Reforms
In 1948 a commission was appointed to inquire into the organisation, staffing and procedures of government departments. This commission's primary concern was to make recommendations on the reorganisation of public administration in the country. Record-keeping practices
were one area of reform which it considered as part of its terms of reference.^
By this time, most government departments were following Turner's recommended record-keeping systems and yet there had been no significant improvement. For instance, the commission noted that the filing systems were unsatisfactory and the indexes to files were inadequate. Its report noted that;
The whole present system of titling files by reference to general subjects should be abandoned. There should be a separate file for each matter dealt with, with a title descriptive of its contents. These titles should be indexed and cross indexed in the fullest possible manner, so that papers can be traced in the minimum time.^
Turner had not been in favour of giving clerical officers much responsibility for record systems, but the commission re-examined this position. It recommended that mail handling should be the responsibility of clerical officers under the immediate supervision of the office assistant^ or junior staff officer.* Letters pertaining to routine matters should go directly to the chief clerks of branches. Other letters should be passed to the appropriate staff officer to indicate the necessary action.
^ Report of the Commission on the Organisation. Staffing and Operative Methods of Government Departments, Chapter 41, Office Systems, Section 13, Sessional Paper V of 1948, Colombo, Govt, print., 1948, p 3
^ Ibid, Chapter 65, Section 594, p 130
^ This designation was subsequntly changed to administrative officer
Although the Commission was able to explore the shortcomings of the record-keeping and other systems in government institutions and to make some recommendations for improvements, it was unable to develop adequate overall proposals for the reorganisation of the administration. Therefore, in October 1949, the Government of Ceylon, having considered the commission's recommendations, obtained the services of British experts to set up a permanent Organisation and Methods Division to improve the quality of management techniques in administration.
The British experts' report again commented on record keeping practices. It observed that Turner's approach to office organisation, although a pioneer study in the 1920s and 1930s, had its limitations in the expanded administrative environment of the 1950s.® However, the report did not recommend that the Organisation and Methods Division should take responsibility for monitoring the efficiency of record-keeping practices, nor did it suggest further studies on record-keeping systems in government institutions.
In 1966, the Administrative Reforms Committee criticised the haphazard record-keeping procedures in government offices. It suggested that no significant changes or improvements had taken place since the establishment of the Organisation and Methods Division in
® Report of the Introduction of an Organisation and Methods Division into the Ceylon Public Service.
Sessional Paper III of 1951, Colombo, Govt, print., 1951, P 29
1953. This committee observed that the breakdown of systematic office procedures created inefficiency in administration throughout the government.
The committee was concerned particularly to find ways to avoid the creation of unnecessary correspondence between the branches and institutions under the same ministry which were located in different places. Yet, while this issue is important, it diverted the committee from addressing problems created by inefficient record-keeping systems in the critical area of mail handling in terms of file management. As a result the committee's report ascribed the deficiencies of the record-keeping system to the poor performance of clerical officers who, it acknowledged, did not understand the system themselves. It described the growing record-keeping problems as follows:
The volume of correspondence of Government Departments and Ministries had increased enormously. Delays in dealing with this correspondence has been the cause of considerable irritation and annoyance to the public and a source of inefficiency. This is largely due to a break-down in the office system in most departments. The system is a simple one. It involves the maintenance of a Case Register, a Call up Diary and a Card Index and the observance of a simple procedure by the Subject Clerk. Unfortunately, most recent recruits to the clerical grades in the Public Service have not been trained in the system... Delays in correspondence not only bring the Government into disrepute but are also a source of corruption.
The committee did not recognise that the inefficiencies were unavoidable due to the low priority
* Report of the Committee on Administrative Reforms, Sessional Paper IX of 1966, Colombo, Govt, print., 1966, pp 15-16
given to record-keeping. Like Turner and other administrators, the committee members did not realise that special skills were needed to analyse the administrative framework of the institution, its functions and its legal obligations. Nor did they understand that record-keeping functions had to be managed and that this would mean entrusting more responsibility to clerks and at the same time developing clear guidelines for the responsibilities of supervisors and their line managers. This lack of understanding persists today,
6.2,2 C S Chinniah's Approach to Record-Keeping