Kerala's Chief Minister dismisses idea of fourth Saturday holiday for state govt staff

Kerala's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday rejected the recommendation by the state Administrative Reforms Commission for providing a holiday to state government employees on the fourth Saturday of the month.

The suggestion was to bring the state government employees at par with the bank employees who have a day off on the fourth Saturday. The Chief Minister's action came following the stringent opposition by the Left trade unions to the conditions put forward by the government for leave on the fourth Saturday.

The government had suggested lowering the number of casual leaves from 20 to 18 but the trade unions strongly objected to this suggestion including the Left trade unions. The government had also suggested increasing the working hours from the present timings of 10.15am to 10am and to conclude the work at 5.15pm instead of 5pm.

The trade unions opposed this suggestion too. Sources in the General Administration department told Indo-Asian News Service that the chief minister had shot down the recommendation of a fourth Saturday holiday to the government employees due to the trade unions opposing all suggestions made by the government.