Cash starving J&K first state to approve 7th pay commission

Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday became the first state to approve the implementation of the 7th pay commission recommendations for state government employees and pensioners with effect from January 2016.
“The cabinet decision will benefit around five lakh employees and pensioners in the state. The financial implications will be Rs 4,201 crore per year while one-time arrears would cost the government Rs 7,477 crore,” J&K finance minister Altaf Bukhari said.
“State government employees can now draw the salary for April 2018 as per the revised scales. Arrears of pensioners will be paid in cash in three six-monthly instalments while arrears of all employees shall be credited to their general provident fund accounts with a moratorium of three years for withdrawing the amount,” said Bukhari. “However, there will be no moratorium on withdrawal in case of employees retiring up to March 31, 2021,” he added.
“The issue of pay anomalies would be addressed by the existing pay committee, starting with anomalies of the clerical cadre,” the finance minister said. “Despite facing financial problems due to lack of resources, chief minister Mehbooba Mufti made the commitment and we have fulfilled it,” Bukhari added.
The cabinet approved a slew of administrative reforms, including increasing the working days and working hours for government businesses to up to 40 hours a week. The cabinet also gave a nod to time-bound grade promotion for officers of the Kashmir Administrative Services, besides sanctioning cadre review and fast track promotion of those belonging to Secretariat Subordinate Services.
Apart from this, the cabinet sanctioned the enhancement of duty allowance of volunteer home guards from Rs 90 to Rs 300 per day. The government will establish a ‘State Knowledge Initiative’ platform, make academic arrangement for 2,154 posts of teachers referred to the Service Selection Board and hire 2,200 lecturers and 400 teachers for the 2018-19 academic session, the finance minister said.
Bukhari said the government will set up the Jammu and Kashmir Renewable Energy Corporation — a private limited company owned fully by the state government — with the authorized share capital of Rs 1 crore, paid and subscribed by the government. “The government will also re-engage constable operators as wireless assistants who were earlier removed due to wrong advertisement,” the minister added.