THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: To curb the practice of unnecessarily delaying files, the Transport Department has directed employees to decide on the files within five days of receiving them.
Officers who fail to adhere to the five-day deadline shall either be removed from their specific duty or transferred to another office, according to the order issued by Transport Secretary Vasuki K.
The head of the department has been directed to monitor the process and identify the laggards. The decision comes at a time when Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar has criticised the functioning of a few departments with public interfaces under his purview.
He said action would be taken against department officials who fail to decide on a file within five days, following an inspection by the internal vigilance squad.
The order shall apply to all staff members in the Motor Vehicle Department, KSRTC, KSRTC-SWIFT, KTDFC, State Water Transport Department and Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering (SCTCE), Thiruvananthapuram. The direction is to start implementing the order on a pilot basis in January and ensure full compliance by March 31.
In all offices with an e-office system, a competent officer shall be designated to monitor the file movements on a weekly basis. The department shall conduct a monthly review and submit the report to the office of the transport minister.
The lower level offices of KSRTC may get more time till they complete the computerisation process. The direction specifies that monitoring of the movement of physical files shall be done by checking the file register.