The government has sanctioned Rs 18 lakh to the Youth Commission for paying salaries and allowances after it asked for Rs. 26 lakh.
The salary arrears of the chairperson of the commission, Chintha Jerome, amounting to Rs. 8.50 lakh, was not sanctioned.
The amount was sought for paying the salaries, honorarium, surrender of earned leave, Provident Fund loan, and travel allowance of the employees and members of the commission.
The commission secretary informed the government that Rs. 76.06 lakh that was allocated to the Youth Commission for the financial year 2022-23 on the salary account had been fully spent.
Following this, an amount of Rs. 9 lakh more was sanctioned for meeting the expenses of salary and other allowances.
Of this allocated amount, Rs. 8,45,000 was spent on the salaries and honorariums of employees for the month of December.
The secretary stated that as the remaining amount of Rs. 55,000 would not be sufficient to meet the expenses, Rs. 26 lakh more should be sanctioned for paying salaries and allowances. But, since there is a financial crisis, only Rs. 18 lakh was sanctioned.
The salary fixed for Chintha who assumed office in October 2016 was Rs. 50,000. The salary was raised to Rs. 1 lakh in May 2018. Chintha demanded that the salary drawn from October 2016 to May 2018 should be raised to Rs. 1 lakh with retrospective effect and the arrears should be paid.
The government issued an order raising Chintha’s salary to Rs. 1 lakh with effect from January 2017. The government also ordered payment of Rs. 8.50 lakh in arrears.
