In a bid to rationalise departments, the AAP Government has initiated the process to conduct an in-depth study on the works being carried out by its different organs. The exercise is reportedly to check the works being executed by each employee and devise a foolproof system to check wastage of Government resources.
Source said that the exercise would be carried out by the Administrative Reforms Department (ARD). The ARD has already sent a report in this connection to the Chief Minister’s Office. The source said that the work study of all the Government departments would be done within four months. “We want to check the workload on every employee. And we will also find out how much work hours should be mandatory for every employee,” a senior officer told this newspaper.
The entire exercise is likely to help the Government cut down the number of employees in those departments which are reportedly overstaffed. It will also enable the administration to fix responsibility on each and every individual in all departments.
Among the key departments where micro-level study would be conducted are the GPF cell, the Delhi Jal Board, labour, Employment, Industry, Revenue, PWD Food and Civil Supplies departments. The Government has already initiated a process to give authority to officers to take quick decisions by cutting short long procedures of routing files through several layers. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had himself directed his officers to cut short procedures for quick decisions in running smooth day-to-day functioning of the city administration.
The Chief Minister is said to be the view that only important files should be referred to him and his Council of Ministers. He has reportedly conveyed to his officers that files should not be placed before officers who had no role in processing them.
The Chief Minister has also made it clear that authority should be delegated to officers to take final decisions. He has also warned that decisions should be taken only as per rules and if any officer was found violating them, strict action would be taken against him.
A senior officer said that the entire exercise would help the Government identify departments which have become redundant over the years so these could be closed and officers heading them either relieved or assigned some other job. The ARD had earlier sent a note to various departments to follow the CM’s instructions in identifying the officers who could take decisions on respective projects or works. But many departments reportedly did not respond on time. Now the ARD has again sent a reminder to all the departments to send details about their work flow latest by June 30.