THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: One can secure a good amount as pension for lifetime by working as the personal staff of ministers and the opposition leader for two years. Personal staff earns up to a salary Rs 1.60 lakh for the gazztted post job and no specific educational qualifications is required. The government has not accepted the recommendation of the Pay commission that only those who have worked for at least four years should be given a pension.

The Chief Minister's staff consists of an SSLC qualified Deputy Private Secretary. About Rs 1.42 crore is needed to pay the salaries of the 362 personal staff appointed by 21 ministers and the Chief Whip. 7% DA, 10% HRA and medical re-imbursement benefits are also provided. Quarters are also available. The Leader of the Opposition has appointed 14 members to the personal staff. During the Oommen Chandy government there were 623 personal staff.

An order was issued on September 23, 1994 granting pensions to the personal staff of ministers.For maximum pension, the service period is 30 years and for minimum pension it is 3 years. Service of 29 years or more will be considered as 30 years and two or more years of service considered as 3 years. Those who work for two years and one day will be given a pension for three years. The minimum pension is Rs 2400 and DR. It became customary for a minister to appoint two personal staff within the tenure and to secure pension.

The highest paid personal staff is the Private Secretary and the Additional Private Secretary. Salary Scale range 1,07,800-1,60,000. The lowest paid is the cook (scale 23,000-50,200). For those earning up to Rs 70,000, a first class AC train ticket and airfare above Rs 77,000 are available.

362 Personal Staff

The directly appointed personal staff of ministers are Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan-26, Ministers Roshi Augustine-15, Antony Raju-18 and GR. Anil-17, P Rajeev-12, P.A. Muhammad Riyaz-19, V. Abdurahman-16, V.N. Vasavan-15, K.N. Balagopal-13, K. Rajan-17, K. Krishnankutty-15, Chinchurani-17, AK Sasindran-13, P. Prasad-15, M.V. Govindan-16, Saji Cherian-16, Veena George-16, Ahmed Devarkovil-17, V Sivankutty-17, K Radhakrishnan-16, R Bindu-17, Chief Whip M. Jayaraj-19

The posts of Private Secretary, Deputy Private Secretary and Special Private Secretary have the same salary scale and rank of Deputy Secretary in the Secretariat (77,400-1,15,200). The Assistant Private Secretary will be paid the salary same as that of an Under Secretary.