The government is formulating a new policy to ensure regular presence of government employees in their respective offices. In this regard, the ministry of public administration is drafting a policy styled ‘Government Officials (Regular Presence) Policy- 2019’. Basically, the policy is being drafted revising the Public Employees Discipline (Punctual Attendance) Ordinance, 1982.
The ministry is now taking comments from other ministries and departments by sending them the draft. Joint secretary of public administration, Abul Kashem Md Mohiuddin, told Bangladesh Post, due to lack of some policies, government employment law is yet to be established. The government will implement the policy once it is formulated. Attendance policy is one of them.
Under the ‘Government Employee Law 2018’ government employees (Punctual Attendance) is being drafted. Based on other ministries and departments, it will be finalized, he informed the media. He said, the Public Employees Discipline (Punctual Attendance) Ordinance, 1982 was cancelled as per court rule. Now, the same ordinance is being reshaped and made time befitting.
He further said, the new policy will be helpful to ensure punctuality among the government officials. The new policy says, in every government office, there will be an attendance register everyone has to sign, and the register will be sent to the respective high official 15 minutes prior to the start of office. As an alternative to the existing system, digital attendance system can also be introduced. In that case, to ensure attendance, office chief or other officers can be appointed here.
The policy further states that without prior permission no one can go on leave or remain absent in office. But unauthorized leave can be approved, if registered doctor certifies sudden illness or accident. The policy also states that if a public employee without prior permission from his higher authority proceeds on leave or absents himself from work, the authority shall deduct an amount equivalent to his basic pay for one day for each day of absence.
Without prior permission from higher authority, if any one leaves his office during the office hours, but for emergency response, he/she can inform his/her colleague and enter it in a certain register. There are also a good number of changes in the policy that will be announced soon.
