Christmas will not be a joyful experience for thousands of Revenue employees deployed in temporary revenue offices opened for special purposes in the state.
As many as 4,000 employees have been denied their December salary owing to non-extension of their services. The government had only given continuous service extension to the employees till August 2012.
However, they received their salary for three more months after respective Collectors issued a special order. After the three-month period, the employees are now at the mercy of the government to get their salary. Kerala Land Revenue Staff Association state president P S Rajeev said that the treasury offices across the state denied salary to the employees stating that they had not been given continuous service extension.
“Around 4,000 employees will not be getting their salary this Christmas if the government does not take some initiative. The Revenue staff deployed in several offices like that of Land Tribunal, Land Acquisition, Additional Tahsildar and National Highway are going to suffer this festival season,” he said. Representations have been given to the Revenue Minister and the Chief Minister with regard to the issue, Rajeev said. Sources said that it was the very nature of their offices that put them through such a hardship.
They said that the government should either disband Revenue offices opened for specific projects on the completion of the term or provide continuous sanction in a time-bound manner.
Meanwhile, Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash said that the Cabinet alone could take a decision in this regard.
“The issue of the employees will be placed before the Cabinet,” he said.
When pointed out that the next Cabinet would only be held after Christmas, he said:”I will discuss the issue with Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and see if anything can be done at the earliest.”
Stating that there was no need for any concerns for the employees, Prakash said that the employees would get their salary at the earliest.