Thiruvananthapuram: Citing violation of the code of conduct, the state government has issued a directive to avoid cultural forums and department-based collectives that has been a hindrance to day-to-day office activities.
“It has come to our notice that several reels and videos have been released through social media where office staffs were seen performing songs and are into cultural activities during office hours. Also, there has been numerous complaints that the Administrative Reforms department received on this matter. When it came to a very serious issue affecting the quality work hours of the employees in many departments the government has decided to take strict action on this regard”, said a senior official in the Personnel & Administrative Reforms department.
The state government has issued a strict directive to avoid cultural forums and department-based collectives being conducted in a way that disrupts office activities. Veena N Madhavan, Special Secretary, Personnel and Administrative Reforms department, issued the order on Tuesday.
The order cites that office collectives and cultural forums function in a way that violates the code of conduct of state government staff without complying with the state government’s directions. “It is hereby instructed that such collectives being held disrupting the functioning of office work shall be strictly stopped,” the order said.
The heads of departments concerned have been directed to enforce the order and to pay special attention to avoiding the conduct of collectives and unions that affects the functioning of office activities. The order does not mention any complaints being levelled against such activities being held during office hours.
In the month of August there was a video that went viral where few young government employees in the revenue department were seen performing for a cinema song. The video went viral following which the concerned department had sent show cause notice. However, many opined that they were performing on a week-off day and were performing extra duty. However, following this a series of such videos started coming up and thus becoming a matter of discussion within the government circles.
