An Indian public official has been sacked for taking leave 24 years ago and never returning to his desk in the country’s notoriously work-shy bureaucracy, the urban development ministry said. 
 
 
 
 Assistant executive engineer A.K Verma went on leave in 1990 after joining India’s central public works department (CPWD) a decade earlier. 
 
 Verma defied bosses’ orders to return to work after his requests for additional leave were denied. 
 
 “He went on seeking extension of leave, which was not sanctioned, and defied directions to report to work,” the government said in a statement on Thursday. 
 
 Even after an inquiry found him guilty of “wilful absence from duty” in 1992, it took another 22 years and the intervention of a cabinet minister to remove him, the government said. 
 
 Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu ordered his dismissal in order to “streamline the functioning of CPWD and to ensure accountability,” it said. 
 
 
 
 India’s civil servants have long been notorious for arriving late, taking long lunches or spending parts of their day on the golf course. 
 
 A 2012 survey by the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk consultancy rated India’s bureaucracy as the worst among major Asian countries. 
 
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said he was shocked by what he saw in the corridors of power after moving to New Delhi following his landslide election victory in May last year. 
 
 During his first few months in office, Modi developed a reputation for paying unannounced visits to government offices. 
 
 Fear of being caught playing truant triggered a rise in attendance levels among civil servants and Delhi’s main golf course has reportedly been largely deserted on week days. ||||| NEW DELHI Even in India, where government jobs are considered to be for life, A.K. Verma was pushing it. 
 
 Verma, an executive engineer at the Central Public Works Department, was fired after last appearing for work in December 1990. 
 
 "He went on seeking extension of leave, which was not sanctioned, and defied directions to report to work," the government said in a statement on Thursday. 
 
 Even after an inquiry found him guilty of "wilful absence from duty" in 1992, it took another 22 years and the intervention of a cabinet minister to remove him, the government said. 
 
 India's labour laws, which the World Bank says are the most restrictive anywhere, make it hard to sack staff for any reason other than criminal misconduct. 
 
 States, led by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, have recently changed the law to make it easier to hire and fire staff, in a move welcomed by industry leaders but opposed by labour unions. 
 
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cracked down on rampant absenteeism by making New Delhi bureaucrats sign in at work using a fingerprint scanner. The results are publicly available online - at www.attendance.gov.in - in real time. 
 
 (Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Douglas Busvine, Robert Birsel) ||||| The official, A.K. Verma, who had joined the CPWD in 1980, went on Earned Leave in December 1990 and did not report to work thereafter. 
 
 An official of the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) who has been on a furlough for the past 25 years has been dismissed from service. 
 
 On Thursday, Urban Development Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu issued orders directing the dismissal from service of A.K. Verma for unauthorised absence from duty. 
 
 Mr. Verma, who joined CPWD as an assistant executive engineer in 1980 went on earned leave in December1990 and did not report to work thereafter. 
 
 According to the UD Ministry, he continued extending his leave and defied directions to report to work. An inquiry was instituted against him in September, 1992 for major penalty for wilful absence from duty. 
 
 “Owing to non-cooperation of Mr. Verma with the inquiry and for other reasons, it got delayed and a fresh charge sheet was issued in 2005. The inquiry report, establishing the charges was submitted in July, 2007 and the same was accepted by the then Minister of Urban Development in August, 2007. But no further action was taken in the matter,” the Ministry said in a statement. 
 
 Soon after assuming office, Mr. Naidu called for a review of pending vigilance and disciplinary cases for expeditious action against the accused. 
 
 The Minister has taken a serious view of in-action since 2007 and directed the officials concerned to fix responsibility for delay in the matter.
– A man who ditched work for 24 years has finally lost his job—apparently a sign that India is cracking down on government bureaucrats who avoid office time, Reuters reports. AK Verma, a senior engineer at the Central Public Works Department, last showed up for work in December 1990. The Hindu describes him as being "on furlough," but an inquiry ruled against him in 1992, and delays and inaction ensued for 22 more years until Verma eventually got fired. "He went on seeking extension of leave, which was not sanctioned, and defied directions to report to work," officials said in a statement. Civil servants in India are infamous for showing up late, taking lengthy lunches, and hitting the links during work hours, the Guardian reports. Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he was shocked by bureaucrats' behavior when he took power last year, and has tried cracking down. He's known to play office monitor, showing up in the halls of power unannounced, and now makes civil servants sign in with fingerprint scanners (the results can be seen online). Attendance has gone up since, the Guardian says, and Delhi's main golf course is now mostly empty during the week. (In the US, a worker got in trouble with the boss for using his robot voice on the phone to callers.)