General Administration Department issues order: No punching for differently abled

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Punching will not be applicable to physically challenged employees who require high support working in Government, Semi-Government, Autonomous and Grand-in-Aid Institutions of the State. The General Administration Department has issued an order clarifying this. The government had received many requests to exempt seriously ill and disabled employees from recording attendance through the biometric punching system. There are 16,991 differently abled persons in government service in the entire state.

The Head of Department or the District Officer shall have the authority to waive the spark linked biometric punching by separately verifying the application of each on receipt. Attendance should be recorded in the register and leaves should be paid through the payroll software Spark. The pay bill should be prepared only after ensuring that the leaves are regularized on the basis of the attendance book. The General Administration Department has also suggested that PH (Physically Handicapped) should be mentioned in the spark profile to avail this benefit.