Thiruvananthapuram: In a massive development, the report of the Contributory Pension Review Committee was finally out on Monday, revealing a slew of recommendations which could place the cash-strapped Kerala Government in a tough spot. 

The report prepared by the committee set by the LDF Government was kept under wraps, stating it to be a confidential document. 

The report recommends increasing the state government’s contribution to the scheme, Death-cum-Retirement Gratuity (DCRG), ex-gratia pension for those having less than ten years of service, etc. 

The committee suggests increasing 10 per cent of employee salary and dearness allowance (DA) to 14 per cent as done by the central government and many other states. However, the government have to wait until 2040 to receive benefit from the scheme. 

The committee has recommended that government employees whose recruitment was finalised on or before April 1, 2013, but only joined service after the stipulated time, should be given the option of joining the statutory pension scheme.

The Oommen Chandy government launched the contributory pension Scheme in 2013. During the 2016 Kerala Assembly elections, the LDF promised to eliminate the contributory pension if they won. To keep their word, the LDF government formed a committee in 2018 to reexamine the scheme. The report, however, submitted to the government in 2021, has not been made public. 

On Monday, the government finally handed over a copy of the report to the Joint Council of State Service Organisation General Secretary, Jayachandran Kallingal. The move came in the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s (SC) intimation that the delay in producing the report may invite contempt of court proceedings. 

Earlier, the state Right to Information Commission had also directed the government to release a copy of the committee report. However, back then, the Kerala High Court issued an order in favour of the state government in the case. The court noted that the report, which had by then become a cabinet document, could not be released until it was studied in detail. However, the argument that the particular report is a potential cabinet paper seems to have not pleased the apex court bench.