7th Pay Commission: What is govt thinking on 18-months DA arrears?

Lakhs of central government employees are also eagerly waiting for the government's announcement on 18-months pending DA arrears. 

New Delhi: The Union cabinet last month gave approval for 3 percent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) under the 7th pay commission, thus taking the DA to 34% of the basic income. Over 50 lakh government employees and 65 lakh pensioners are getting profit from this move.

Meanwhile, lakhs of central government employees are also eagerly waiting for the government's announcement on 18-months pending DA arrears. The Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief of Central government employees and pensioners were restored to 31% from 17% from October 2021, however the arrears (withheld from January 2020) have not been deposited as yet.

According to a report published in Zee Business, the Central Government has made it clear that DA arrears withheld from January 2020 to June 2021 will not be given. The DA arrear in the discussion is the one that was withheld due to the onslaught of the Covid pandemic.

According to further reports, the total arrears of DR and DA for central government pensioners and employees is estimated to be Rs 34000 crore. Furthermore, in the 32nd meeting of the Standing Committee on Voluntary Agencies to review pension rules, a representative of the Department of Expenditure (DOI) clarified that the arrears of the previous DA and DR will not be released. DOI is a branch of the Union Finance Ministry.

A Zee Hindi report, quoting Shiv Gopal Mishra of the National Council of JCM, had previously mentioned that the DA arrears of Level-1 employees range from Rs 11,880 to Rs 37,554. Whereas, for Level-13 (7th CPC basic pay scale Rs 1,23,100 to Rs 2,15,900) or Level-14 (pay scale), the DA arrears in the hands of an employee will be Rs 1,44,200-2,18,200 that will be paid, quoted the reports.