Sixth Pay panel set up; Justice B N Srikrishna to head panel

New Delhi, Sep 2 (UNI) Mr Justice B N Srikrishna, former judge of the Supreme Court, is to head the Sixth Pay Commission that will go into revision of wages for more than 33 lakh central government employees, it was officially announced here today.

According to an official spokesperson, the other members of the Commission, constituted today, are Prof R H Dholakia of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Prof J S Mathur, former member-secretary of Expenditure Reforms Commission (ERC).

Mrs Sushma Nath, who is at present Additional Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), Ministry of Agriculture, will be the member-secretary of the Commission.

A former judge of the Bombay High Court, Mr Justice Srikrishna had headed the inquiry commission that went into the 1993 riots in Mumbai in the aftermath of Babri Masjid demolition.

The Commission will also examine the desirability and quantum of interim relief to be sanctioned, if any.

Further, it will look into certain aspects of service conditions of Central Government employees.

The Commission is expected to submit its report by end-2007.

The Cabinet cleared the decision to set up the pay panel on July 20 last.

Successive Central Pay Commissions have been set up in the past at intervals of 10 to 13 years. The Fifth Pay Commission, which was set up in April 1994, submitted its report on January 1997 having a financial impact of Rs 17,000 crore.

Pay Commissions are periodically constituted to look into issues such as pay and allowances, retirement benefits, service conditions, and promotion policies of Central Government employees.

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