Tripura govt announces promotion policy for employees on ad- hoc basis

Agartala, June 23 (PTI): The Tripura government Wednesday announced Promotion Policy 2021 for its employees on an ad-hoc basis, state Law Minister and Cabinet spokesperson Ratan Lal Nath said.

The promotion of government employees in the state is stalled since 2015 as a case is pending in the Supreme court regarding the issue, Nath told reporters at the civil secretariat here.

"The decision was taken in the meeting of the council of ministers on Tuesday as the employees were losing motivation to work without getting a promotion," the minister said.

The state Cabinet took the "historic decision" in the interest of the development of the state, Nath said.

According to him, government employees will be promoted on an ad-hoc basis in compliance with the new policy.

However, the promotion will be one-time and even if the same employee is entitled, he will not get the benefit of multiple promotions, the Cabinet spokesperson said.

"If the promotion of scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, or general class employees is disrupted, the department concerned may make further promotion without the permission of the finance department," he said.

Nath said that with the promotion to higher posts, a lot of employment opportunities will be created in the lower ranks.

"The opinion of the advocate general and the departments of law, finance, scheduled castes, and scheduled tribes were taken before formulating the new promotion policy to avoid all legal complications," the state law minister added.

Meanwhile, the chief secretary held a meeting with the secretaries of all the departments and directed them to take necessary steps regarding promotions of the employees, he said.

"Nobody knows as to when the final verdict of the Supreme Court will come. In such a situation, to ensure more growth in government works and for the interest of all sections of employees, the Biplab Kumar Deb-led Cabinet has taken this historic decision," Nath said.

The services of 938 science teachers in the state have been regularised almost nine years after their appointment and they would be entitled to wage arrears from 2017, amounting to Rs. 49.59 crore, he said.

"We have decided to regularise a total of 938 science teachers who were appointed in 2012. Currently, the teachers are getting Rs. 20,475 per month and after their regularisation, their monthly salary will be Rs. 33,853, including all benefits," said Nath.

Though the recruited teachers had finished their fixed-pay service in 2017, they were not regularised by the then Left Front government because no regular postings were created for them, the minister said.

The deprived science teachers had filed a petition with the High Court seeking regularisation of their service.