Min. salary Rs 23K for govt staff: Kerala Pay Commission recommendation

As per the recommendations of the 11th Pay Revision Commission, the minimum salary of government employees in Kerala is to be Rs 23,000 and is to be paid with retrospective effect from 1 July, 2019. All the suggested revisions in salary and pensioin will result in an additional liability of Rs 4,810 crore for the government. The maximum salary limit has been suggested as Rs 1,66,800. Ten per cent of the basic salary will be the house rent allowance (HRA) in the corporations, while it will be eight and six per cent in the municipalities and four per cent in the panchayats.

The minimum HRA will be Rs 1,200, while the maximum will be Rs 10,000. The Commission also suggests doing away with the City Compensatory Allowance. Those to superannuate this year may receive an extension of service for a year, resulting in delayed retirement of more than 20,000 employees. This will also delay the expenses that would otherwise have gone into paying retirement benefits, that is, about Rs 5,700, by one year. Nothing has been finalised yet.

Village officers will get a special allowance of Rs 1,500. It is also recommended that the unification of the salaries of paramedical staff in the Health Department be hiked by rupees three lakhs, to Rs 17 lakh. Pensioners who have crossed the age of 80 may be given an additional Rs 1,000.

The calculation of pension will also undergo change, with it being fixed on the basis of the last drawn salary. The minimum pension will be Rs 11,500, and the maximum Rs 83,400.

A year’s leave has been recommented with 40 per cent of the salary to allow staff to take care of bed-ridden parents or infants below the age of three. Staff will get 15 days of paternity leave instead of 10. The minimum salary for part-time and contingent employees is recommended to be Rs 11,500 and Rs 22,970, respectively…….

The next pay revision will happen after five years.