Sikkim Government Declares 2nd And 4th Saturday As Holidays For Government Employees

GANGTOK: The Government of Sikkim has declared the second and fourth Saturdays of each month as official holidays in order to improve work-life balance for government employees. The Department of Personnel published a circular today, detailing its decision.

According to the circular, all government offices will be open from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM on working days. This change is in reaction to observations that many employees are arriving late and leaving early, disrupting government operations and creating inconvenience to the public.

“Lately, it is seen that many government employees are reporting for duty very late in the morning and leaving office much before the scheduled time in the evening. This hampers the implementation of development-oriented policies and programs of the Government,” the circular stated.

To enforce timeliness, the circular directs department heads to conduct surprise attendance checks and occasional inspections. Employees who arrive after 10:30 A.M or leave before 4:30 P.M without valid reasons will have a half day's casual leave deducted from their leave account.

Those who are absent without adequate leave documentation will have a full day of casual leave deducted.

Furthermore, the circular opposes the practice of filing leave applications via SMS or WhatsApp, insisting on appropriate paper applications.

Earlier, last month, the State Government of Assam had issued an order to teaching and non-teaching staff in government or provincialized schools to record daily attendance in the Shiksha Setu portal.

The order warns them against delays in reaching or leaving school before closing time for a specified number of days in a month. If a staff member delays by more than 15 minutes for more than two times in a month, half a day's casual leave will be deducted.

The order was issued to maintain discipline and punctuality among staff. The department had previously ordered staff to record their in-time and out-time in the Shiksha Setu Axom portal from the academic year 2024-25.

However, staff members were dissatisfied with the order, citing anomalies in the portal's capture of attendance details and network issues.

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