Ranchi, Dec. 20: The fate of senior IPS officer J.B. Mahapatra continues to hang in a balance.

Despite being promoted to the director-general rank, he is not getting his salary amount since July this year.

While the accountant-general is not willing to approve the payment of his wages, the chief minister argues that he will be getting his dues after assuming the charge of Jharkhand police housing corporation director-general.

But, Mahapatra feels that he will not be getting his salary even after assuming the charge of his new office, because of his inability to produce the last pay certificate. And, the police housing corporation, in any case, will not pay his salary for the period when he was not working with it. He has already approached the central administrative tribunal for justice, even as Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari favours an out-of-court settlement at the earliest.

The Speaker today directed the chief minister, Arjun Munda, to immediately talk to Mahapatra and work out an amicable solution after Stephen Marandi raised the issue in the House through a call attention notice.

The chief minister, however, argued that the state government was empowered to create as many ex-cadre posts and transfer the officer anywhere, including foreign countries. Munda said he would discuss Mahapatra?s case with the Centre during the next cadre review meeting.

Mahapatra was promoted to the director-general rank about six months ago along with V.D. Ram. While Ram replaced R.R. Prasad as the state police chief Mahapatra was made the director-general of rail police. This post was created for the first time in the state. According to the rules, one post of DGP has been approved by the Centre and the state is empowered to have one ex-cadre post. But, Jharkhand now has three officers in the DGP rank.

The accountant-general consequently objected to payment of DGP payscale to Mahapatra. ?The state government is empowered to create as many ex-cadre posts for a period of one year. The accountant-general should be told that he is wrong,? added BJP member Saryu Rai.

?There is no need to seek the accountant-general?s ?permission? in the issue of ex-cadre post. Still, I am ready to talk to the Centre during the cadre review meeting. Mahapatra has also approached the CAT, which is yet to give any decision,? Munda said.

Later Mahapatra told The Telegraph that he has told the state government that he will not assume charge unless his wage dispute was settled. ?Even the police housing corporation is not going to pay me, because I will not be able to produce my pay certificate in the director-general rank. Who will be paying my salary amount for the past six months,? he argued.