Archives

Call for halt to casual appointments

by Ravi Ladduwahetty

The minimum monthly salary of a public servant should be Rs. 6000 - based on the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) for December 2000, the Tissa Devendra Salaries Commission has recommended in its report to President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

The Committee has also recommended that qualified candidates should not be selected for lower level jobs and highly qualified professionals be compensated by appointing them on a contracted basis on a higher pay.

The question of " religious holidays" is to be decided only on the recommendations of a committee inclusive of religious leaders and the determination of public holidays from the perspective of the loss of national productivity are among the other proposals made in the report.

The percentage increase in the revised salary scales for the different classes of employment as recommended by the Commissioner are: manual labour- (those in minimum scale) from 70 per cent to 76 per cent and those in the maximum categories from 52 per cent to 60 per cent. Middle level employment should be between 59 per cent to 70 per cent.

The Commission has recommended that the office and technical staff category salary scales should be increased between 53 per cent and 64 per cent. The minimum increase for the Executive grade scales have been recommended in the range between 53 and 58 per cent. A maximum of 59 per cent will apply for the upper limit.

The Commissioner has also called for a complete halt to temporary and casual appointments in the public service in order to remedy overstaffing and the closure of all departments, branches and units identified as non-functional.

The appointment of a Permanent Commission for the preparation of a suitable salary structure and to reorganise the public service has also been recommended in the report.

President Kumaratunga presented the Devendra Salaries Commission Report to the weekly Cabinet meeting last Wednesday. She told the Cabinet meeting that she will study it and then submit another Cabinet Memorandum after which it could be published in the media, political sources told Daily News.

However, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has told the Cabinet that the findings of the report could be published in the media to which the Cabinet had given approval, they said.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager