The State government has issued orders revising the pay scales of employees of the Kerala State Cooperative Bank with retrospective effect from April 1, 2007.
Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Cooperation and Coir Development Minister G. Sudhakaran said the government had accepted the pay revision report of a panel headed by the Principal Secretary (Cooperatives), according to which the minimum upward revision for the last grade employee will be Rs.1,500 and that of Chief General Manager will be Rs.11,000. The KSCB will have to incur an additional burden of Rs.18 lakh a month or Rs. 2.16 crore a year. The Board of Directors had been authorised to work out the details of arrear payment.
He said the existing running master scale of Rs.6,000-37,700 had been revised to Rs.7,825-50,450. The following are the revised pay scales for various categories of employees with the existing scale in brackets: Peon/attender 7,825-20,975 (6,000-14,775), Clerk: 9,625-28,375 (7,375-19,975) Junior Assistant: 11,750-32,050 (8,925-24,775) Accounts Officer: 14,375-38,350 (10,975- 29,300), Deputy General Manager: 20,975-48,950 (15,925-36,575) Chief General Manager: 25,075-50,450 (19,250-37,700).
Employees would get 6.25 per cent fitment and 24 per cent dearness allowance along with the basic pay from the date of opting for the new scale or from April 1, 2007. The pay revision committee's recommendation for one increment for 10 years of service and two increments for 20 years service also have been accepted.
Employees would get a house rent allowance of 10 per cent of the salary, subject to a limit of Rs.2,000, besides three stagnation increments. The commission's recommendation for higher grade promotion for the sub-staff category depending on the years of service has also been accepted.
The government had sanctioned special pay for qualified employees ranging between Rs.500 to 700, over and above the pay committee's recommendation with a view to induct professionalism in its services.
The Minister pointed out that the government had sanctioned the pay revision even though the KSCB was going through difficult times. Bank Chairman Koliyakode Krishnan Nair said the bank was in the red mainly on account of the inhospitable attitude of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), which had failed to extend refinance for farm loans. Despite this, the bank had advanced farm loans, suffering loss in interest component to the tune of Rs. 12 crore.