Ministers blamed for fall in standards

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, SEPT. 15. Leaders of the Karnataka Secretariat Employees' Association today joined issue with the ministers on issues such as inefficiency, unhelpful attitude and tardiness, and openly questioned some of the commonly held negative views about government employees in general.

The occasion was the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the association, and the ministers present were Mr. Dharam Singh (Public Works), Mr. Mallikarjun Kharge (Home) and Mr. H. K. Patil (Major Irrigation). The Chief Minister, Mr. S. M. Krishna, who was scheduled to inaugurate the celebrations, could not be present as he was held up in Delhi. In a message to the association, he made it clear that the Government expected from the officials honesty, efficiency and dedication. There could be no compromise on those matters.

The association disputed the oft repeated statement that 70 per cent of government revenue was being spent on the salaries of government employees and that government offices were overstaffed. Its stand was contained in a memorandum presented to the three senior ministers.

The General Secretary of the association, Mr. S. S. Hadli, said that the actual expenditure on the payment of salaries to government employees was 28 per cent. However, much more than that was being spent on the government establishment in the form of maintenance of vehicles, telephone bill, travelling allowance of senior officials and so on.

The association said there was a dearth of essential staff in all government departments and the Secretariat. The previous government abolished 24,000 posts, including 400 in the Secretariat. The Administrative Reforms Commission should take note of those facts. The Government was freely creating posts at the top such as secretaries. About the criticism that government employees were inefficient, the association said that the quality of government servants only reflected that in contemporary society. However, it conceded that there was some truth in the statement that quality had suffered.

It blamed the ministers themselves for the decline in standards at the Secretariat level. The ministers were appointing persons known to them to their personal establishment on a contract basis without going into their calibre. In course of time they were being absorbed in the Secretariat service. That was one of the reasons for the decline.

Mr. Kharge plainly told the employees that they were harassing the people by not attending to the files pertaining to them. The Vidhana Soudha had become notorious for lethargy and tardiness. People from the districts in Northern Karnataka were the worst hit.

Confronting the Secretariat personnel with facts, Mr. H. K. Patil noted that over one lakh files were pending in the various offices in the Vidhana Soudha and the Multistoreyed Building. For a person coming to Bangalore, every day's delay on the part of a Secretariat official meant an additional expenditure of Rs. 500 on board and lodging, travel and soon. To this, Mr. U. D. Narasimhaiah of the association said that the delay in the disposal of files was because there was centralisation of powers in the hands of secretaries. Those at the top took time for decision making, resulting in delays.

Mr. Dharam Singh said the Government was going to build an annexe to the Vidhana Soudha at a cost of Rs. 50 crores by shifting the Government Printing Press.

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