Kerala 10th Pay Panel : Decision soon, C.M.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that the government will take a decision on constituting the 10th Pay Commission for government employees and teachers in the State soon.

Inaugurating the 39th State conference of the Kerala NGO Association here on Tuesday, the Chief Minister said the Pay Commission would have to be appointed after June 30, 2014. The United Democratic Front government was rectifying the anomalies in the previous Pay Commission recommendations as the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had not taken steps to correct them.

He said the Dearness Allowance (DA) of State government employees would be paid up to date by December this year. The government had spent Rs.1,600 crore to pay the DA arrears of State employees.

On the association’s demand to increase the retirement age of State government employees to 60 years, the Chief Minister said that a decision on the matter could be taken only after reaching a consensus among youth organisations and employees’ unions. The decision would have serious social implications in a State where nearly 40 lakh unemployed people had registered their names with the employment exchanges. He said the government was not against increasing the retirement age of government employees. But since it was a very sensitive social issue, it required dialogue at various levels, especially with the youth who felt that increasing the retirement age of government employees would deprive them of their chance for employment.

Mr. Chandy said after the UDF came to power, vacancies in various government departments were filled. It had ensured 3 per cent reservation for physically challenged persons in government service, helping 1,088 persons to get employment. The government had also taken steps to provide employment to the family members of those who died in harness.

Under the scheme, 529 persons were given jobs, Mr. Chandy said. The government’s policy was to take the government employees into confidence in providing relief to the people. Certain rules and regulations had been coming in the way of implementing welfare measures. The government had issued 43 government orders to overcome this problem, he said.

The Chief Minister later inaugurated the district convention and rally of the Mahila Congress at Kozhinjampara.

Source : The Hindu