Kerala mulls allowing fourth Saturday as holiday for govt offices

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government is considering allowing a holiday for all government offices on the fourth Saturday of the month.

The Administrative Reforms Commission had submitted the recommendation for allowing a holiday for government offices on the fourth Saturday of the month. The meeting called by the Chief Secretary is a follow-up to this recommendation.

The appointment of dependent family members on compassionate grounds would be limited to 5 per cent of the total dependent vacancies. With this decision, not all would be appointed under this category of dependent appointment.

The recommendations came up during the meeting in which the Chief secretaries and departmental secretaries participated.

To discuss these matters, Chief Secretary V P Joy has called an online meeting of the service associations on the 10th at 2 pm.

The fourth Saturday holiday is being considered as part of cutting down the administrative expenses incurred by the government.

The High Court had ordered that of the total dependent vacancies in each district, each section and each post every year, only 5 per cent can be filled as dependent appointments. The High Court had also dismissed the State’s review petition on the matter. With this, the appointments of dependents would be limited to 5 per cent accordingly.

Extending the working hours on other working days if the fourth Saturday turns out to be a holiday would also be discussed. The work time is likely to be from 9.15 am to 5.15 pm. The service associations have a mixed response to the government’s recommendations. A final decision would be made only after further discussion.

Dependent appointment: The candidate must join work within a year

If an eligible dependent of the deceased person, who was in the government service at the time of death, gives a written agreement to join work within a year, he or she would be given the job. The dependent who cannot take up the job within one year would be given a consolidated sum of Rs 10 lakh instead. Their vacancies would be let to the PSC for recruitment as per the normal procedure. Thereafter, the dependent of the deceased government servant will not be eligible for the dependent appointment.

It is this recommendation that would be discussed by the committee chaired by the Chief Secretary. The Eleventh Pay Commission had also recommended completely stopping dependent appointments.