Rules are rules, aren't they?

Especially in the Govt of India and that goes for the stately file, too

R P Singh, retired IAS officer and current chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), hasn't got his stated salary since June 2012.

He periodically also gets eviction notices from the Central Public Works Department, asking him to vacate his government house.

This for someone who, at a conservative estimate, is overseeing road construction amounting to upwards of Rs 1,00,000 crore a year on behalf of the same government.

It appears the government can't decide whether he's a regulator, an 'outsider who has been reappointed' or simply a retired government servant. The rules are different for all three. NHAI has specific rules and regulations on the pay and allowances of its employees. It is a statutory body. But instead of following those rules on salary and perquisites (like a house), the government seems determined to apply the rules of re-employment that apply to a former secretary to the government of India and pay the NHAI chairman Rs 80,000 a month, deducting his pension to boot.

R P Singh who says he's never taken anything lying down in his entire life, has been in battle for the past year, seeking a better deal. The salary of other regulators such as Ashok Chawla (Competition Commission) and Rahul Khullar (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) is fixed: Rs 3.75 lakh a month, with no official house and no official car.

But NHAI has its own rules. 'Outsiders' can be made chairman but the rules say nothing about pension being deducted from the salary paid to the chairman, even if he is a retired government servant.

This is not a new dispute. Pension is classified as a deferred wage and whether it is just to deduct it from the salary of a retired government officer if he is re-employed is something the finance ministry and the department of personnel and training (DoPT) have been discussing for several years. Singh says the rules of NHAI don't say anything of the sort.

The DoPT says it is "understood" that pension will be deducted from the salary of a retired re-employed officer.

The NHAI also says that till houses for its employees are ready, they should be given houses by the government.

The ministry of urban development says it has no houses to give to serving officers, what to speak of retired ones.

The files relating to his accommodation and salary have been meandering between the ministries of finance, law and urban development and the DoPT for a year. Minister for Roads, C P Joshi, sources say, is still to take a view on the issue.