Payment Bill referred to subject panel

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Assembly on Thursday referred the Payment of Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2011, for the consideration of the subject committee.  Piloting the Bill, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that under the provisions of the Bill, every MLA would be entitled to the services of an officer of his or her choice other than a member of the all-India service.  He said that it was in consideration of the requests of MLAs that the government  had decided to amend Sub-section(6) of Section 8 A of the Payment of Salaries and Allowances Act,1951, so as to enable a member to have the services of any officer of his or her choice.The amendment will enable the member to avail of the services of any officer of the Subordinate  Service or the State Service  except those of all-India service, as personal assistant to the MLA. However, Deputy Opposition leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan pointed out that in the event of the Bill being passed with the existing provisions, the MLAs could ask for the service of officers upto the rank of Additional Secretary. Deputy collectors and non-cadre SPs may be asked to serve as PAs of MLAs and this would create problems for the government.He hoped that these issues would be discussed in the subject committee. The original Bill had only the provision   to make available the services of an officer of the MLA’s choice not below the rank of a selection grade assistant in the Government Secretariat and who is in the service of the state government, local authority or any corporation owned or controlled  by government or any authority specified by the government.