Circular issued to make SOE heads responsible for excess employees

• New measure holds ministry secys and others responsible for appointments beyond approved cadre
• Salary payments to be responsibility of dept. heads, chairpersons and even accountants

The Government has issued a circular holding heads of State institutions, including ministry secretaries and department heads, accountable for salary payments to recruitments made beyond the approved public sector cadre, the Finance Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

Circular 03/2018 has been released by the Management Services Department under the Treasury after Cabinet approved a Cabinet paper presented by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera to hold top officials of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) responsible for recruitments made without Treasury approval. 

The circular will hold responsible secretaries to line ministries, heads of departments and the accountants who pay the salaries and other allowances to the employees who have been appointed to their respective institutions over the approved cadre by the Management Services Department.

The statement also went on to say that Cabinet had decided that making relevant statutory payments in time, such as contributions to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees’ Trust Fund (ETF) of State corporations, statutory boards and Government-owned companies, was also the responsibility of the heads of such institutions. “If there are already employees who have been appointed outside of the Management Services circulars and approvals then their details along with salary information should be sent to the Management Services Department,” the statement said.

If any future appointments are made outside the Management Services Department approvals then the institution heads will be held accountable for the oversight, the statement added. 

Over 7,500 personnel are estimated to be employed in various government institutions above the cadre positions approved by the Management Services Department of the Treasury. 

It has been computed that there were 1,375,499 public servants employed in the entire State sector including Government ministries, departments, Provincial Councils and Local Government institutions as well as other public enterprises, Government-owned institutions and State banks at the end of 2017. 

During 2017 alone, 23,224 persons had been recruited to the State service. At the same time, 5,000 servants have retired from the services and another 246 public employees have been dismissed on various disciplinary grounds.