Government panel to review defence personnel pay hike

New Delhi, Sept 27 : A high-level committee headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was formed by the Centre on Saturday to address the Armed forces' concerns over "anomalies" in the Central Sixth Pay Commission (CPC) report.

The Defence services have decided to accept the revised pay scales "for the moment" and submit the salary bills to the Defence Ministry on Monday, following the formation of the committee.

The three-member committee was constituted following a direction from Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, according to reports.

On Friday, the Armed forces had refused to accept the revised pay scales and did not submit the salary bills for October.

The Defence forces have now agreed to accept the pay scales with the existing "anomalies", but would wait for a decision from the committee in which Defence Minister A K Antony and Finance Minister P Chidambaram would be members.

Consequently, all Defence personnel would receive new pay along with the 40 per cent arrears on October 1.

ANI