Seventh Pay Commission: Govt To Raise Minimum Pay

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New Delhi: Government plans to raise the minimum pay of central government employees from Rs 18,000, which was recommended by Seventh Pay Commission, a Finance Ministry official said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said earlier that he was not worried about implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.

The Finance Ministry official has given strong indications on condition of anonymity that the minimum pay recommended Seventh Pay Commission is likely to be increased as soon as next fiscal as the members of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries are ready to process the review of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations for hike the minimum pay.

The official said government wants to see the minimum pay increased “progressively” in the coming fiscal as the economy improves and there is an “inevitability” about pay increase demands as the economy improves.

He said that the current pay panel recommended minimum pay to Rs 18,000 per month from Rs 7,000, while the maximum pay has been recommended Rs 2.5 lakh per month from current Rs 90,000. It’s made a width pay gap discrimination between employees and higher officers from existing 1:12 to 1: 13.8.

Every pay commission made up pay gap between employees and higher officers from second Pay Commission 1:41 ratio to Sixth pay commission 1:12. It reveals that the Seventh Pay Commission has not been properly reviewed the pay gap between minimum and maximum pay.

The Empowered Committee of Secretaries (CoS) for processing the report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission has been consisted of thirteen secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha with experience of working with low-paid government employees, like experience of government employees’ interests and experience of labour market economics and employment law.

The official said he envisages the Secretaries Committee meeting for the first time in March or April after receiving feedback from employees’ association through the Implementation Cell of the Pay Commission, which has been created in the Finance Ministry to work as the Secretariat of the Committee.

He anticipates that Secretaries Committee’s recommendations will be implemented “very soon after that”.

The PMO has also directed the Empowered Committee of Secretaries to prepare the report on Pay Commission soon, he added.

Another official in the Finance Ministry, insisted that an Empowered Committee of Secretaries (CoS) for processing the report of Pay Commission, which is formed after every pay commission report to examine the report very closely and said its success is based on government usually implementing its recommendations.

The Seventh Pay Commission headed by Justice A K Mathur presented its report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in November with the recommendations for 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay, the overall increase in salary, allowances and pensions is 23.55%. The increase in allowances will be higher by 63% while pensions will rise 24%.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said earlier that he was not worried about fiscal deficit and government would be able to meet its target despite additional outgo on account of higher pay.

He had admitted however that the impact of implementing the recommendations, which will result in an additional annual burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore on exchequer, would last for two to three years.

TST