Grant-in-aid institutions should meet salary, pension commitments from own funds, says government circular

The State government has maintained that the salaries and pensions in grant-in-aid institutions are not its responsibility.

Rather, these institutions should meet these expenses from self-generated revenue and from their own funds, the Finance Department said in a November 13 circular. The circular contains instructions for government secretaries on dealing with court cases filed by employees of grant-in-aid institutions against the State government demanding hike in their salary and pension.

The grants sanctioned by the government to grant-in-aid institutions are meant purely to assist in their functioning. And, as such, the expenditure on salary and pensions in these institutions is not government expenditure, the circular said. In the event of court cases where government secretaries are listed as respondents, the administrative department and institutions concerned should immediately file affidavits before the court making this point clear, the circular said.

When money is released from the ‘grant-in-aid-salary’ head, it should be made clear that the money is being released purely as an assistance for paying salaries, and that the institutions concerned should raise the additional funds required on their own, the circular said. Grant-in-aid institutions are also not supposed to use other government allocations for meeting their salary or pension commitments, it said.

Grant-in-aid institutions are autonomous institutions which receive budgetary plan and/or non-plan allocations as grant-in-aid from State government for meeting the expenditure for salary, capital assets creation and non-salary under three detailed heads in the State Budget. There are around 26 grant-in-aid institutions.

“Every time a pay revision is ordered, it is stipulated that the institutions should meet the additional financial commitment from their own resources. Practically, this direction does not materialise as the own resources of the institutions are insufficient and eventually the burden falls back on the government with demands for increase in grants,” the 11th Pay Revision Commission had observed in its 2021 report on revising the pay and allowances of employees in these institutions.

Published - November 14, 2024 09:25 pm IST