Tripura Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy said the state government is not liable for pension benefits of TTAADC employees recruited without Finance Department approval, while officials explained the council’s financial responsibility and discussed measures to address pension-related concerns.
Tripura Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy on Wednesday clarified that the state government cannot be held responsible for pension and other retiral benefits of employees recruited by the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) without the concurrence of the state Finance Department. He said employees recruited with the approval of the Finance Department had not been deprived of pension or other retirement benefits.
The minister made the statement while responding to a question concerning a recent Tripura High Court judgment related to pension benefits of employees of the autonomous district council. The court had restrained top officials of the TTAADC from drawing their salaries until the grievances of the petitioners were fully and finally addressed.
Singha Roy said a significant number of state government employees are also serving in the TTAADC administration on deputation. According to him, such employees are receiving pension and other retiral benefits in accordance with applicable government rules.
“If some recruitments are 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,” the Finance Minister said.
He added that the pension-related issue had already been discussed with the authorities concerned following the direction of the Tripura High Court. The minister’s remarks sought to clarify the responsibility of the state government in relation to appointments made independently by the autonomous council.
Finance Secretary P K Goyal explained that the TTAADC is an autonomous body with its own financial responsibilities. He said the council receives a share of taxes and local body grants from the state government and prepares its own budget based on the resources available to it.
“We transfer the share of taxes. It is the responsibility of the TTAADC to manage its resources,” Goyal said.
According to the Finance Secretary, the state government was not fully aware of the reasons behind the council’s inability to meet its pension obligations. However, he said the state government would examine the matter in view of the High Court’s direction.
“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.
The pension dispute comes amid a broader discussion over the financial position of Tripura and the impact of changes in central financial assistance. Singha Roy was also asked whether the discontinuation of the revenue gap grant had adversely affected the state’s finances.
The Finance Minister said Tripura was not the only state affected by the decision and explained that the revenue gap grant had been discontinued by the Centre following the recommendation of the 16th Finance Commission. He said Tripura had previously received around Rs 4,000 crore annually under this head.
“This has its own implications on the finances, but we have to look at the recommendations that have been made to mitigate that,” Singha Roy said.
He said the Finance Commission had recommended that states strengthen their own income-generation sources to address the changing financial situation. The Tripura government, he added, was working on multiple fronts to increase its own revenue without imposing new taxes 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,” the minister said.
Singha Roy further said the state government had raised the issue with the Union Finance Minister. Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha had also spoken to the Prime Minister regarding the financial concerns faced by the state, he added.
The Finance Minister also referred to the newly introduced “Pride of Hill” scheme, under which Tripura has received Rs 3,450 crore. He said the funds could be utilised for various purposes, including ongoing schemes and repayment of loans, subject to the applicable 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.
Asked whether the financial situation amounted to a crisis in Tripura, Singha Roy rejected that description. He pointed to the continuation of recruitment drives, festival grants and other government benefits as indicators of the government’s ongoing expenditure commitments.
“Otherwise, we would not have continued with recruitment drives, festival grants and other benefits,” he said, adding that the government needed to approach the financial situation differently and adopt new methods.
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The Finance Minister’s clarification places the pension issue of TTAADC employees within the broader question of the council’s administrative and financial autonomy. While the state government has indicated that it will examine the matter in accordance with the High Court’s direction, officials maintained that pension liabilities for employees recruited by the autonomous council without state Finance Department concurrence remain the responsibility of the TTAADC.
