Finance Minister D. Jayakumar said a decision on the demand to raise the salaries of State government staff so that they are on par with those drawn by Central government employees would be taken after the committee constituted to study the issue submitted its recommendation.
He was responding to DMK member K. Ponmudi who drew the government’s attention to the strike planned by the government employees union.
“We have constituted a committee headed by an additional chief secretary to study the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission for Central government employees. It has sought three-and-a-half months to submit the report. We will take a decision after that,” he said.
The issue also witnessed a war of words between Mr. Ponmudi and Speaker P. Dhanapal. “I do not approve of the way you behaved,” Mr. Dhanapal said and rejected Mr. Ponmudi’s demand to speak further on the issue.