Clear pending files by Jan 5, officials of Estate Office told

Dushyant Singh Pundir

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Chandigarh, December 24

Now, dilly-dallying work culture of the Estate Office will be a thing of the past. Officials have been asked to clear the backlog by January 5 and justification will be sought from those who will be responsible for the delay.

According to an order issued by Yashpal Garg, officiating Deputy Commissioner-cum-Estate Officer and Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, UT, the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Assistant Estate Officers (AEOs), Joint Excise and Taxation (JETC) and other senior officers have been asked to keep the offices open on coming Saturday or Sunday and in the late evening to clear the pending files by January 5 positively.

Garg said some of the applicants met him yesterday and complained that though all formalities had been completed on their part, their files were pending with the AEO concerned for approval.

“There seems no reason to keep a file pending even for a day or two unless there are some justified/compelling circumstances. We need to clear the whole pendency through a drive to break the vicious cycle of delay and then to ensure the timely disposal of fresh matters,” said Garg.

Just for the sake of clearing the pendency, the application should not be rejected or unnecessary objections raised, he said, adding that he might call the relevant file and look into the reasons for rejection of applications. “If it is observed that rejection/objection was not desirable, then it may invite strict action against the officer concerned,” he warned.

Garg said no action would be taken for the delay that had already taken place, if the pending files were cleared by January 5. The officers concerned may send the pending files without any explanation for the delay and the same would be ignored by him, but after January 5, such opportunity may not be available and justification should be recorded on file in case of the delay being for more than three working days, he said.

In the second week of January, he may review the pending files. The ADC, AEOs and JETC are to be ready with the detail of those pending files, which were received by them till December 31, but could not be cleared before January 5, he said.

He directed that the ADC, AEOs and JETC to also review the pending files with their subordinates and ensure its disposal without any further delay.

Irked over the delay, he said a file was sent to him by one of the AEOs after keeping the same with him for more than a month. There was no additional contribution of the AEO on that file except signature to endorse the proposal which indicated that it took more than a month for him to read the acceptable proposal submitted by his subordinate.

When he asked as to why he took more than a month to simply endorse the proposal of his subordinate, the AEO admitted that there was huge rush of pending files and he was finding it difficult to timely attend them, stated Garg. “Though the particular file was cleared by me, such delays are not acceptable,” he said.

In many other files, though he had observed undue delays, the same had been cleared without raising any issue on file. “There is a possibility of a similar type of pendency with other officers also and if the senior officers are unable to ensure timely disposal of files, then they may have no moral authority to ask their subordinates for the same,” he said.