Repair allowances of PSU staff in ruins

NEW DELHI: Employees of public sector companies will no longer be entitled to the annual reimbursement for maintenance and repair of their houses. The department of public enterprises (DPE) has directed the boards of all central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to ensure that leased accommodation should not become a ���source of additional income for executives working in the public sector���.

���The department has issued a notification to all administrative ministries and boards of all CPSEs. The boards are also advised to exercise control meticulously in order to see that no undue advantage is given to the officers concerned,��� a DPE official said, requesting anonymity.

The move comes in the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) pointing out that any repair and maintenance required in a leased accommodation is the liability of the landlord.

The CAG also pointed out that some CPSEs have been paying its employees as much as two months��� rentals for repair, maintenance and even minor alterations and periodical whitewashing and painting.

���The CAG has observed that as the required repair and maintenance of the leased accommodation was the liability of the lessor concerned, reimbursement to the extent of two months lease rent per financial year, that too only on certification basis, lacked justification,��� a recent notification issued by the DPE said.

Indeed, the DPE had in 2003 too issued guidelines to the administrative ministries of CPSEs to monitor such reimbursements, the official said. Incidentally, even as the number of employees shrank from 16.14 lakh to 15.7 lakh between 2006-07 and 2007-08, salary costs of CPSEs are estimated to have shot up by almost 22%.

However, according to a PSU official, such reimbursements for maintenance and repair are paid only to senior executives.

Recently, based on the recommendations of the Second Pay Revision Commission, the government has also approved increased pay for officers of CPSEs with effect from January 1 2007. The package would include revision in dearness allowance and other allowances, besides performance-related incentives.