Cabinet yesterday approved the payment of an allowance of Rs. 15,000 to all officers in the executive grades of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) irrespective of how many years they had been in service.
Earlier the allowance ranged from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 15,000 depending on how many years the officers had been in service.
Cabinet approval to grant the allowance was given after taking into consideration the report of the Cabinet subcommittee appointed on Friday night to inquire into and report on ways to address the issue of salary anomalies in the state sector.
Cabinet also agreed to the proposal by the Committee to make teachers’ and principals’ services as well as railway services closed services in order to put them on reasonable salary scales and to formulate a new salary structure for these sectors.
The committee, which included Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Ministers Rajitha Senaratne, Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Rajitha Senaratne and State Ministers Harsha de Silva and Eran Wickramaratne, met with trade union representatives from these sectors before compiling the report.
(FT)