Thiruvananthapuram: To reduce official travel and improve administrative efficiency, Kerala govt directed that official meetings and conferences should henceforth be conducted online by default, especially when participants are required to travel long distances.Finance department issued the order on April 24 after the state accepted recommendation no. 120 in the fourth report of 4th administrative reforms commission (ARC). The recommendation specifically called for govt meetings and conferences to be conducted through video conferencing “to reduce or minimise travel.”The order states that govt meetings “shall, by default, be conducted in online mode, especially for participants required to attend from distant locations.” Physical meeting venues will mandatorily have facilities enabling virtual participation.The reform is part of ARC’s wider report on “Personnel Reforms: Civil Service in Kerala”, whose broader recommendations earlier received govt approval on Dec 9, 2024.The move is expected to significantly reduce routine travel by district-level officials to state capital for review meetings, departmental conferences and administrative discussions. Officials said collectors and senior officers from northern districts frequently spend nearly an entire day travelling to and from Thiruvananthapuram for meetings that often last only a few hours.Besides reducing travel time and expenditure, the policy is also expected to cut TA/DA claims, fuel consumption and logistical costs associated with large official gatherings. Govt is seeking to institutionalise the administrative practices that became widespread during Covid-19 pandemic, when departments increasingly relied on virtual coordination between the Secretariat and district offices.The order has, however, triggered discussion within bureaucratic circles after chief secretary A Jayathilak convened an offline meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday involving district collectors and senior officials from across the state, including from Kasaragod, the northernmost district. A farewell dinner hosted by chief secretary was also held later in the day.“Orders like these look progressive on paper, but the credibility is lost when the same system continues to summon officers physically for meetings that could easily be held online. You cannot ask district collectors to travel overnight from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram and then simultaneously preach reducing official travel with video conferencing,” a senior IAS officer told TOI.
