Agartala, September 23: The Tripura government on Wednesday said the TTAADC would have to meet pension obligations arising from appointments made without the concurrence of the state Finance Department, asserting that employees recruited with the department's approval were receiving retirement benefits under the applicable rules.
The clarification came amid a recent Tripura High Court order on pension-related grievances of employees of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC). The court has restrained senior officials of the autonomous council from drawing their salaries until the grievances of the petitioners are fully resolved.
Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy said the state government had no records of employees whose appointments were made without Finance Department approval.
“If some recruitments were conducted without the approval of the state Finance Department and we do not have records of those employees, I feel the TTAADC is the better authority to speak on this,” he said.
Singha Roy said the government had discussed the matter with the authorities concerned after the High Court issued its direction.
Finance Secretary P K Goyal said the pension issue needed to be viewed in the context of the TTAADC's financial autonomy. The council prepares its own budget and meets its expenditure from resources available to it, including its share of taxes transferred by the state government and local body grants.
“We transfer the share of taxes. It is the responsibility of the TTAADC to manage its resources,” Goyal said.
He said the state government did not have full information about the circumstances behind the council's inability to pay pensions.
“Since the High Court has directed that the state government should look into it, we shall definitely look into it. But it has to be noted here that paying pension to employees of TTAADC is its liability, not the liability of the state government,” Goyal said.
Turning to Tripura's overall financial position, Singha Roy said the discontinuation of the revenue gap grant had affected the state's finances. The Centre discontinued the grant following recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission, he said.
Tripura had been receiving around Rs 4,000 crore annually under the grant, according to the minister.
“This has its own implications on the finances, but we have to look at the recommendations that have been made to mitigate that,” he said.
The Finance Commission has recommended that states strengthen their own revenue-generating capacity, Singha Roy said, adding that Tripura was pursuing several measures to increase its income.
He ruled out the introduction of new taxes, saying the government wanted to raise revenue without placing an additional burden on citizens.
“We are trying on multiple fronts to generate our own income, but not by penalising citizens. We have not proposed any new taxes,” he said.
The minister said the state had taken up the revenue gap issue with the Union Finance Minister, while Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha had also discussed it with the Prime Minister.
Singha Roy also said Tripura had received Rs 3,450 crore under the “Pride of Hill” scheme. The funds can be utilised for ongoing schemes, repayment of loans and other purposes permitted under the scheme's guidelines.
“About Rs 1,000 crore will be adjusted in the gap funds and under other heads we can utilise the funds as per the guidelines,” he said.
On whether the financial pressures amounted to a crisis, Singha Roy said the government did not view the situation that way. He pointed to the continuation of recruitment drives, festival grants and other government benefits.
“Otherwise, we would not have continued with recruitment drives, festival grants and other benefits,” he said, adding that the government would have to adopt new approaches to manage the state's finances.
