COLOMBO (News 1^st) – The Ministry of Finance issuing a release says that the Heads of State Institutions should be responsible for paying salaries to excess employees in the state sector.

The release says The Government has decided that the Secretaries to Ministries, Heads of Departments, Chairpersons, executive officers and Accountants of Government Institutions should take the responsibility of paying salaries for redundant workers they have employed in addition to the approved Cadre.

At the same time, the Cabinet has also decided that making relevant statutory payments in time such as contributions to Employees Provident Fund and Employees Trust Fund of state corporations, statutory boards and government-owned companies is also the responsibility of the heads of such institutions.

The release says that there are over 7500 personnel employed in various government institutions in addition to the Cadre positions approved by the Management Services Department of the Treasury.

The Ministry of Finance says there are currently 1,375,499 public servants employed in the entire state sector including government ministries, departments, provincial councils, and local government institutions as well as other public enterprises, government-owned institutions, and state banks at the end of 2017.

During the year 2017 alone, 23,224 people have been recruited to the state service. At the same time, 5,000 public servants have retired and another 246 have been dismissed on various disciplinary grounds, during the same time period.

The Finance Ministry adds that there are 74,872 approved positions for development officers in the state sector and nearly 18,000 of these positions are currently vacant.