Central Government’s Open Office Plan Faces Pushback from Officials

Quick Summary

• Prime Minister Narendra modi will inaugurate Kartavya Bhavan-3 on August 6, 2025, the first of several upcoming Common Central secretariat buildings.
• Ministries, including the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), will eventually relocate to these new buildings at Kartavya Path in Lutyen’s Delhi. The MHA is one of the first to shift from North Block.
• The Central Secretariat Service (CSS) Forum has raised concerns about open office spaces in these new government buildings, citing privacy issues and risks to confidentiality.
• in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), CSS Forum argued:

– Spatial integrity is inadequate due to multiple sections sharing single work halls without clear demarcation.
– Assistant Section Officers lack dedicated physical file storage or partitions between their workstations.
– Section Officer and Under Secretary workspace arrangements using low-height almirahs compromise privacy and efficiency while causing distractions.

• Under Secretaries handling sensitive matters, such as classified files or court cases, have private workspace requirements being unmet in open office designs. This poses risks like premature disclosure compromising outcomes.
• The Forum has requested corrective measures for seating arrangements aligned with norms, adequate space allocation for officials, and closed chambers where necessary.

Indian Opinion Analysis

The concerns raised by the CSS Forum highlight practical challenges in transitioning government ministries into modernized centralized infrastructure while safeguarding operational efficiency. Privacy limitations for officials working with sensitive data could inadvertently undermine both trust within departments and bureaucratic accuracy if not addressed adequately. Balancing spatial optimization with functional separation may emerge as a pressing issue requiring careful coordination between the PMO, MoHUA, and ministry leadership.

These reservations underline that infrastructural upgrades should complement-not hinder-administrative workflows designed around confidentiality protocols essential for managing critical state matters. Modifications suggested by CSS officers could pave a path toward an optimized workspace benefiting governance outputs without compromising standards set under previous systems like raisina Hills’ older structures.

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