The Cabinet Division has issued a circular directing all government officials and employees to mandatorily remain in their respective offices from 9:00am to 9:40am every working day.
The instruction was issued in a circular signed by Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani on Monday.
According to the circular, in some cases, officials and employees engage in various official or personal activities on their way to the office -- such as attending seminars, workshops, and symposiums, participating as guest speakers at training institutes, or visiting banks, hospitals and schools.
As a result, they fail to be present at their offices at the stipulated time.
In this context, to ensure public service delivery and expedite official work, all officials and employees of government, semi-government, autonomous, and semi-autonomous institutions have been instructed to remain in their respective office chambers from 9:00am to 9:40am.
Other official programmes must also be arranged so that this time period is not disrupted.
The circular states that under the Government Servants (Regular Attendance) Rules, 2019, and the Secretariat Instructions, 2024, it is mandatory for officials and employees of all government, semi-government, and autonomous institutions to attend and leave the office at the prescribed time.
Exemptions
The circular says the rule will not apply in certain cases. These include teachers and faculty members working at educational or training institutions who are not assigned administrative responsibilities.
The time restriction will also not apply to those performing roster duties at hospitals, prisons, media organisations, or security-related institutions.
Members of law enforcement agencies directly engaged in emergency services and field-level duties have also been kept outside the purview of the rule.
The circular further states that, except for providing VVIP or VIP protocol, responding to major sudden accidents, attending highly important meetings with development partners or diplomatic missions, and approved official tours, no employee will be allowed to leave the workplace without prior approval from the authorities.
Officials and employees have also been instructed not to leave the office during working hours except for official purposes. The circular takes immediate effect.
