Kerala Governor Gives Approval to Ordinance, Salary Disbursal to Commence from May 4

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has given his approval to the ordinance on salary cut of government employees and teachers and the left government, facing a severe financial crunch due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will start disbursing the salaries from May 4, Finance minister Thomas Isaac said on Thursday.

The ordinance empowers the government to defer for six days the salaries of its employees for five months.

"The governor has signed the ordinance and the salary disbursal would commence from May 4," Isaac told reporters here.

As the Kerala high court on April 28 stayed for two months the government order to cut one month salary in five instalments saying it lacked legal backing, the government decided to take the ordinance route.

"We are not cutting the salary, but it's being deferred. When we have difficult situation, we have to take desperate measures. We not planning to cut the salary like other states have done.Many governments have deducted the salary, but we have just deferred it. Most of the government employees are also in support of this," Isaac said.

He said the deferred salary would be retained in a separate account and used for virus containment efforts.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday that the state was facing a severe financial crisis which was unbearable and the decision to defer the salary was taken to overcome the situation.

As the court had stated that the salary cut decision was legally untenable, the cabinet had decided to recommend the Governor to promulgate an ordinance, he said.

The Kerala Disaster and Public Health Emergency (Special Provisions) Ordinance 2020 would empower the state government to defer the salary of an employee by an amount not exceeding one-fourth of the total monthly pay, for managing a situation arising out of a disaster or public health

emergency.

The ordinance will also allow the government to impose a 30 per cent cut in the monthly gross salary or honorarium of all elected representatives in the State - Ministers, Members of the Legislative Assembly, members of different Boards under the Government and members of Local Self Government bodies, for a period of one year.