Gangtok, Septermber 23 : The Sikkim government plans to launch the Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) on October 1, 2026, with the initial implementation taking place in government offices located at the state and district headquarters.
As stated in a circular issued by the Home Department and reported by The News Mill, the new system will require regular and temporary government employees to record their attendance electronically, and unauthorized absences could lead to deductions from their salaries.
Attendance Through Smartphones
AEBAS has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and is connected to the employees’ Aadhaar numbers, enabling attendance to be recorded via smartphones in specific areas close to their workplaces.
It is necessary for all regular and temporary employees to sign up on the platform, and their attendance and leave records will be linked to the government’s PRANALI system.
Salary Deductions for Unauthorised Absence
In the new arrangement, not recording attendance can be regarded as Extraordinary Leave for regular employees or Leave Without Pay for temporary employees.
The monthly attendance reports will be produced automatically, and the departmental nodal officers will check the approved leave, official duties and all other authorised absences.
Any unpaid absences that still remain will have salary deductions made through PRANALI in the next month.
After the monthly attendance reconciliation process, the Drawing and Disbursing Officers will send over digitally signed orders.
Departments Directed to Appoint Nodal Officers
The secretaries and heads of departments have all been told to designate officers of at least additional secretary rank as their nodal officers.
The National Informatics Centre will give training to the officials in order to enable the implementation.
At the beginning the system will function from the state and district head offices before it is extended to the whole of Sikkim.
The scheme includes an electronic system which is used for recording attendance, checking cases of absence and connecting the attendance records with the payment processing.
