Assam pay panel fails to submit report, employees have to wait for at least 15 more days.

The hopes of Assam government employees for an early resolution to their demand for a payscale on a par with the Centre were dashed again with the Dispur-constituted sixth pay commission failing to submit its report even today.

Today was the last day of the second extension of the commission, which had been instituted on May 13, 2008 for a year to recommend revised payscales. It failed to submit its report within that deadline and got two extensions since — first for three months ending in August and then for a month, ending today.

A dejected secretary general of the Sadou Asom Karmachari Parishad, Basab Kalita, said they were waiting the entire day for “good news” on the pay front.

“Neither has the report been submitted nor have we been informed about the reason. We are disappointed because the chief minister had assured us on August 29 that there would be no more extensions,” he told this correspondent here this evening.

“The delay in the submission of the report only exposes the rank inefficiency of the commission. It has not been able to submit its report despite two extensions. Ten states have already started paying central government salary,” he said.

The influential parishad, having around 4.5 lakh members, said it would not take things lying down. “We will announce our future course of action by tomorrow,” Kalita said.

Parishad president Pradip Bora said late this evening that they would find out the real reason for the delay in submitting the report tomorrow before deciding on their future course of action.

The chief minister had fuelled hopes by announcing soon after the constitution of the commission that Dispur would pay at least Rs 1 more to the employees than the central government.

Though there was no official confirmation, highly placed sources in the chief minister’s office said the term of the five-member commission had been extended by 15 days because of the non-availability of one of its members.

“The employees will have to wait for 15 more days as one member of the commission is abroad,” a source said, even as Bhaskar Baruah, a former bureaucrat heading the commission, told The Telegraph that the report was ready. “We are giving a final check. We are ready. Beyond that I cannot say much,” he added.

Dispur had, in August this year, hiked the interim relief being paid to the employees to 40 per cent with effect from January 1 this year because of the delay in submission of the commission report. It had also decided to pay arrears before Durga Puja.

The parishad wants the revised payscale to be effective from January 2006 as in the case of central government employees.

Source : The Telegraph.

Update on 01.10.09

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today set a deadline of October 15 to the Assam Pay Commission to submit its report and assured that the state employees would get pay parity with the Central Government employees within this financial year. In a release here today, the Chief Minister said that the Pay Commission was asked to submit its report within September 30, but it sought time for 15 more days to finalize the report.

Gogoi said that the State Government already announced its decision to pay Central scale to its employees and an amount of Rs 3382 crore was earmarked in this year’s budget for the purpose.

Source : The Assam Tribune.