A gazette notification issued by the Andhra Pradesh government, on the same day when Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu took over as the chief minister on July 12, has raised a lot uproar among the state government employees.
The notification pertains to implementation of Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS), in place of Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as announced by the previous Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
It was issued by former special chief secretary (finance) S S Rawat on June 12, the day when Naidu took over.
The GO said the GPS would come into retrospective effect from October 20, 2023. This was strongly objected to by the state government employees, who have been opposing both the CPS and GPS, as they were demanding the restoration of old pension scheme (OPS).
They are asking why the officials have released the backdated gazette notification and GO, despite the change of government.
When the issue has become controversial, Naidu was shocked and surprised as to how the orders were issued on such a controversial decision without his knowledge. He immediately ordered that the GO and the gazette notification be kept in abeyance.
He also ordered an inquiry as to why the authorities issued orders by keeping the present government in dark. Apparently, Naidu believes that the officials of the previous government issued orders to throw the blame on his government.