71 officials caught flouting rules

Kathmandu, February 26

As many as 71 officials were caught flouting rules during surprise inspection carried out by the National Vigilance Centre at 24 government offices and corporations in Kathmandu yesterday.

While some officials were on leave without notice, others were not wearing the government-prescribed uniform.

The centre is a state-owned agency formed to establish good governance and control corruption. It had deployed seven monitoring teams to carry out surprise inspections as per Section 38 of the Corruption Prevention Act and Rule 12 of the National Vigilance Centre (Work Operation) Act.

The surprise inspections were conducted at the District Administration Office, District Development Committee, inland revenue offices, District Technical Office, District Forest Office, District Treasury Controller Office, Cottage and Small Industries Office, Division Road Office, Office of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, General Post Office, Nepal Electricity Authority, Prison Office (Sundhara), Survey Office (Chabahil), District Agriculture Office, District Education Office, Land Revenue Office (Kalanki), Survey Office (Kalanki), Land Revenue Office (Dilli Bazaar), Survey Office (Maitidevi), Women and Children Office and Prison Office (Dilli Bazaar).

As many as 30 officials were found absent from their offices without obtaining leave approval. Similarly, 41 officials were present without their respective uniforms. The government has been providing Rs 7,500 per annum to each civil servant as uniform allowance.

The policy was introduced in 2012 to bring about uniformity among civil service employees to help service-seekers recognise them.

Male civil servants are required to wear daura suruwal, coat, Nepali cap and black leather shoes or dark blue suit with white shirt and tie, while female civil servants are required to wear shirt and pant or saree-blouse or kurta salwar of dark blue colour.

NVC said it would direct the concerned body to take departmental action against employees caught on wrong side of the law.