Govt gears up to notify 7th Pay Commission hike

New Delhi:The government is gearing up to notify the 7th pay commission recommendations for implementation shortly, after it’s got cabinet nod.

The government has to notify of the new pay scale for central government employees within 7 days, excluding allowances, the compensatory perks for all employees and the employees will get increased basic pay from next month, the finance ministry officials told The Sen Times on Tuesday.

In last month, the new pay scale was approved with a highest basic pay of Rs 2,50,000 and a minimum of Rs 18,000. It allowed a hike of 14.27 percent in basic pay.

The basic pay for officers and other employees and the arrears will have retroactive effect from January 1 this year and the allowances will be paid after getting report from the Finance Secretary Committee.

The Cabinet decided to constitute a Committee headed by Finance Secretary for further examination of the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission on allowances including HRA, Transport Allowance.

The Committee will complete its work in a time bound manner and submit its reports within a period of 4 months, till a final decision, all existing allowances will continue to be paid at the existing rates, the cabinet note says.

However, the Finance Secretary Committee has not been set up till date.

“Allowances contribute 63 percent in the pay hike recommendation. When the allowance is not taken into consideration it will mean fewer amounts because the allowance which the commission proposed is very substantial. Accordingly, the central government employees will get a little hike in pay but FM is pressing hard to issue it very shortly without allowances”, said the officials.

The 6th Pay Commission, introduced on January 1, 2006, had awarded a highest basic of Rs 90,000 and a minimum of Rs 7,000.

The new structure has dropped the pay bands and grade pay and okayed a new pay matrix. The Central government employee status, hitherto determined by grade pay, will now be determined by the level in the pay matrix.

The new pay scale will impose a burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore to the exchequer. However, by deferring the allowance hike proposed by the seventh pay commission, the burden to the exchequer is reduced by a 17 per cent at Rs 84,933 crore.

Justice A K Mathur made the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission on November 19 last year.

It had recommended a minimum basic pay of Rs 18,000 and a highest of Rs 2,50,000.

A 13 member secretary-level Empowered Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha reviewed the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations and revised a 30 per cent increase in the pasic pay instead of 14.27 and the basics to a minimum of Rs 21,000 and a highest of Rs 2,70,000, but the cabinet didn’t accept it. They went for ditto, the 7th pay commission recommendations.

Source : SenTimes