Staff shortage at AG’s office disrupts pensions, pay revisions for govt employees

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A significant staff crunch at the Accountant General’s (AG) office has disrupted the timely processing of pensions for state government employees and delayed pay revisions for gazetted officers in Kerala. The resulting backlog is expected to cause substantial delays in disbursing benefits such as monthly pensions, gratuity, and commutation.

Although existing regulations mandate that employees submit their pension documents six months prior to retirement, many are unable to meet this deadline due to last-minute promotions and pay revisions. Once an employee retires, the AG’s office is responsible for verifying and approving various retirement benefits. While this process is ideally completed within three months, current clearance times range from four to six months due to manpower constraints.

The approval of payslips for promotions and salary hikes of gazetted officers, which also falls under the AG’s purview, has been significantly delayed. Addressing related queries and resolving discrepancies is also taking longer than usual.

Despite having regional offices in Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, and Kozhikode, much of the workload has now been shifted to the state headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram. The AG’s office, which once had a workforce of around 6,000 in its Accounts and Audit divisions, is now operating with fewer than 2,000 staff.

The situation has worsened following the retirement of nearly 12,400 state employees on May 31, adding enormous pressure on the AG’s office to process pension-related formalities. Officials attribute the staff reduction to the full digitisation of operations, arguing that technology has lessened the need for human resources. However, to manage the growing backlog, the government is reportedly considering hiring retired personnel as consultants.

Outsourcing audit work
There are also plans to entrust performance audits of the state government, reviews of public sector undertakings, revenue audits, and service audits to private Chartered Accountants (CAs). Critics argue that this move could undermine the quality and credibility of audits traditionally carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). Additionally, there are proposals to outsource data entry tasks and to appoint contract staff in lower-level positions as part of ongoing administrative adjustments.