Jammu, Setting an example of professional policing, Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police, R R Swain, has taken cognizance of late sittings after official timings by the officers without task in the Police Headquarters of Jammu and Srinagar.
In a circular issued by the Police Headquarters (Jammu/Srinagar), DGP R R Swain has cleared that no official who does not have work or has work that he or she thinks can be easily handled the next day or the day after because of the flexibility of the time limit or deadline shall sit late, even for a minute, and it applies to all officers irrespective of ranks.
As per the circular, the DGP stated, “It has come to my knowledge that many officers in PHQ have expressed anxiety regarding late sittings and the inconvenience thereof.”
“It is unfortunate that officers have been sitting late on their own, even when they have no work. The feedback is that many are doing it out of deference to their senior, who is yet to leave the office,” read the circular.
It further reads that the situation warrants absolute clarity: no official who does not have work or has work that he or she thinks can be easily handled the next day or the day after because of the flexibility of the time limit or deadline shall sit late, even for a minute, and it applies to all officers irrespective of ranks.
“The only exception can be if an officer has been specifically asked by his superior to stay on to complete a time-bound task. All officers are sincerely advised to be very careful and extremely selective in asking their juniors to sit late,” the order read.
It further stated that the guiding principle and deciding question for the late sitting officer should be, “Would some junior’s sitting late help in any way in expediting the work that he or she is handling and for which he or she is sitting late?”
“All supervisory officers, irrespective of their position in the hierarchy, shall be sensitive about the work-life balance of their juniors,” the J&K Police Chief said in a circular.
The circular, however, read that to clarify, as for the DGP, the schedule and roster of the personal staff have been carefully designed to give relief on a rotational and roster basis, adding that “other senior officers may like to emulate and devise their own mechanisms.”
Meanwhile, the cognizance taken by DGP Swain is welcomed and appreciated by the officers.