Salary challenge: Kerala govt cracks whip on DDOs for non-compliance; secures ₹15 Cr from defaulters

Thiruvananthapuram – In a strong move, the Kerala Government has stopped the salaries of nearly 4,000 Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) for not deducting money from employees who had agreed to donate a part of their pay for a special cause.

The salary challenge was launched to help people affected by the Mundakai and Churalmala landslides. Around 20,000 state government employees had agreed to take part by giving money from their leave surrender and Provident Fund (PF). The funds were meant to support rehabilitation efforts, and the collected amount would go to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF).

What went wrong?

Even after agreeing, 19,420 employees did not pay. The government had clearly warned DDOs to take the amount from their salaries. If they failed to do so, the government said it would recover the amount from the DDOs' own salaries.

However, over 6,000 DDOs ignored the warning. Later, around 2,000 officers took action and made the deductions from employee accounts. This helped raise ₹15 crore for the relief fund. These officers were paid their own salaries.

But the rest—about 4,000 DDOs—did not follow through. As a result, the government has withheld their May salaries.

Now, a decision is pending on whether more time should be given to these officers to complete the salary deductions. A related file is currently in the Chief Minister’s office.