PAFFREL complains to EC over Rs.25,000 pay hike for public servants

• Says can influence free voting
• When trade unions earlier demanded a Rs. 10,000 salary increase, the government denied it

By Kurulu Koojana Kariyakarawana

The latest decision by the Cabinet to increase the salary of public sector employees by Rs.25, 000 from 2025 could have a serious influence on the free vote of the government workers in the Presidential Election, the independent observers have complained to the Election Commission.

The Cabinet of Ministers who met on Tuesday (13) decided to grant a cost of living allowance of Rs.25, 000 to the government employees and also give a 24% raise to their salary from the 2025 budget, which is expected to take place in November this year after the conclusion of the Presidential Election.

The People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), issuing a statement yesterday, pointed out that the government by using state authority took various decisions targeting the presidential polls in the past few months.
The latest such decision has been the move to increase the salaries of public servants in the run-up to an election and especially after an election has been announced, which will clearly impact their free vote.

When the trade unions demanded a salary increase of Rs.10, 000 even before an election was declared the government denied it saying no adequate funds to do so.

Also, the government from time to time stated that the size of the public service should be downsized. In a situation like this, it is surprising to see a sudden decision to increase the salary by Rs.25, 000.

Executive Director PAFFREL Rohana Hettiarachchi said that they have brought this to the notice of the Election Commission as it is a serious violation of law. “It is a serious violation of the Election Law to influence the free vote of the public servants, and we hope that the Election Commission will act on this fast,” he said.

Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Bandula Gunawardana announced early this week that Cabinet approval was granted on May 27, 2024, to appoint a specialist committee tasked with submitting a report with recommendations for revising salaries across all sectors of the public service, based on the 2025 budget. The report will review the salaries, wages and other remunerations of the government sector.

As the Finance Minister, the President granted policy approval for the following proposals from the report: These proposals will be included in the 2025 budget.