Wear photo ID at work or face action, govt warns staff 

“Non-wearing of photo identity cards may be viewed seriously and disciplinary action may be initiated against the erring officials. Heads of Departments/ district collectors are requested to give suitable instructions to the subordinate offices under their control to instruct the employees to wear photo ID cards without fail,” said Dr S Swarna, Secretary, Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department (PARD), in a letter written to all government secretaries, district judges, Chief Judicial Magistrates and Collectors.

The state government for the first time, in 2004, passed a Government Order (GO) mandating all the government officials to wear ID cards during their office hours. The GO also gave an ID card model to all the departments to make sure that the ID cards given to the employees is modelled on the sample given in the GO.

Following the GO, two orders were passed by PARD on the same subject, once in 2013 and next in 2017. In both the order the officials were issued instructions clearly to follow the state government’s orders.

In 2018, the Madras High Court passed orders directing the state government to ensure that rule regarding wearing ID cards is strictly enforced and action should be taken against those flouting the rules. Based on the order, the state government passed another instruction, in 2018, mandating the officials to wear ID cards, but the order has not been followed strictly and there are several complaints received by the PARD.

“In spite of the complaints received by the government, most of the government servants are not wearing their photo identity cards while on duty,” said Swarna.