Telangana to clear salaries of govt staff for March-April, informs HC

As the country is grappling with severe disruption in every sector, the impact is huge in states, such as Telangana, owing to excessive financial burden.

After months of pay cuts, the Government of Telangana has finally decided to clear the dues of all the government employees for the month of March and April, as soon as possible. It has also informed the Andhra Pradesh High Court about the same.

Retired district judge D Lakshmi Kameswari had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court over non-payment of salaries for the month of March and April.

To this, the government pleader, Chintala Suman, argued before the Division bench of Justice Rakesh Kumar and Justice B Krishnamohan, saying that the government revenue has dipped due to the coronavirus crisis and that is why the government postponed the payment of salaries.

Suman assured that the salary dues will be cleared at the earliest, and pointed out that despite the financial crunch, the government has been implementing welfare schemes. It has provided Rs  25 crore for lawyers’ welfare and Rs  1,000 each per month to NREGS job-card holders.

However, the Telangana government is now trying to recover from the financial crisis, with  the economic activities having picked up. Last month it decided to give out full salaries to all the state government employees and pensioners, for the month of July.

The decision was taken by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, after a meeting with the officials of the finance department on June 23.

Earlier, when the lockdown was announced, the Telangana government had enforced salary cuts ranging from 10 per cent to 75 per cent for all the government employees with effect from March, in an attempt to conserve cash.