Show-cause notices issued to 42 panchayat secretaries in Kothagudem for faking attendance

In Kothagudem, District Collector Jitesh V. Patil issued show-cause notices to 42 Gram Panchayat secretaries accused of faking attendance by using their photos instead of physically reporting to duty. The malpractice came to light during a statewide audit via a facial recognition app.

Kothagudem: District Collector Jitesh V Patil on Tuesday issued show-cause notices to as many as 42 gram panchayat secretaries for allegedly marking fake attendance using their photos instead of being present physically.

It was said that the irregularities came to light when officials checked the facial recognition attendance app as part of a statewide probe into fake attendance records. It was found that the erring secretaries made someone at the gram panchayat office to mark their attendance with photos despite not being on duty.

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The Collector told all the panchayat secretaries to record their attendance through the live face recognition app within the stipulated time. Any failure to comply or attempts to mark fake attendance would attract disciplinary action, he warned.

Meanwhile, the gram panchayat secretaries in question reportedly defended themselves, stating that they had to use their photos to mark attendance as the app malfunctioned due to technical and server issues recently.