New Delhi, August 7: A representative body of central government officials has raised concerns over the open-office layout of newly built Common Central Secretariat buildings on Kartavya Path, warning that the design compromises confidentiality, reduces efficiency, and fails to meet prescribed space norms.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) Forum – representing around 13,000 officials – said the new workspaces lacked spatial integrity and failed to provide private areas necessary for the handling of sensitive matters.
The concerns come ahead of the inauguration of Kartavya Bhavan-3 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. The building is one of the first in a series of upcoming central office complexes in Lutyens’ Delhi, where all Union Ministries are expected to eventually relocate.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, long associated with the iconic North Block building on Raisina Hill for over 90 years, is among the first to shift to the new facility.
“The seating arrangement in Kartavya Bhavan-3 lacks the necessary functional separation of sections,” the Forum said, noting that multiple departments are being housed in a single open hall without clear demarcation.
It added that Assistant Section Officers (ASOs), key to file processing, do not have dedicated storage for physical documents or partitioned workstations, while Section Officers and Under Secretaries are working behind low-height almirahs – a setup the Forum claims hinders discretion and causes frequent distractions.
“Under Secretaries entrusted with highly sensitive matters such as classified files, court cases and vigilance issues are being forced to work in open spaces, where discussions can easily be overheard,” the letter stated, warning that the layout poses a “serious risk to confidentiality.”
The Forum urged the government to direct all Ministries to reassess their current seating plans and implement corrective measures in line with established norms, including the allocation of closed chambers for officials dealing with confidential tasks.
The government has not yet issued a public response to the concerns.
