Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Lok Ayukta rules in favour of Corpn. official

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM APRIL 12. The divisional bench of the Lok Ayukta has directed the Local Administration Secretary to disburse the `charge allowance' due to the former City Corporation engineer, K. S. Gopalakrishna Pillai, for having held additional charge as the secretary of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. The allowance had been earlier disallowed by the State Government.

The Lok Ayukta bench consisting of P. C. Balakrishna Menon and V. Bhaskaran Nambiar accepted the argument of Mr. Pillai, who had challenged the State Government decision. In 1999, the Government had rejected the request of the Corporation to pay the dues for Mr. Pillai on the ground that the Corporation engineer was drawing a higher scale of pay than the Corporation secretary and was not entitled to `charge allowances'.

The divisional bench also said that as per the Kerala Service Rules, additional pay was admissible only if the additional post held was superior to the regular post and was carrying a higher scale of pay. As the additional post held by the complainant did not carry a higher scale of pay, the additional pay as claimed by the complainant by way of `charge allowance' could be approved, it said. It also stated that as the posts were in the same office, the only question to be considered was whether the additional post was subordinate to the regular post or whether the additional post was equivalent and of the same rank as that of the regular post.

The Lok Ayukta also was of the view that the statutory provisions indicated that if an officer was appointed to hold charge of one or more posts, he was entitled for an additional pay as per the KSR. The Lok Ayukta was also of the view that the responsibilities attached to the post of the secretary of the Corporation was indivisible and could not be distributed to more than one officer and additional pay could be permitted. It was also of the view that the petitioner had undertaken the responsibilities of the secretary of the Corporation, a responsibility that could not be shared.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Spurious liquor: more patients admitted to MCH
• Flights rescheduled
• Lok Ayukta rules in favour of Corpn. official
• 12-kg heroin seized in NCB-Customs operation

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu