Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 26 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday rejected the recommendation by the state Administrative Reforms Commission for providing a holiday to state government employees on the fourth Saturday.

The suggestion was to bring the state government employees equivalent to the bank employees who have an off day on the fourth Saturday.

The Chief Minister's action came following the stringent opposition by the Left trade unions to the conditions put forward by the government for leave on the fourth Saturday.

The government had suggested lowering the number of casual leaves from 20 to 18 but the trade unions strongly objected to this suggestion including the Left trade unions. The government had also suggested increasing the working hours from the present timings of 10.15 a.m. to 10 a.m. and to conclude the work at 5.15 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. The trade unions opposed the suggestion.

Sources in the General Administration department told IANS that the chief minister had shot down the recommendation of a fourth Saturday holiday to the government employees due to the trade unions opposing all suggestions made by the government.