Tripura govt not liable for pension of employees recruited without finance approval: FM on ADC pension row

Tripura Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy on Wednesday said employees recruited in the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) with the concurrence of the state Finance Department had not been deprived of pension or other retiral benefits. The state can't be held responsible for retiral benefits of employees who were recruited without concurrence of the state finance department, he clarified. 

He was replying to a query on the recent Tripura High Court judgement on the pension benefits of deprived employees. The High Court has restrained the top officials of the TTAADC from drawing their salaries until and unless the grievances of the petitioners were not addressed fully and finally.

Singha Roy said a large number of state government employees also serve in the TTAADC administration on deputation and their pension and retiral benefits were being extended as per rules.

“If some recruitments are conducted without the approval of the state Finance Department and we do not have records of those employees, I feel the TTAADC is the better authority to speak on this,” he said.

The minister said the issue had also been discussed with the authorities concerned following a direction from the Tripura High Court.

Finance Secretary P K Goyal said the TTAADC was an autonomous body and received a share of taxes and local body grants from the state government. The council prepares its own budget and spends from those resources, he said.

“We transfer the share of taxes. It is the responsibility of the TTAADC to manage its resources,” Goyal said.

He said the state government was not fully aware of the reasons behind the TTAADC's inability to pay pensions.

“Since the High Court has directed that the state government should look into it, we shall definitely look into it. But it has to be noted here that paying pension to employees of TTAADC is its liability, not the liability of the state government,” Goyal said.

On whether the discontinuation of the revenue gap grant had adversely affected the state's finances, Singha Roy said Tripura was not the only state affected by the decision.

He said the revenue gap grant had been discontinued by the Centre following the recommendation of the 16th Finance Commission. Tripura used to receive around Rs 4,000 crore annually under the head, he said.

“This has its own implications on the finances, but we have to look at the recommendations that have been made to mitigate that,” Singha Roy said.

He said the Finance Commission had recommended that states increase their own income-generation sources to address the issue.

“We are trying on multiple fronts to generate our own income, but not by penalising citizens. We have not proposed any new taxes,” he said.

Singha Roy said the state government had appealed to the Union Finance Minister over the matter and Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha had also spoken to the Prime Minister.

He said a new scheme, titled “Pride of Hill”, had been unveiled and Tripura had received Rs 3,450 crore under it. The funds could be used for various purposes, including ongoing schemes and loan repayment, according to the minister.

“About Rs 1,000 crore will be adjusted in the gap funds and under other heads we can utilise the funds as per the guidelines,” he said.

Asked whether the situation indicated a financial crisis in the state, Singha Roy said he would not describe it as a financial crisis.

“Otherwise, we would not have continued with recruitment drives, festival grants and other benefits,” he said, adding that the government had to approach the situation differently and in a new way.