Officers to wear name tags!

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, September 19

The direction of Delhi Chief Secretary S. Reghunathan to the officers and staff working in the Players' Building, the seat of Delhi government, to wear their name tags on their chest has caught the babus by surprise. Most of them resent being identified like police constables, staff of the hotel and restaurant industry and drivers and conductors of DTC and Blueline buses of Delhi.

"This is an impractical step and won't discipline any officer," said an official. The circular with the direction was sent to the departmental heads recently. Another officer said that the name plate on their offices should be sufficient to identify the officer concerned and no such order was needed. The officers against the move pointed out that the practice of putting name tags should be limited to those who are in uniform. "The bureaucrats are not supposed to have any uniform and a name plate on the chest would look very odd," said another officer.

Reghunathan himself clarified that this order was not meant for the senior officers. "This is for the lower ranking officers and other staff who need to have an identification tag," the Chief Secretary said. According to the Chief Secretary, this move was meant to bring transparency in government and facilitation of public interaction with the government officers.

So it now seems that the steel frame of the country, IAS and their close counterparts, DANICS officers after all won't have to display their names on their chest.

However, for others working in the Delhi government departments, it is time to visit the nearest shop to find out the name plate of the right size, get it painted and pin it on their chest before coming to office. The general public who have to interact with the low ranking officials will be delighted to find that the lowly clerk and section officer who refuses to divulge his name will now have to do it and then if they have access, they can complain to the higher officials that their file was being delayed by a particular staff member. (2004)