CHENNAI: A day after Tamil Nadu home secretary P Amudha issued a circular on Thursday to deduct a day of casual leave (CL) or earned leave (EL) from their leave account for failing to cast their vote, it was withdrawn after it drew flak from government employees. The circular was meant for staff under home, prohibition and excise department.
When TNIE contacted her on Friday, she said the “circular was withdrawn”. The department issued a separate circular later on Friday, stating that the instructions issued in the earlier circular were withdrawn with immediate effect.
The home secretary’s circular issued on Thursday stated, “All the second-level officers are instructed to ensure that the staff under their control cast their vote properly. If not, they may be requested to give the details of the OP-1 Section so as to cut a day’s CL/EL from their leave account according to their eligibility.” She pointed out that April 19 was declared a public holiday in view of the Lok Sabha elections and the by-election to Vilavancode Assembly constituency.
Tamil Nadu Secretariat Association (TNSA) president K Venkatesan, in a representation to Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, said, “The home secretary’s circular is against the rules of the Election Commission of India as well the Constitution of India. Further, this is tantamount to interfering with the basic rights of the individuals. Since no one can compel even their family members to cast their votes, a civil servant threatening the employees working under her that CL/EL will be cut from their leave account if they fail to cast their votes is nothing but misuse of her office.”
Venkatesan said even those who hold high offices cannot order their employees to cast their votes since ECI has given the right to voters under rule 49-O to record that they did not want to cast their votes. “The employees of the home department have been subjected to severe mental agony. Hence, the CEO should cancel the circular issued by the home secretary and take appropriate action against her. The CEO should ensure that the employees of the home department cast their votes without any fear and ensure the rights of the individuals,” Venkatesan added.