VIJAYAWADA: Disciplinary action will be initiated against officials concerned if they fail to disburse the salaries and pensions of government employees and pensioners according to the Revised Pay Scales, 2022, on February 1, the government said in a circular issued on Thursday.
The circular comes in the wake of employees’ unions demanding the continuation of the previous pay scale. Treasury Department officials, who are part of the Employees Joint Action Committee, have not been processing the payslips according to the revised pay scales and other provisions implemented based on the recommendations of the Pay Revision Commission.
Making it clear that salaries and pensions should be credited to the employees’ accounts on February 1 as per the revised pay scales, Special Chief Secretary (Finance) SS Rawat yet again issued the circular directing the Director of Treasuries and Accounts, and the Pay and Accounts Officer, to ensure timely processing and disbursal of the salaries and pensions for all categories of employees and pensioners by the treasury officer and PAOs concerned.
The Finance Department has issued multiple circulars asking the treasury staff to process the revised salaries for the month of January.
Advisor to the State government Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said the employees have to work before they go on strike against the revised pay scale. The employees’ unions have issued a notice, saying they would go on indefinite strike from February 6 midnight, demanding a rollback of the revised salary.
Sajjala also stated that refusal to process the salaries amounted to dereliction of duty, and disciplinary action would be taken against the erring officials.
‘Treasury asked to process bills of revised pay’
Noting that the preparation of bills for the month of January has been lagging behind the deadline, Rawat directed the competent authorities to initiate appropriate disciplinary action according to AP Civil Services (Classification Control and Appeal) Rules, 1991 (CCA Rules) against the Drawing and Disbursing/Treasury/Pay and Accounts Officers failing to meet the deadlines.
Meanwhile, leaders of the PRC Struggle Committee faulted the government for putting pressure on and threatening the treasury employees to process the bills of revised salaries. Stating that the government did not take the consent of employees on the new pay scales, committee leader KR Suryanarayana said that the actions of the government are forcing them to explore legal options.
Deadline to officials