THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a major glitch, around 200 employees of the state Secretariat received their September’s salary well in advance, on Thursday. Sources said it was a mistake on the part of an officer of the the secretariat sub-treasury.
The salary bills of Secretariat employees are processed at the Secretariat sub-treasury. Normally, September’s salary should be disbursed on October 1. The salary bills from different departments and offices will be submitted by the month-end following which the salary is processed by the treasuries.
A source in the treasuries department said an error in setting the due date of bills resulted in the mistake. The sub-treasury gets online bills. There was an error in setting the due date of three bills. The issue came to the notice of treasury officers after working hours on Thursday. The treasuries directorate will decide the further course of action, an officer said.
Salaries were credited to a number of officials, including personnel staff of about five ministers, including the chief minister, in addition to Secretariat staff working with a couple of departments. It’s learned that the government is likely to take immediate action against the official responsible for the lapse.
“It was a mistake on the part of one of the sub-treasury officers in signing the salary bills. The bills to be scheduled for October 1 were signed in advance and handed over. As per information, a bill of Rs 43 lakh got cleared. The total amount would come to less than a crore,” said an official.
What’s more interesting is that the staffers who got the salaries, immediately transferred the amount to other accounts so as to prevent the government from holding it back.