7th Pay Commission: A salary hike of Rs 10,000 on the cards

New Delhi, Dec 6: There is some big news on the 7th Pay Commission with the government indicating a very positive development.

The meeting between the Railway employees organisations and the Railway ministry was a positive one. They were assured that the employees would get allowance as suggested by the pay panel.

The employees have been assured that the running alliance will be increased. If the same is increased then the salaries would go up by Rs 10,000.

A file in this regard has been sent to the Railway Minister. During the meeting various issues were raised and the outcome was positive in nature. India Railway Men's Federation General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra said that the talks with the railway ministry were quite successful.

Meanwhile there was some bad news for the Army. The government has rejected a long-standing demand of the armed forces for higher Military Service Pay (MSP) for over 1.12 lakh military personnel, including Junior Commissioned Officers, official sources said Tuesday.

They told PTI that the Army headquarters was very upset over the decision of the Finance Ministry, and will seek its immediate review. Around 1.12 lakh military personnel including 87,646 JCOs and 25,434 personnel of equivalent rank from the Navy and the Indian Air Force will be impacted by the decision.

The proposal for higher MSP for JCOs and equivalent rank of the Navy and IAF has been rejected by the Finance Ministry, sources said. The three services, particularly the Army, was pressing for increasing the monthly MSP of JCOs from Rs 5,500 to Rs 10,000. The total annual financial outgo would have been Rs 610 crore if the government had accepted the demand, the sources said.

The MSP for the military personnel was introduced in 2008, recognising their unique service conditions and hardships. At present, the MSP has two categories -- one for officers and another for JCOs and jawans. The seventh Pay Commission had fixed Rs 5,500 as MSP per month for JCOs and jawans while putting it at Rs 15,500 for officers between Lieutenant-rank and Brigadier-rank.

The Army has been pressing for granting an MSP of Rs 10,000 for the JCOs, arguing that they are gazetted officers (Group B) and play a very vital role in command and control structure of the force. The Army headquarters is "very anguished" over the rejection of higher MSP to JCOs. The defence ministry is also miffed over it, the sources said. "Since JCOs are Group B gazetted officers and also have considerable length of service, it is incorrect to grant them MSP on par with the jawans.

It is very unfair," said a military officer who wished not to be named. In 2016, the three service chiefs had taken up salary related issues including the "anomalies" in MSP with the 7th Pay Commission as well as with the top echelon of the government.