by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Fly on the Wall
Fly on the Wall
By Harish Gupta
Clamour for pay hike by Governors
Governors are clamouring for a pay hike and a couple of them who are senior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, even called on him in the regard. They had to cool their heels in Raj Bhawans as they had crossed the 75 year age bar rule. But PM politely told them to meet the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who is the cadre controlling minister for Governors. Interestingly, C Vidyasagar Rao of Maharashtra and Ram Naik of UP who hails of Maharashtra were the ones who took the lead to meet Rajnath Singh. Three others, ESL Narasimhan (Andhra Pradesh & Telangana), K K Paul (Uttraphand) and S C Jamir (Odisha) who are originally UPA appointees also joined them. It is not know what transpired between Home Minister and the Governors. Fly learns that the PM is not very enthusiastic to raise their salaries. Reason; these veterans not only get salary but also get huge pension as well. All former bureaucrats who are holding Gubernatorial posts draw pension over a lakh and other perks. If they are politicians, they have been members of Parliament or Legislative Assemblies. Therefore, they draw pension for each term they serve as members. For some of the Governors, the MP or MLA pension is more than that of Governor's. The President and Vice President are also waiting for the pay hike as they get less salaries compared to the top bureaucrats. The proposal for enhancement of the salaries of the president, the vice president and the governors was prepared by the Union home ministry and forwarded to the Cabinet Secretariat more than a year ago for the approval of the Union Cabinet. However, no decision has been taken on it yet. At present, the President gets Rs1.50 lakh per month, the vice-president Rs1.25 lakh. After the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission’s awards on 1 January 2016, the cabinet secretary, gets Rs 2.5 lakh per month and a secretary in the Union government draws Rs 2.25 lakh per month.
PMO travel warning to Babus
Tired of repeated violations by the Babus, the Prime Minister's office has issued a directive that no reimbursement be made if they are found violating travel guidelines. The Department of Personnel under the PMO issued a directive to the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a gazette notification saying that the Babus must purchase air tickets directly from airlines (at booking counters/office/website of airlines). They may also buy tickets through three Authorized Agents; M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited (BLCL), M/s Ashok Travels & Tours (ATT) and Indian Railways catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC). The MHA made it clear that no pre-facto relaxation will be given to anybody and that either the air tickets be purchased directly from the airlines or three authorized agents of the government. “Ensure strict compliance of extant guidelines for purchase of air ticket directly from Airlines. Henceforth relaxation on account of ignorance/unawareness of these guidelines will not be considered by this department. In order to tighten the screws, the government said in case of non-availability of authorized agent at a particular place, ticket may be booked from website of Airlines or web portal of Balmer Lawrie & Company Ltd, M/s Ashok Travels & Tour and IRCTC. But no ministry or department will take the services of any other ticketing agent. Even in respect of non-officials members who are on various committees, boards and panels of the concerned Ministry, department or institution, they have to purchase the ticket from authorized travel agent only. It has been made clear that no claim will be settled by the ministry or the department if the tickets are not bought from the authorized agents.
Kamal Nath, Scindia in race for Deputy Leader
The president-elect of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, may not undertake a major reshuffle in the AICC and continue with the present team. Of course, he will have to induct a couple of leaders in his core team. But he has the most difficult task in hand to select Deputy leader in the Lok Sabha in place of Capt Amrinder Singh. Since Mallikarjun Kharge is the leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, the deputy leader has to be from North or Central India. Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia are in the reckoning. If Scindia is to be sent to Madhya Pradesh as the PCC chief as Assembly polls are due in the state next year, the obvious choice could be Kamal Nath. There is already a talk that Deepender Singh Hooda will be made Chief Whip in place of Scindia if the latter is upgraded. If the Congress wants to be aggressive in Lok Sabha during the Winter session, it has to have a new Deputy Leader. Sushmita Dev is also in the reckoning for the post. But Hooda has the edge.
GST rate cut hit goods worth Rs 5 lakh crore
One may think that GST rate cut is a bonanza. No doubt it is indeed a bonanza for the consumers. But be it manufacturers, wholesalers or retailers; they are all struggling packaged items worth Rs 5 lakh crore in the country will have revised price tags with change in GST tax rates of about 200 products last month. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written a letter to Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Consumer Affairs Minister to allow pasting of revised price stickers on the current stocks because under the GST regime, pasting of revised price tags are not allowed. It is said that goods worth Rs 5 lakh crore are still in the warehouses across the country in packaged condition having old MRP. These goods can't be sold in the market without a revised price tag. It is impossible to move the consignment back to the manufacturers, remove old packaging and fresh packaging be done with a new price tag. If the fresh label is pasted on the original price tag, it is not allowed. Under Packaged Commodity Act, it is mandatory provision that any commodity in packaged shape will invariably have printed MRP. Only Paswan can give some relief. Tax rates of more than 200 items were brought down and out of them 178 were of common use.
