At a time when Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is trying his best to bring efficiency and transparency in the functioning of government offices and staff, the employees’ organisation affiliated to the ruling Congress seems to be stonewalling his initiatives by strongly opposing the punching-in system for employees in the Secretariat.

While 42 punching machines had been installed at various points in the Secretariat, a majority of the employees are yet to make it their standard attendance system.

To mark their attendance, employees need to place their finger on the machine and show the biometric card for identification.

Officials had also decided that if a person was recorded late consecutively for three days, it would be considered one day’s leave. Even though authorities had also decided to cut salaries of habitual late-comers, the decision was not implemented.

“We will not allow the punching system. Even though the LDF government tried to reintroduce the system, it cannot be implemented effectively.

There’s confusion among the employees on which attendance system to follow; the manual register or the punching machine,’’ said Mr M.S. Irshad, president of the Congress-led Kerala Secretariat Association.

The pro-CPI(M) Kerala Secretariat Employees Association has, however, supported punching since the system was introduced by the LDF government in April 2010.

The system had been revived to streamline the functioning of various departments in the Secretariat and to ensure that the employees arrived and departed on time.

The KSEA, meanwhile, claimed that 85 to 90 per cent of the employees were following the punching system. “The punching system is quite effective in ensuring punctuality in offices,” said Mr S.U. Rajeev, president of Kerala Secretariat Employees’ Association.