Following cases of misuse of user IDs and passwords of officials even to provide approvals for illegal structures in certain urban local bodies, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has begun taking steps to prevent misuse of passwords.
The lack of proficiency in computing, with only 20% of the employees found to have the knowledge to effectively use it in a recent survey conducted at the Corporation, could be one of the roadblocks for the civic body in preventing password sharing and misuse.
Last week, the Kozhikode Corporation suspended four Revenue wing officials over allegations of misuse of the password for the Sanchaya software used for managing building tax payments. The officials were accused of allotting building numbers to illegal structures and allowing tax remittances for these. As per the detailed directive issued by the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Secretary to officials, the entire responsibility of any misuse of user IDs and passwords rests with the owner of that ID.
The directive says that usernames and passwords should be provided to the officials concerned from the Information Kerala Mission only as per the recommendation of the head of the respective department. Once the username and password are allocated, the official has to change the password and maintain its secrecy. Cases of officials sharing their passwords and usernames with colleagues for convenience to get things done in their absence has been noted. Any sharing of passwords is prohibited.
In case the Corporation suffers any economic loss or any issue arises due to wrong decisions taken, the owner of the ID will be held responsible. Even if someone else misuses the user name, the owner of the ID will be held responsible. If an official is transferred or has retired, the user name and password should be immediately deactivated.
With the Corporation making a major e-Governance push, almost every activity of the civic body is set to go completely online in the near future. To address the lack of proficiency among a large number of Corporation staff in handling computers, the Corporation has planned training for all employees at the Human Resource Employment and Development Centre (HREDC) attached to the Corporation.
