No place for netas in govt’s attendance register

RTI report reveals unlike govt officials, ministers do not have to maintain a record of working days; on paper, they work 24-7.

Updated on: May 24, 2012, 24:06:38 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

While the leave and attendance records of the salaried class in the present government are maintained meticulously, no such thing is being done for ministers in the Union cabinet.

The Central Information Officer of the Cabinet Secretariat informed Hindustan Times in a RTI reply that it does not possess the leave or attendance records of the Union council of ministers.

The Prime Minister’s Office, where the RTI application was first filed, had transferred it to the Cabinet Secretariat, which it said was the nodal office for the council of ministers.

“The information sought by the application is not maintained, and is not required to be maintained by the government,” the Cabinet Secretariat’s reply said.

Why the exemption for ministers?

Ministers are apparently exempt from rules on leaves and attendance to grant flexibility at work to the ones who have more than one portfolio to handle.

On paper, they function on all working days.

The salaries and allowances of ministers are defined under the Salaries and Allowances of Ministers Act-1952. According to it, the ministers are entitled to a monthly salary of over Rs 50,000 plus a daily allowance, as specified for MPs. They are also entitled to constituency allowance and other perks.

The law provides the government with powers to formulate rules, but the Cabinet Secretariat says there are no rules pertaining to leaves and attendance of ministers. And because of this, the ministers are not required to inform the Cabinet Secretariat when they go on holiday or turn up for work.

When a senior UPA minister was asked about the last time he had gone on holiday, he quipped: “We are always at work.”

In countries such as the United Kingdom and United States, there is a provision allowing political functionaries to avail paid leave for a certain period every year – on the lines of any salaried person. UK Prime Minister David Cameroon took paternity leave in August 2010. In 2011, US President Barack Obama availed of his leave for holidaying in Hawai.

India – on the other hand – has rules on leaves and attendance for all its employees, except for ministers. Even commissions appointed by the government are covered under them.

The Cabinet Secretariat, in its reply, also admitted that it has no information on the number of days Union ministers attend office, or details regarding their travel within India.

“All ministers are required to inform the Prime Minister’s Office or take prior approval of the Prime Minister only for foreign tours,” the PMO said in another reply to the RTI application.

The government is also in the dark over how many ministers work from home, and the number of days they spend in the national capital.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.