KATHMANDU, July 16: In the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, there is now a competitive practice of making a surprise inspection about whether the employees of the ministry have attended the office and putting a red circle on the attendance slip if they are absent. The same practice also led to disputes between ministers and secretaries. Federal Affairs and General Administration Minister Amanlal Modi has put a red mark on the attendance sheets of the ministry’s Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar and Joint Secretary Skim Shrestha after they were found to be absent during the surprise inspection around 3.30 PM on Thursday.

On that day, Minister Modi suddenly visited for a surprise inspection of the office of Secretary Pushkar and four joint secretaries of the ministry. Pushkar and Shrestha were not in their offices at that time. After that, Minister Modi immediately marked their attendance sheets red.

According to Minister Modi's personal secretary Tajim Ansari, the secretary and a joint secretary had left the ministry without informing the minister and therefore a surprise inspection was done. “At least if the secretary and joint secretary have to go outside the ministry, they should get the approval of the minister or inform them. With the aim of maintaining such a tradition, the minister has put a red mark on the attendance sheets of the secretary and the joint secretary,” Ansari said. Another employee working in Minister Modi's secretariat insisted that the trend of higher-level employees not paying attention to departmental ministers was rampant and that this should end. “The secretary and joint secretaries should be accountable to the minister, but currently the situation is undisciplined,” he said.

Kamal Prasad Bhattarai, spokesperson and joint secretary of the ministry, claimed that Secretary Pushkar had attended the meeting called at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers in approval of the minister when Minister Modi inspected. “The secretary has said that on that day he participated in the meeting called at the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers with the consent of the minister,” said Bhattarai.

Another joint secretary of the ministry said, “It is a common culture to inform the minister when traveling away from the ministry or Kathmandu Valley or not being able to attend the office on a particular day. But I don't know the rule to seek permission from the minister while going from one building to another nearby building.”  He said, “This is an exaggeration by the minister.”

According to the ministry sources, of late, Minister Modi is not satisfied with the working style of Secretary Pushkar. Now there is talk of changing the minister in the federal affairs ministry. The employees have assumed that Secretary Pushkar may have stopped acknowledging the minister due to this ‘rumor’. Secretary Pushkar also reached the office of the Ministry on June 12 to inspect his subordinates. At that time, more than 100 employees were caught in the surprise inspection by the secretary. Among them, 24 were under secretaries and joint secretaries.

Secretary Pushkar marked the attendance slips of the employees who were not present in the office during the surprise inspection red. Most of the employees who were caught at that time were non-gazetted first class officials and section officers. On that day, at 10:30 AM, Secretary Pushkar made a surprise inspection to check whether the employees had arrived at the office on time.

 
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