The Hindu : Kerala News : Government overlooked pay panel recommendations?

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Monday, Feb 21, 2005

Kerala

Kerala

Government overlooked pay panel recommendations?

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 20. The State Government has apparently overlooked the recommendations of the 1997 Pay Revision Committee's (PRC) recommendations regarding appointment of future panels in tune with the Central Government's decisions.

The 1997 committee had recommended implementing the pay revision on the same date as the effective date of revision for Central Government employees. Accordingly, pay revision for State Government employees was implemented with effect from March 1, 1997, a former member of the committee said.

Advantages

The member, who did not want to be quoted, said that the committee, in its recommendations, had pointed to the advantages of linking the State revisions to that of the Centre's. In page 97, paragraph 6.2, the committee said one possible advantage of having the same date of revision is that the DA merger formula adopted by the Centre could straightaway be adopted if the effective dates were identical.

Alternative solutions

The committee had stated that alternative solutions were available without resorting to the undesirable practice of going in for too frequent revisions. In the light of this, the PRC had expressed itself in favour of the effective date of revision (March 1, 1997), which would mark the expiry of the five years since the last pay revision on March 1, 1992.

It had stated that the State pay revision could thereafter coincide with the next Central pay revision.

Centre's order

The Centre had issued orders stating that the next pay commission for its employees would be due from March 1, 2006.

However, the Central Government had not so far initiated any steps to achieve this objective.

Besides, in 1996, the Centre had appointed the Pandian Commission to do preparatory work for pay revision in the following year. So far the Centre had not announced any such mechanism.

"We fail to understand why the State should go for a pay revision now," he said.

He said that the Eleventh Finance Commission had also recommended that the Centre and State Governments should sit together to decide on future revisions.

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