7th Pay Commission: Resentment Over Non-Payment Of Arrears On Allowances
New Delhi: Great resentment prevails among 48 lakh central government employees over the announcement of non payment of arrears on allowances.
The government on Wednesday increased allowances, which comes into effect from July 1, 2017, is based on the recommendations of the Committee on Allowances (CoA).
While he government hiked the salaries for the central government employees from August 2016. They also got arrears from January 2016 on the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.
The central government employees’union also expressed its resentment over the the announcement of non payment of arrears on allowances.
The Central government employees’ Unions had been pressing for implementation of higher allowances with effect from January 1, 2016.
They were demanding HRA at the rate of 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 percent of basic pay instead of 24, 16 and 8 percent.
The cabinet approved 7th Pay Commission recommendations for reduction in the HRA rates to 24 per cent for X, 16 per cent for Y and 8 per cent for Z category of cities.
“As the HRA at the reduced rates may not be sufficient for employees falling in lower pay bracket, it has been decided that HRA will not be less than Rs 5400, Rs 3600 and Rs 1800 for X, Y and Z category of cities respectively.
“This floor rate has been calculated at 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 per cent of the minimum pay of Rs 18,000. This will benefit more than 7.5 lakh 1 to 3 levels of employees,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.
The modifications on allowances are based on suggestions made by the Committee on Allowances in its report submitted to the Finance Minister on April 27, and the Empowered Committee of Secretaries set up to screen the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.
The 7th Pay Commission also recommended abolition of 52 allowances and subsuming of another 36 allowances into larger existing ones out of total 196 allowances.
Employee unions were opposed it, which government complied with formation of the Committee on Allowances headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa in June 2016 to review the allowances.
The central government employees are now getting no new allowances (except Dearness Allowance) with their new pay structure till July salaries.
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