Central government employees pay hike: 7th Pay Commission allowances to be discussed this week

The Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) is likely toconvene for a meeting sometime this week to deliberate over and consolidaterecommendations for increasing allowances of central government employees underthe Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC).

The key points that are likely to be taken up during the meetingare House Rent Allowance (HRA) arrears on revised allowances and increase inbasic pay. Notably, allowances to central government employees are still beingpaid at old rates. On the other hand, Commission's recommendations oversalaries and pensions have already been implemented.

The E-CoS is supposed look into the recommendations made bythe Committee of Allowances constituted under Finance Secretary, Ashok Lavasa,to examine the recommendations made by the 7th pay commission regardingallowances.

The meeting over allowances for central government employeeswill be chaired by Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha, with officials from HomeAffairs, Personnel and Training, Finance, Health and Family Welfare, Railways,and Post in attendance. The exact date and time of the meeting are stillawaited.

Once the committee of secretaries is satisfied with the recommendationsmade by the Committee of Allowances, they will consolidate it and send it tothe Union Cabinet for its final approval.

The Lavasa Committee was formed by Ministry of Finance to screenthe 196 recommendations for changes in allowance structure by the 7th paycommission. The Committee submitted its report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitleyon April 24 last month, recommending that 52 allowances suggested by the pay commissionbe entirely scraped and 36 of them be incorporated with other allowancesinstead of dealing with them separately.

Central government employees have been waiting since for anupdate on the allowances suggested by the 7^th pay commission. Centralgovernment employees, unsatisfied with the hike in their salaries onrecommendations by the 7th pay commission, have been banking on updates onallowances to bring the promise of a better paycheck.

Last week , reports that some union ministers might call on seniorofficials to seek updates on the recommendations, raised expectations in theCentre staff and pensioners. However, no such meeting was confirmed by eitherthe Finance Ministry or officials who sat in the review committee, prolongingthe month-long wait of central government employees for an update on theallowances.

The changes made after the recommendations are approved willbe implemented with effect from January 1, 2016.