Sikkim declares 2nd and 4th Saturdays as holidays for government employees

In a move aimed at improving work-life balance for government employees, the Government of Sikkim has announced that the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month will now be official holidays. This decision was detailed in a circular issued by the Department of Personnel today.

The circular, signed by the Secretary to the Government of Sikkim, mandates that all government offices will operate from 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM on working days. This adjustment comes in response to observations that many employees have been arriving late and leaving early, disrupting government operations and causing 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,” the circular stated. “This hampers the implementation of development-oriented policies and programs of the Government.”

To enforce punctuality, the circular mandates that heads of departments conduct surprise checks on attendance and perform periodic inspections. Employees found arriving after 10:30 AM or leaving before 4:30 PM without valid reasons will have half a day of casual leave deducted from their leave account. Those absent without proper leave recorded will face a full day’s casual leave deduction.

Additionally, the circular discourages the practice of submitting leave applications through SMS or WhatsApp, insisting on proper paper applications.