Sixth Pay Commission to be a 4-member body: Cabinet

New Delhi, Nov 30 (UNI) The Sixth Pay Commission will have four members, including the Chairman, instead of three as approved by the Cabinet earlier.

The Headquarters of the Commission will be in New Delhi and its Chairman Srikrishna will have the status of a Supreme Court Judge, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters today.

The Cabinet decisions, taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, give ex post facto approval to the government measures.

Mr Chidambaram said the government proposal for bringing a Bill for ensuring social security of senior citizens has been referred to a GoM by the Cabinet. The Chairman of the GoM would be decided by the Prime Minister in a day or two.

Another Cabinet decision pertained to making the Board of Trustees of company managed provident funds (PFs) responsible for accounting for the deposits. This comes in the wake of the mismanagement of Rs 92.78 crore of the Seimens PF. An amendment would be made to the PF Act in this regard.

One more decision related to creation of one post of CEO and five technical experts in the National Rainfed Authority.

The Cabinet also approved the Action Taken Report (ATR) on the recommendations of the 5th and 7th annual reports of the National Commission for Minorities.

Another decision was regarding Railways, including construction of new lines, which would be announced in Parliament in view of the ongoing winter session, Mr Chidambaram said.

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