedule was released recently by the government has reduced the attendance from 22 days a month to less than 15 days a month and undisposed files of public concern are gathering dust at civil secretariat Srinagar. The employees and as well as the visitors at the civil secretariat are upset over the way the file work has taken a big hit at the civil secretariat.
Authoritative sources while disclosing a tale of painful experiences during last ten days told Kashmir Horizon “the engagement of the administrative secretaries with the weekly public hearings instead of bringing respite to the people has unprecedentedly intensified the woes of the people as they remain out of their administrative offices for less than fifteen days. “The administrative secretaries going to Srinagar for public hearing return to Jammu after three days and for attending another round of public hearings in Jammu the same administrative secretary has to spend two more days out of the civil secretariat another week”, the sources said adding that “ it is obviously clear that every administrative secretary keeps himself busy with the public hearings and unnecessary field visits for about a week . Five day a week attendance has already reduced the mandatory attendance of the move offices particularly civil secretariat from 26 days to 22 days a month”. One of the junior KAS officers on conditions of anonymity said “ the files regarding service and promotion cases of the officers and officials are not disposed off as quickly as they were being disposed off during the days of popular rule as ministers would go out on field visits and administrative secretaries were sitting in their offices to dispose off the pending files during the times ministers would conduct field visits”.
One of the employees on conditions of anonymity said “ appointment case of my son is to be resolved on the directions of a division bench of Jammu & Kashmir high court for the last two years as the file was being tossed up from desk to desk and finally when the file reached the office of the concerned administrative secretary it is pending for disposal for over a month. Sometimes administrative secretary was out on a field visit in connection with “back to village” program and sometimes on a field visit . Just few days back I was told that he has gone to Srinagar for public hearing and will return after 3 days”. When contacted President Employees Joint Consultative Committee-EJCC (Kashmir) Aijaz Ahmad Khan told Kashmir Horizon “ we have been conveying our concerns about the rampant absenteeism of the administrative secretaries and other officers of the administrative department for last several months. It is a fact that administrative secretaries spend most of the time in field visits, public hearings and unscheduled meetings. People don’t come with their complaints to weekly public hearings meant for giving people the much needed access to administrative secretaries as they knowing that it is a futile exercise. An administrative secretary supposed to settle a case of his own department concerning an individual or a group of dividuals can’t satisfy the concerned outside his office in absence of his own subordinate staff. Better for the government to wind up practice of weekly public hearings”.