An Indian public official has been sacked for taking leave 24 years ago and never returning to his desk in the country’s notoriously slack bureaucracy, according to the Ministry of Urban Development.
Assistant executive engineer A.K Verma went on sick leave in 1990 after joining India’s central public works department (CPWD) in 1980 and pretty much never came back to work.
Verma defied bosses’ orders to return to work after his requests for additional leave were denied, but it took until 2007 for formal dismissal charges to be brought against him, the ministry said in a statement.
Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu ordered his dismissal in order to “streamline the functioning of CPWD and to ensure accountability,” it said.
India’s civil servants have long been notorious for arriving late, taking extra long lunch breaks or spending parts of their day on the golf course.
A 2012 survey by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk consultancy rated India’s bureaucracy as the worst among major Asian countries.
During his first few months in office, india’s new PM Modi developed a reputation for paying unannounced visits to government offices.
Fear of being caught playing truant triggered a rise in attendance levels among civil servants and Delhi’s main golf course has reportedly been deserted on week days.
