*
J&K Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar has clarified that house rent allowance (HRA) was not part of the additional one-month’s salary that was sanctioned for government employees who were deployed on panchayat and municipal elections duty last year. Kumar said that the allowance was “not part of the salaries as per the CSR (Civil Service Regulations) rules”.
Kumar’s clarification came after complaints by several government employees that HRA had been “arbitrarily deducted” by district authorities from the additional one-month’s salary paid to them. The house rent allowance, if credited to some employees, will be recovered by the government, Kumar told Kashmir Reader.
The one-month’s additional salary was announced by the state government in September last year as incentive for the employees ahead of the local body elections. The incentive had been approved a month before, in August, by the State Administrative Council (SAC).
The sanction to release the additional supplementary salary was given by the General Administrative Department (GAD) in December last year.
Although the one-month’s additional salary, albeit with much delay, had been credited into their favour recently, many employees told Kashmir Reader that HRA had been deducted from it.
“We were supposed to get the gross salary and many such employees in south Kashmir had received the additional salary along with the HRA,” an employee from Baramulla said.
Kumar refuted claims that some employees had received the additional salary along with the HRA.
“If it has happened in some cases, it (HRA) will be recovered,” he said.
The CEO also informed that funds for the additional salary to be paid to employees have been released to all the deputy commissioners.
The dues of all the employees will be cleared before Eid-ul-Fitr, he added.
Leave a comment
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
