**Agartala, September 23:** The Tripura government on Wednesday drew a clear distinction between employees recruited by the TTAADC with and without the state Finance Department’s approval, saying pension and retiral benefits were being extended to those appointed with due concurrence, while the council would have to bear the liability for unauthorised recruitments.
Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy made the statement against the backdrop of a recent Tripura High Court order concerning pension claims of TTAADC employees. The court has restrained senior officials of the autonomous council from drawing their salaries until the grievances of the petitioners are fully resolved.
Singha Roy said the state government had no official records of employees appointed without the Finance Department’s concurrence.
“If some recruitments were 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,” he said.
The minister said the government had held discussions with the authorities concerned after receiving the High Court’s direction.
Finance Secretary P K Goyal said the council’s responsibility for its employees’ pensions was linked to its status as an autonomous body with its own financial resources.
The TTAADC prepares its own budget and finances its expenditure through its available resources, including its share of taxes transferred by the state government and local body grants, he said.
“We transfer the share of taxes. It is the responsibility of the TTAADC to manage its resources,” Goyal said.
He said the state government was yet to ascertain the reasons for the council’s inability to meet its pension commitments.
“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.
Singha Roy also spoke about the financial challenges facing Tripura following the discontinuation of the revenue gap grant.
He said the Centre had discontinued the grant based on the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission. Tripura had earlier received around Rs 4,000 crore annually under the grant, he said.
“This has its own implications on the finances, but we have to look at the recommendations that have been made to mitigate that,” the minister said.
The Finance Commission has advised states to strengthen their own revenue sources, Singha Roy said, adding that Tripura was working on multiple measures to increase its income.
The minister ruled out imposing new taxes as part of the revenue-generation efforts.
“We are trying on multiple fronts to generate our own income, but not by penalising citizens. We have not proposed any new taxes,” he said.
Singha Roy said the state government had raised the issue with the Union Finance Minister, while Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha had also discussed it with the Prime Minister.
He also announced that Tripura had received Rs 3,450 crore under the “Pride of Hill” scheme. The funds can be used for ongoing schemes, loan repayment and other purposes in accordance with the scheme’s provisions.
“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.
Responding to questions on whether the financial situation amounted to a crisis, Singha Roy said the government did not consider it one. He cited the continuation of recruitment drives, festival grants and other government benefits as evidence of ongoing expenditure.
“Otherwise, we would not have continued with recruitment drives, festival grants and other benefits,” he said, adding that the government would need to adopt new methods to manage the state’s finances.
