Chandigarh: Punjab Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) Department has issued show-cause notices to 42 officials, besides charge-sheeting three officials— two Senior Assistants and an Assistant Estate Officer, for dereliction of duty.
This strict action has been taken on the directions of Housing and Urban Development Minister Aman Arora.
Divulging the details of the case, Aman Arora said that to ensure delivery of services to the public on time, the H&UD department has put in place an online mechanism in which applications and files received by the Department are being monitored by senior officials and by him personally.
Recently, he himself personally examined the pendency of each application at each level and it was found that maximum pendency was at the level of 45 officials across the department, who were issued show-cause notices, while, three have been charge-sheeted for not responding to the show-cause notices and dereliction of duty, as undue delay in clearance of applications lead to harassment and unethical corrupt practices, which is absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated at any cost, the H&UD Minister categorically said.
Three Officials, who got charge sheeted, include Jaspal Kaur Assistant Estate Officer of Patiala Development Authority, Rajesh Kumar Senior Assistant (Accounts) of Amritsar Development Authority and Parminder Singh Senior Assistant of Estate Office GMADA.
The 42 officials, who have been issued show-cause notices, include a JE (Civil) of Amritsar Development Authority, four JEs of Jalandhar Development Authority, a Section Officer (SO) and a Senior Assistant (Accounts) of Bathinda Development Authority. Four Senior Assistant (Accounts), an Assistant Estate Officer, a Sub Division Engineer (Civil), a Superintendent and a SO of GLADA.
Similarly, in GMADA as many as 27 officials including an Estate Officer (Housing), an Estate Officer (Plots), three Assistant Estate Officer, four Superintendent (Estate Office), two Senior Assistant (Accounts), seven clerks, seven Senior Assistant, two JEs (Civil) were issued show cause notices.
Giving warning to the shirkers, Aman Arora categorically said that public servants’ lackadaisical approach towards work will not be tolerated at any cost.