7th Pay Commission might be issued next week and the government employees will start receiving new pay cheques

‘Notification on ‘7th Pay Commission’ next week’

New Delhi: The notification on 7th Pay Commission might be issued next week and the government employees will start receiving new pay cheques from this month.

The top Finance Ministry officials on Thursday said that notification in this regard is expected to be issued next week.

The union cabinet had on Wednesday approved the he long-awaited 7th pay commission Report’s recommendations hiking salaries of central government employees as well as pensions.

Initially, the public servants will be able to draw the hiked part of their basic pay and they will start receiving the hiked allowances five to six months later.

For example, employees belonging to the minimum pay of the existing 6th Pay Commission scale had so far been drawing a Rs 7,000 basic salary plus allowances. From July, their basic pay will rise to Rs 18,000, but their allowances will remain the same until the committee headed by the Finance Secretary to announce new allowances.

The officials said since the pay scale will be made effective retrospectively from January 1 this year, the public servants will be able to claim their arrears from the day after the notification is issued.

After the cabinet meeting, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said government salaries have to be competitive with the private sector, for which the Commission had engaged IIM-Ahmedabad to make the comparison.

“This will attract best talent in the government sector,” said the minister.

However, as per the cabinet approval, the minimum pay is now Rs 18,000 and maximum is Rs 2.5 lakh, but ideally the minimum should have been 1/10th of the maximum, the employees’s union leaders claimed.

The Cabinet ditto with the 7h Pay Commission recommendations, the commission recommended 23.55 per cent hike in salaries, allowances and pensions and a 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay for Central government employees, the lowest in 70 years.

The central government employees are in for disappointment as the cabinet approved a 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay, which is significantly lower than what the 6th pay commission had recommended. Sixth Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike in basic pay which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.

The Congress and the Left parties Thursday came out in support of the indefinite strike from July 11 call given by central government employees’ unions to protest the “inadequate” hike in their salaries. While the Congress said the hike was the worst in the last 70 years, the CPM said it was “disappointing.”

TST