The Delhi government has tightened leave procedures for senior bureaucrats, directing additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and department heads to notify Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and the ministers handling their departments before taking leave.
The direction was issued after the government found that instructions on leave procedures were not being followed by senior officials, according to an order issued on Wednesday by Service Secretary Nandini Paliwal. The order said the matter had been taken seriously by the Chief Minister and warned that officials could face strict action for violating the instructions.
The directive covers every type of leave, including casual leave. The report says senior officials must obtain or provide prior approval or intimation to the Chief Minister and the minister in charge of their department before proceeding on leave. The order also requires a copy of every leave application submitted by a department head or an official above that rank to be sent to the Chief Minister’s Secretary.
The latest direction follows earlier instructions under which the competent authority, identified in the report as the Lieutenant Governor, had required all additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and department heads to inform the Chief Minister and the concerned minister before taking leave. The Service Department has now told departments to comply strictly with that process.
The issue is significant for Delhi’s administrative system because department heads oversee services that directly affect residents, including urban development, electricity, education and other civic functions. Unrecorded or poorly communicated absences can affect the movement of files, interdepartmental coordination and the availability of senior decision-makers during urgent administrative matters.
Officials cited in the report said the issue of senior officers going on leave without prior information had become a serious concern and that instructions had been issued regularly on the matter. The government’s latest warning indicates that it intends to enforce the process through a central record of leave applications and direct communication with the Chief Minister’s office.
The move also follows a separate episode last year involving directions from the office of Cabinet Minister Ashish Sood. Officials in the home, education, higher education, urban development and power departments had reportedly been told to seek leave through WhatsApp. The departments had found instances in which officials either went on leave without advance notice or failed to send information on the day of their absence.
The latest order therefore places the responsibility for advance communication on the senior-most officials in departments and creates an additional reporting channel to the Chief Minister’s Secretary. The government has not specified in the supplied report the number of officials affected or details of the disciplinary action that may follow non-compliance.
