Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala State Youth Commission Chairperson Chintha Jerome won't get her pay arrears from the Government for the time being. Though the Finance Department had approved her request granting Rs 9 lakh as arrears for 18 months, the decision is to not take any further action at present considering the uproar of hefty payments. No order has been passed yet.
If Chintha Jerome is given her pay arrears, Youth Congress leader R V Rajesh who was appointed to the same position during the United Democratic Front regime will also have to be given his arrears amounting to Rs 18 lakh accumulated over 3 years.
Chintha was appointed the Youth Commission Chairperson in October 2016 a few months after the first Pinarayi Vijayan Cabinet was sworn in. The decision then was to pay Rs 50,000 per month, until the service and pay conditions were fixed.
In 2018 May, the pay was fixed at Rs 1 lakh per month and Chintha started receiving the revised amount as her monthly pay. However, Chintha sought the Government to pay Rs 9 lakh arrears for the previous 18 months as she was only paid Rs 50,000 per month. But her request was initially denied. When she approached the Government with the same demand, the Government approved it.
Documents revealed that Chintha’s claim she had not sought payment of arrears is wrong. She had indeed written to the Government following the Sports and Youth Affairs Department order denying her first request.
