The Punjab government has taken a major administrative step and decided to repeal the Punjab Regularisation of Service Act 2018. Under this decision, all new recruitments will now be made on lump sum pay package instead of basic pay scale (BPS).
According to the Punjab Finance Ministry, the aim of this step is to reduce the long-term financial burden on the government exchequer, like pension and gratuity. Government sources said that the largest share of the province’s total expenditure was being spent on salaries and pensions, due to which the budget allocated for development projects was being affected.
The Finance Department says that the new lump sum package system will help the government reduce financial pressure and manage the budget better.
According to the S&GAD department, this decision was taken after several months of consultation, which included the Finance, Law and Public Services departments. Employees recruited under the new policy will be paid under a fixed monthly package but will not get pension or other retirement benefits like in traditional government jobs.
The notification issued after the approval of the Punjab Governor clarified that the status of employees already regularized under the 2018 law will continue, but no new contract employees will be made regular under this law.