State government freezes DA hike

Cancels Leave Surrender Facility

Sivakumar.B@timesgroup.com

Chennai:28.04.2020

Tamil Nadu government has started tightening its purse strings in its fight against Covid-19. In the first such measure, the government on Monday froze dearness allowance and leave surrender facility for government employees.

In line with the Centre’s decision to freeze DA hike, the state government has announced that there would not be any hike in DA this financial year. It is expected to help the exchequer save ₹4,950 crore. Savings on account of denying employees earned leave surrender facility is expected to be ₹2,450 crore. Put together, the government could cut expenditure by ₹7,400 crore this fiscal, said a finance department official. It will affect 18 lakh government employees, teachers, pensioners and family pensioners. ‘’Following the orders issued by the central government and in view of the severe fiscal crisis arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has decided to freeze the DA at the current rate till July 2021,” said finance secretary S Krishnan in the order issued on Monday.

As and when the decision to release the future instalment of the DA from July 1, 2021 is taken by the government, the rates of the DA as effective on January 1, 2020 will be subsumed in the cumulative revised rate effective from July 2021. No arrears for the period from January 1 till June 30, 2021 would be paid, said Krishnan. The order is applicable to teaching and non-teaching staff working in aided educational institutions, employees in local bodies, employees governed by UGC and All India Council for Technical Education, he said.

The freezing of encashment of earned leave is also for one year. “In view of the fiscal stress arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, the periodical surrender of earned leave for encashment for 15 days every year or 30 days every two years is suspended initially for a period of one year to all government employees and teachers from the date of issue of this order,” said chief secretary K Shanmugam in an order.

“All surrender requests and bills pending as on date, irrespective of their stage of sanction and disbursement shall not be processed. In cases where sanction orders have been issued, they are to be cancelled and earned leave will be credited to the leave account of the respective employees,” said Shanmugam.

The order shall also be applicable to all constitutional, statutory bodies, including state corporations, local bodies, boards, universities, commissions, companies, institutions and societies.

Government employees’ union has condemned the decision. “DA is being provided as compensation to inflation. As the government has frozen DA, will it also freeze inflation,” asked Tamil Nadu Government Employees’ Association general secretary A Selvam. He said the decision to freeze DA and deny leave surrender facility would affect the morale of the government employees, who are frontline staff fighting against Covid-19. “People from various departments are working round the clock. The government’s decision is to be seen as a punishment for their hard work,” said Selvam.