Approval for payment of arrears of Government employee’s Retirement Gratuity

The cabinet paper submitted by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena as the Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government for the payment of the retirement gratuity of the government employees, which was delayed until now, has been approved by the Cabinet.

Thus, the funds required for the payment of the retirement gratuity which is currently due for the year 2021 are to be provided by the Treasury to the Pensions Department before the end of October this year.

Approval has also been given to provide the amount of funds required for the payment of the pension gratuity due for the year 2022 to the Pension Department within 6 months.

Also, a seven-member committee will be appointed to study and submit a proposal regarding the maintenance of this retirement gratuity payment system.

The committee will be chaired by a Deputy Secretary of the Treasury nominated by the Secretary of the Treasury and a senior official of the relevant Ministry nominated by the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policy should act as Secretary.

The other officers of this committee are an Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government nominated by the Secretary, Director General of Pensions, Director General of National Budget, Director General of Management Services Department and Director General of Treasury Operations Department.

The Cabinet has also decided that the report with the recommendations of this committee regarding the retirement gratuity should be submitted to the Cabinet by the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policy within a month.

Due to the recent economic instability in the country, the government has not been able to pay the pension gratuity paid to government officials on retirement. However, due to the non-payment of this gratuity, the retired community was under a lot of pressure and the complaints in this regard were regularly submitted to the Ministry of State Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government.

The Minister of State Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, who drew attention to this matter, sought approval in a cabinet memorandum to pay the relevant gratuity. Accordingly, the Council of Ministers, which studied the facts, has given approval taking into consideration the existing economic situation.