87 GST officials assigned wards through transparent lottery system: Delhi CM

Asserting a ''zero tolerance'' policy against corruption, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Wednesday announced that 87 GST officials have been assigned wards through a lottery system. This comes after Gupta, earlier this month, had made a surprise visit to the Trade and Taxes building and found several officers absent from duty. Following this, around 162 officials were transferred to the state GST office. ''In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Trade and Taxes Department has introduced a lottery system (draw of lots) to assign postings to newly inducted GST officers and inspectors,'' the chief minister said. Gupta said Delhi follows a strict 'zero tolerance' policy against corruption, and this initiative is a strong step in that direction. ''The aim is to ensure that every appointment, posting and administrative decision is rule-based, transparent and impartial, encouraging honest officers and reinforcing public trust in governance,'' she added. Such transparent systems not only strengthen administrative functioning but also foster confidence and satisfaction among employees, ultimately improving departmental efficiency and delivering better services to taxpayers, she said. Gupta also said that the Delhi government is considering implementing similar transparent and technology-driven systems in other departments in the future to further strengthen good governance. She informed that all these officers had been transferred to the department under a service order dated April 23. A total of 87 GST officers and inspectors were allotted postings across various wards through this system. ''The entire exercise was conducted in the department's conference hall in the presence of all newly posted officials as well as senior officers, including the Commissioner, Special Commissioner, Joint Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner. The process was carried out openly to eliminate any scope for doubt or bias,'' Gupta, in a statement, said. A specially designed lottery system was adopted to ensure impartiality. Each officer drew slips personally, Gupta added. She added that the entire proceedings were videographed from start to finish to ensure that an official record of every stage could be preserved, thereby enabling verification at any level in the future.

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