23/04/2016
PM Modi to civil servants: Don't work in silos, be agent of change
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asked civil servants not to work in silos but as a team and act as an agent of change for welfare of the people and development of the country.
Addressing bureaucrats on Civil Services Day here, he asked them to experiment to bring in change besides increasing engagement with the people for greater results."Some people work in silos. We get more results working in team than in isolation. We need to come out of silos and work together as a team for nation building," Modi said.
He said the role of civil services was earlier of a regulator. Then after some time, the role changed to that of an administrator and then controller."When time further changed, you (civil servants) must have thought of acquiring managerial skills. Time is changing. Only being an administrator and controller is not enough. It is the need of the hour that everybody, at every level, has to be an agent of change," the Prime Minister said.He said, "we need to bring in changes. When we sit at one place we forget to experiment. If we do not experiment then how do we bring changes. There is no experiment without risk. And if we don't experiment, then it becomes merely a job"."I always reward experiments. People who do work differently and experiment, they get a different satisfaction," the Prime Minister said.In his about 45-minute long pep talk to a large gathering of bureaucrats from the Centre and states, Modi asked senior officials to benefit from the knowledge of their juniors, who are of a different generation and probably know better ways to do a task.
PM Modi to civil servants: Don't work in silos, be agent of change
Addressing bureaucrats on Civil Services Day here, he asked them to experiment to bring in change besides increasing engagement with the people for greater results."Some people work in silos. We get more results working in team than in isolation. We need to come out of silos and work together as a team for nation building," Modi said.
He said the role of civil services was earlier of a regulator. Then after some time, the role changed to that of an administrator and then controller."When time further changed, you (civil servants) must have thought of acquiring managerial skills. Time is changing. Only being an administrator and controller is not enough. It is the need of the hour that everybody, at every level, has to be an agent of change," the Prime Minister said.He said, "we need to bring in changes. When we sit at one place we forget to experiment. If we do not experiment then how do we bring changes. There is no experiment without risk. And if we don't experiment, then it becomes merely a job"."I always reward experiments. People who do work differently and experiment, they get a different satisfaction," the Prime Minister said.In his about 45-minute long pep talk to a large gathering of bureaucrats from the Centre and states, Modi asked senior officials to benefit from the knowledge of their juniors, who are of a different generation and probably know better ways to do a task.
Misuse of RTI by employees of
Public authorities be considered as
‘misconduct’
Taking serious note of misuse of RTI, the Central Information Commission
has observed that such misuse by the employees of Public authorities
shall be considered as an item of misconduct that invite disciplinary
action.
The observation was made by Information Commissioner Prof. M. Sridhar
Acharyulu who was hearing an appeal filed by an employee of Ambedkar
Polytechnic. He had sought wide range of information about colleagues
and Principal and even of the officers who were supposed to inquire into
complaints filed against him.
Perusing his RTI application, the commission observed "The public
authority is scared of appellant as he has already filed number of
complaints, grievance representations, RTI applications, almost chocking
entire administration."
The commission also observed that appellant had video graphed a lecture
of his lady colleague in the class room without permission and put it on
social media with reckless allegations. The Commission further observed
“he is undoubtedly a misuser of every mechanism and bent upon harassing
everyone who does not yield to his wishes. He is a potential threat to
peace in the institution and also privacy of colleagues. Whole college
is scared of him. He asked for certified copies of ‘integrity
certificate’ of officers who are asked to inquire into allegations
against him. This shows that he is not capable of working with other
staff in public authority like this.”
Dismissing his appeal, the commission issued following directions,
- The public authority should proceed with disciplinary action against the appellant for his misuse of RTI which amounted to misconduct, before April 25, 2016. Every misuse of system like, misuse of PGMS, RTI and Social media shall be considered as an item of misconduct that invite disciplinary action.
- If the misusers of RTI involved in invading privacy by video recording and spreading false allegations through social media network, the head of the institute need to examine if it amounts to any offence under IPC or IT Act, and shall report to appropriate authorities including police.
- The public authority should inform the individual officers, if their rights are breached by misuse, they have a every right to complain as per law and public authority shall facilitate such action, if the misuse obstructs the normal course of functioning of the institute.
- The concerned authorities to take immediate action if the information given to appellant in this case is abused or spread in social media or elsewhere, and they shall not give any information to this appellant if files similar RTI requests. The public authority should take note that employees or colleagues like Ms.Tarika, Ms.Amita Dev have a right to seek compensation from public authorities if they ignore or neglect their privacy rights by indiscriminately giving information in the absence of public interest. It is pathetic to note that the PIO could not ascertain that there was no public interest in this case but appellant has malicious interests in harassing others or building pressure on authorities in self-interest. The authorities have a duty to protect other employees from such misusers. This kind of misuse to build up pressure against taking action on misconduct or to secure promotion should be treated as disqualification.
- The public authority should provide necessary training to the PIOs and other staff members to verify the nature of appellant and if they found him to be misuser, tell them not to give information like medical claims of third parties.