Compassionate appointment: 25% cut in salary if conditions are violated
Henceforth, the Government of Kerala will take strident action against those who refuses to support the dependents after availing employment under compassionate appointment scheme in Kerala government service.

The respective employers will be empowered through a government order to deduct 25% of salary from such employees and release the same to the eligible dependents of the deceased.

In event of any refusal from the employees who have got job under compassionate appointment scheme to protect the dependents , such dependents will have the right to register complaint against such employees in writing. The definition of the word ‘protect’ in this context includes deliverance of needs such as food, access to assets, shelter, medical treatment and care.

Inquiry into such complaints will be conducted through Tahsildar and based on the report of such inquiry, if any such employees are found to be guilty, 25% of the basic salary of the said employees will be deducted and deposited in the bank account of the dependents. The employees who have objection about the findings of Tahsildar’s report will have the opportunity to submit appeal before the District Collector. The decision of the District Collector on such appeals will be the final.

The dependents who are receiving family pension will not be eligible for such protection. But the employees who have got employment under compassionate appointment scheme are responsible to protect the dependents who are in receipt of social security pension or pension from various welfare fund boards.

Building Taxes Act will be amended
The cabinet has decided to approve the Kerala Building Taxes (Amendment) Ordinance 2023. The ordinance is proposed to amend the 50-years old Kerala Building Taxes Act.

The Kerala Building Taxes Act came into force on 1st April 1973. Currently, the one-time building tax and luxury tax are calculated as per the built-up area of a building. The imposition/collection of both taxes is the responsibility of Revenue department. However, ascertaining of building taxes are yet to be done for thousands of domestic/non-domestic buildings in the state. This amounts to huge revenue loss for the state. The amendment is meant to make the process of collecting taxes transparent and dynamic.

The ceiling of penalty amount, which can be imposed by judicial first class magistrates will be increased

The current ceiling of penalty amount, which can be imposed by judicial first class magistrates will be increased from Rs.10000/- to Rs. One lakh. The cabinet has approved the recommendations regarding this submitted by the Registrar General of High Court towards amending the sub-section of section 29 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973, to this effect.
The amendment was necessitated as the amount of penalty for traffic law violations have increased 10-fold after the Motor Vehicles Act (Amendment) 2019 came into force.

Hence, the existing ceiling of Rs.10000/- as the maximum fine, which can be imposed by judicial first class magistrates, have been restricting the current prosecution proceedings of judicial magistrate courts. The cabinet has taken the decision to bring the amendment by giving due consideration to the above fact.

Kerala Day celebrations
Seminars and various other programmes will be organised in Thiruvananthapuram as part of the Kerala day celebrations from 1st to 7th November 2023.

Approval for extension
1012 temporary posts in the Economics & Statistics department (including 872 posts in the central plan department, one Deputy Director post in the computer section of state plan head and 139 posts of the non-plan head) were given approval for extension from 01.04.2022 to 31.03.2023 and 01.04.2023 to 31.03.2024.
Approval for extension will also be given to 248 posts in 13 L A general offices in the state, for a period of one year from 01.04.2023 onwards.

Pay revision
Approval was given to implement 11th pay revision to the employees of Kerafed with retrospective effect from 01.07.2019 onwards.
11th pay revision to the government recognised permanent employees of Child Development Centre will be implemented from 1st July 2019 onwards.

Appointment
Approval was given to appoint international property consultants to market the built-up spaces and land in various IT parks and its satellite campuses. The appointments will be on transaction/success fee basis. The appointments will be made by the Chief Executives of the respective IT parks.

Approval to acquire land
It was decided to acquire the six land holdings, which were excluded while land acquisition for development of the Techno park phase III was conducted. The responsibility to examine the title deeds of the owners of the said six land holdings and ensure availability of the land, was delegated to the Chief Executive Officer of the Techno Park. The owners of the said six land holdings will also be given a onetime payment of Rs.50000/- to avail makeshift arrangements for stay till they obtain their permanent residence.