NGT stops biometric attendance amid coronavirus scare

In the wake of coronavirus outbreak scare, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has stopped biometric marking of attendance at its Delhi office.

"To prevent coronavirus, in terms of the advisory of Delhi Government issued to various departments/offices, marking of attendance on biometric machines and use of the same is being stopped in National Green Tribunal (Principal Bench), New Delhi with immediate effect till 31.03.2020," NGT's Registrar General Ashu Garg said.

The directive further stated that attendance during this period is to be marked manually with arrival and departure time under the supervision of the concerned supervising officer.

The notification also said that this was done with the approval of the competent authority.

The central government had on March 6 requested all ministries and departments to discontinue their biometric attendance system in the wake of the spread of coronavirus in the national capital.

"In view of coronavirus, all Ministries/Departments are requested to exempt their employees to mark biometric attendance in Aadhaar-based Biometric Attendance System till 31 March 2020. However, all employees are required to mark their attendance in a register," Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions stated.

So far 40 positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in India. Global deaths due to coronavirus outbreak have risen above 3,300. The deadly virus that originated in China late last year, continues to spread around the world.