S. A Haidri
Muzaffarabad: The prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Raja Farooq Haider Khan while urging the secretaries to work in close liaison with ministers of relevant ministries has said that the secretaries must seek written permissions before leaving the respective stations to maintain complete discipline in the workplaces (departments).
The AJK PM made these remarks while chairing a high-level meeting of the government secretaries here on Thursday. Chief Secretary AJK, Secretary Finance, Additional Chief Secretaries, and other secretaries to government were also present in the meeting.
Speaking on the occasion the AJK PM said that besides placing complaint boxes out of their offices the secretaries must lay down time norms for the redressal of public complaints. He also directed the government authorities to maintain cordial and better working relationship with MLAs and common masses. The PM directed the secretaries to hold regular review meetings in order to assess the overall performance of the departments. He directed the secretaries to conduct monthly review meetings in their departments and apprise the Prime Minister secretariat respectively.
Stressing the need for improving departmental performance he said that the officials’ poor work performance won’t be tolerated. Poor performing officials, he warned, won’t be able to hold their positions any longer. “All secretaries must acquire pre-written permission before leaving the station and create effective liaison with Ministers of the State; any kind of negligence in discipline is intolerable” Prime Minister added.
Prime Minister lamented on the pending matters of seniority and ACRs of government employees, “Absence of homework by some pertinent officers became the reason of embarrassment on federal level; it is the responsibility of bureaucracy to apprise me, recent example of Neelum Jehlum Hydro Power Project is perceived in which WAPDA declared state departments responsible for carelessness.” Prime Minister maintained.
Prime Minister reiterated that spokespersons of all departments should respond to the criticism on government besides sharing the progress reports. “If there is any mistake within the department highlighted in newspapers then it must be addressed and strict action should be taken on it immediately”, he said.
“Writ petitions against government must be trailed efficiently to fulfill all legal obligations, officers must follow the rules and regulations as the incumbent government is monitoring the overall performance of state departments”, Prime Minister added.
The Prime Minister said, “It has been observed that some secretaries do not participate in the national and official events and consequently their subordinate officials do not follow their orders; Some Secretaries come to the Prime Minister Secretariat or the Prime Minister House without seeking prior permission or time, which is against the Etiquettes and good manners.” The PM, however, said that there were also some capable officers present within the bureaucracy and they can play an important role in correcting the problems in the system.
“Secretary to government is a discretionary post, if anyone does not work, then any other responsibility can be assigned to him/her.” the Prime Minister said.
