Ombudsman bats for women's safety

Upa Lokayukta instructs dept heads to allow women staffers to exit office at 6 pm

Upa Lokayukta (II) Subhash B Adi on Saturday batted for the safety of working women,  especially the ones working at government offices.

Referring to his recent surprise visit to the Food and Civil supplies department here, he said that according to the timings recorded in the biometric attendance, women staffers were found exiting from the office after working overtime. Adi instructed the departments heads in general to allow women employees leave the office by 6 pm, in view of their safety. 

He also said that female employees should be forced to work overtime on the pretext of clearing pending work.

Addressing the media at Zilla Panchayat hall in the city, Adi said that officials who failed to act on the orders (in disposed cases) within the stipulated time, would have to face the music, as it would  amount to contempt of court. There was also a provision for six months imprisonment, under the law. 

Cases

In his three day exercise, from January 30 to February 1, the Upa Lokayukta heard and enquired into 269 complaints including 171 in Mysore sub-division (Mysore-110, Nanjangud-22, T Narsipur-26 and suo-motu- 13) and 98 in Hunsur sub-division (Hunsur-27, K R Nagar-23, Periyapatna-18, H D Kote-24 and suo-motu- six). Adi attributed the volume of complaints to growing awareness among the people about anti-corruption ombudsman and also their will to fight for justice.

Referring to his another surprise inspection at the office of sub-registrar (south) located in Madhwesha Complex, Nazarbad, Adi said that he was astonished to find strangers having their free will at the office, at times making it difficult to differentiate between the authorised and unauthorised persons. In such cases, it was better to shift such offices to a dedicated location, as the said office was located in a commercial complex. 

Adi told the media that he had already instructed Deputy Commissioner C Shikha to scout for a suitable location.

The deputy commissioner who was present at the meeting apprised Adi that she has already zeroed in on the newly inaugurated Mini Vidhana Soudha in Nazarbad, where the offices of both North and South wings of the sub-registrar could be shifted. 

Adi also frowned upon the mushrooming bars and restaurants, especially the ones with CL-7 licence where one has to make provisions for 20 rooms for lodging to avail the licence. He instructed the Excise department to check such activities.