BHUBANESWAR: State government officials will now be taught how to respect and respond to elected people’s representatives right from their initiation into service.
Faced with severe criticism of government officers, who have been accused of not showing proper respect to MPs and MLAs, the State government has decided to train the newly recruited administrative officials on respecting the office of the public representatives while dealing with them.
The Parliamentary Affairs department has directed all Secretaries, Revenue Divisional Commissioners, DG/IG of Police, all heads of departments, Collectors and SPs to include Book Circular No 47 in the agenda of the training programme for newly recruited OAS, ORS, OTAS and other officials. It has reminded officials about the need to be respectful to MPs and legislators as they hold important positions in a democratic set up.
The direction came after the House Committee on Ethics expressed displeasure on the gesture of government servants towards the lawmakers and recommended to scrupulously follow the circular on the duty of officers. “The provisions of Book Circular No 47 should be included in the agenda of the training programme for the newly recruited officers so that they can know how to implement it. The personal staff of the officers should also be sensitised on implementation of the circular in its true spirit,” Principal Secretary G Mathi Vathanan stated in the letter.
The House Committee members had brought the gesture of government officials to the notice of the Parliamentary Affairs department during finalisation of the tour impression of the visit to districts like Deogarh, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Bargarh, Sonepur and Boudh. The four-page circular prescribes a set of guidelines on the relationship between MPs, MLAs and government servants. It says every official on duty will act in a courteous manner and not adopt dilatory tactics in her/his dealings with the members.
When a member comes to see an official, the latter should stand up and receive her/him forthwith courteously. The official should also give her/him a polite send-off. If any member contacts any officer over telephone, the latter should promptly respond to the call while in the office and if absent from office, should give a call back for which a register should also be maintained, the circular states among other stipulations. Former Chief Secretary Sahadev Sahoo said the relationship between public servants and people’s representatives plays a vital role in building a healthy and congenial atmosphere of mutual understanding. “Certain principles have been laid down to govern the relationship between government servants and lawmakers. Both the officials and legislators should be respectful to each other,” he said.
Despite the guidelines for officers’ conduct, frequent complaints are received regarding lack of action provisions. Such complaints have also been raised in the Assembly earlier by MLAs, especially from the Opposition.
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