State to approach HC for clarifications in its order regarding fixed wages policy.
The high court's direction to the state government to pay wages as per the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations to employees drawing fixed wages, is giving sleepless nights to the authorities.
It is feared that the state government's budget could go for a toss in view of the order, which is expected to lead to a burden of anywhere from Rs2,800 crore to Rs3,900 crore.
"The amount involved is huge and can disturb all calculations," said a senior government official. Minister of state for finance, Saurabh Patel, said that they were studying the judgment of the high court, and working out its financial impact.
The official said that the state government planned to approach HC for certain clarifications with regards to its order.
"The high court has used the term 'Minimum of pay scale' and also the term 'Total pay' in its judgment. We plan to file an application seeking clarification in this regard from the court," said a finance department official. The official said that wage revised as per 'Minimum of pay scale' would lead to an additional burden of Rs350 crore per annum on the government, while the implication of the term 'Total pay' was estimated at Rs1,400 crore per annum.
"We feel that further clarity is needed in the matter," the official said. Officials also said that the arrears that would have to be paid to fixed wage earners were still being worked out. "Preliminary estimates show that the arrears payable would be in the region of Rs2,500 crore. However, this figure is not final," said an official.
An official pointed out that the massive recruitments announced by the chief minister last year would lead to further strain on government resources.
"The CM had announced that the government would recruit 50,000 persons in a year. Fulfilling this promise alone would lead to an annual burden of around Rs1,000 crore on the state government," said an official. He, however, pointed out that freezing recruitments was also not feasible as a large number of government employees were slated to retire in the next couple of years.
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