I&B Ministry tweaks directive linking clearance of salary with training module after protest

New Delhi: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has withdrawn a direction linking clearance of salary to completion of a training module within a day, following protests from its employees that wages cannot be withheld without a legally valid reason.

An office memorandum issued on November 18 had asked the Ministry's Pay and Account Officers (PAOs) to clear salary bills of only those who have completed the iGOT (Integrated Government Online Training), which is meant to make officials "future ready”.

"All PAOs of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting are directed...to clear the salary bills of only those officials who have been certified by the DDO/HoO regarding completion of mandatory iGoT course. In other cases, where the certificates are not provided, salary bills may be kept on hold till further orders," it said. It was issued with the approval of I&B Secretary Sanjay Jaju.

As protest rose, the Ministry issued another office memorandum on November 19 which modified the previous one omitting the reference to withholding salary. Paragraph 2 of the...Office Memorandum (on November 18) be read as "A status report may be provided by the concerned DDOs/HoOs, in regard to completion of onboarding on the iGOT platform for all officials working in the concerned units or divisions.”

On Wednesday, the Association of Akashvani and Doordarshan Engineering Employees wrote to Jaju saying that the November 18 office memorandum fell upon them as a "meteor" since orders mentioning training were not circulated among them and majority of them were unaware that it was mandatory.

It said the subordinate engineering employees are deployed in more than 1,000 installations across the country "to ensure the policy decisions of the government reaches every corner of the nation" and being the operational cadre to ensure interruption-free services, they need sufficient time to attend such training without affecting the services of the national broadcaster.

“Salary is a property within the meaning of Article 300A of the Constitution of India. Salary of an employee, therefore, cannot be withheld except for cogent reasons. Therefore, in the absence of any lawful justification, the government cannot stop your salary," AADEE President S Anil Kumar and General Secretary Prakash Chandra Thapliyal said in the letter.

iGOT, run by the government's Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Karmayogi Bharat, provides anytime, anywhere, any-device learning for civil service officials to enhance their competency.