Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has locked horns with the Left government quite a few times. In his latest salvo the Governor has made several allegations, including that consecutive Kerala governments have kept a section of their party cadre happy by recruiting them as personal staff to ministers and making them eligible for life-long pension after just two years in service. The Governor also went on to allege that ministers change their staff every two and a half years to ensure more people are eligible for the pension. This has snowballed into a row, initiating debates on the need for ministers to have a jumbo staff, with handsome salaries and pensions.
“I came to know that the personal staff members of the ministers in Kerala are eligible for pension. Personal staff are appointed on a co-terminus basis [asked to quit to accommodate new people]. I can appoint only 11 personal staff members. But every minister here has more than 20 personal staff members. Nowhere in the country are personal staff of ministers eligible for pensioner benefits,” the Governor told the media.
He added, “In Kerala, they (personal staff) are entitled to pension benefits after only two years in service. One set of people is made to retire after two years and a new set of people is hired. They are all party people and financed by the state exchequer.” The Governor’s response last month came after he refused to sign the policy document of the government after a tussle over the appointment of Hari S Kartha, a former pro-BJP journalist, in a key post in the Raj Bhavan.
Pension for personal staffers of ministers in Kerala was introduced by the United Democratic Front government headed by K Karunakaran in 1994 with retrospective effect from 1982. Each minister in the state is eligible for 25 members as personal staff. The personal staff are appointed from loyal party cadres or those affiliated with the ruling party. The appointment is made as per recommendations/ suggestions from various party levels and party forums.
The salary range is as per the post the staff members hold, so is the pension. The highest paid post is that of private secretary (scale of pay between Rs 1.07 lakh and Rs 1.6 lakh per month). A personal staff member is entitled to life-long pension on the completion of two years. Other government employees become eligible for pension after 10 years in service. However, the pension received by the minister’s staff is slightly less than that received by a government servant of the same grade. The minimum pension, however, was enhanced to Rs 1,200 per month in 2012. According to estimates, around 1,200-1,500 former staff members are eligible for this pension.
The CPI(M) party has made it clear that the scheme will not be tweaked or cancelled, no matter what the government says.
CP John, former MLA and leader of the Communist Marxist Party (CMP), an ally of the Congress, however, said that the Governor exaggerated certain things. Speaking to TNM, he said, “There is no point in blaming ministers for appointing staff or for the number of staff members they have, as the volume of memorandums to be handled by each minister is very high. The staff members also act as access points to ministers. Also they work long hours, never leave the office at 5 pm, some even put in 14-15 hours of work… the pension is the reward they get for this. The average age of the personal staff is 30 to 35 years, they suffer a career loss when they take up the appointment.”
According to a TNIE report, at least 325 appointments, excluding appointments on deputation, were made in the first Pinarayi Vijayan government (May 2016 to May 2021) and at least Rs 25 crore was spent annually on the salary for personal staff. The recruitment of staff, however, is not done only by those in power, but those in the opposition too, such as the opposition leader, speaker, deputy speaker, government chief whip and others with cabinet status. The five-year expense, in total, is estimated to be around Rs 30 crore.
However, the core allegation made by the Kerala Governor was about the co-terminus basis. MLA John said that the Governor might have been referring to a time when governments in the state used to fall without completing their tenure. “The whole issue is trivial and the co-terminus basis claim is also an exaggeration. While appointing the personal staff, due process is followed. Also regarding the constitutional role, to whom was the Governor complaining? He is the head of the government and it’s like he has lost clarity about his role. Regarding the cost of maintaining personal staff, it’s like going after small things by ignoring major issues,” he said. John had a key role in the selection of personal staff when MV Raghavan, the CMP patriarch, was a minister from 1991 to 1996 and later from 2001 to 2006.
CPI(M) State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan also said that the Governor’s allegation that the staff is changed every two years is based on incorrect facts.
Kerala opposition leader VD Satheesan said that the Congress was ready for a discussion on the issue.
“The stand the Congress has taken is not to mix the issues (Governor not signing the policy document and the pension for personal staff of ministers); everyone has to do away with luxury. We are ready for a discussion about the pension. There is nothing wrong if someone points out a wrong practice followed by successive governments,” he said.
However, Shaji Varkey, a political analyst and former head of the Political Science Department, University of Kerala, said that the pension system was unsound.
“Personal staff should be appointed based on the workload. The requirement will vary for each department, and only an administrative audit – on the quantum of work and the personnel needed – can show how much staff each minister needs. Staff shouldn’t be cut down if it will affect efficiency. The number of staff members cannot be the same for each minister,” Shaji said.
Regarding the pension, he said that it is not based on merit or the kind of work a person has done. “Political appointments in various public sector units have seriously affected efficiency. If these appointments are political, only qualified people should be selected. Not everyone is getting pension proportionate to the work they have done, then why are the staff entitled to lifelong pension? There is a question of justice in that,” he added.