The Hon. (Prof.) A.H.M.H. Abayarathna - Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government
Pensions for officers who retired between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2019 have been revised only up to the first two stages under the relevant Public Administration Circulars, while stages 3 to 5 remain pending due to earlier Cabinet suspensions and a need for a further policy decision. A Fundamental Rights case is pending before the Supreme Court, after which the matter is to be submitted to Cabinet for a decision on payments. Implementing the remaining stages for 112,984 retirees would require an additional annual provision of Rs. 7,704 million, and 1,254 of those retirees have since died.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I answer the question by Hon. (Dr.) Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam as follows.
¶ 02 (a) (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) are interrelated; therefore, I respond together:
¶ 03 - Pursuant to Public Administration Circular 03/2016, pensions of officers retiring after 01.01.2016 were to be revised in five stages. Circular 03/2016(II) of 08.02.2017 was issued for this purpose, but its provisions were suspended following a Cabinet decision on 28.02.2017.
¶ 04 - Thereafter, PA Circular 14/2019 (31.05.2019) revised pensions of all officers who retired on or before 01.01.2017, based on the salary entitlement as at 01.01.2017 under PA Circular 03/2016 and its Annexure II. Accordingly, pensions of all who retired before 01.01.2016 and between 01.01.2016 and 01.01.2017 have been revised on the salary scale applicable on 01.01.2017.
¶ 05 - With Cabinet approval on 11.11.2019, PA Circular 35/2019 (10.12.2019) was issued to compute pensions from 01.01.2020 based on the full salary entitlement under PA Circular 03/2016 Annex I. However, on 02.01.2020, the then Cabinet decided to suspend implementation of Circular 35/2019 until all disparities in pensions are resolved in future budgets; PA Circular 35/2019(I) was issued on 20.01.2020 to that effect.
¶ 06 - Thus, for retirees between 01.01.2016 and 31.12.2019, stages 1 and 2 have been implemented; stages 3–5 remain pending subject to policy decision.
¶ 07 - A Fundamental Rights case No. 386/2021 (F/R) is pending before the Supreme Court. After considering all relevant matters, a submission will be made to the Cabinet for a policy decision; decisions on payments should be taken then.
¶ 08 (b) (i) and (ii) The first two stages have been completed. Pending are: - Stage 3: revision on salary entitlement as at 01.01.2018; - Stage 4: revision on salary entitlement as at 01.01.2019; - Stage 5: revision on salary entitlement as at 01.01.2020.
¶ 09 The additional annual provision required to implement stages 3–5 for those who retired between 01.01.2016 and 01.01.2020 is Rs. 7,704 million. Details are placed in the Library.
¶ 10 (iv) Number of retirees between 01.01.2016 and 01.01.2020: 112,984.
¶ 11 (v) Number deceased among them to date: 1,254.
¶ 12 (iii) and (c) Do not arise.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 21 January 2025 ·No. 1737707091008005 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Prof.) A.H.M.H. Abayarathna - Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 21 January 2025. No. 1737707091008005. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/27177