7th Pay Commission: Bad news hits CG employees, govt says a Flat NO to pay hike

New Delhi, Dec 22: There seems to be no good news on the 7th Pay Commission and the issue continues to drag on without any clarity.

Central Government employees have been demanding a pay hike beyond what the pay panel had recommended, but the government has had nothing to offer as of now.

What the update on pay hike

Two Rajya Sabha members, Ravi Prakash Verma and Neeraj Shankar had asked the finance ministry, whether there was any proposal to increase the fitment factor from 2.57 to 2.81 times. In August they had asked if there was a proposal to increase the fitment factor to 3.68 times.

What government said

Minister of State for Finance P Radhakrishnan said that there is no such proposal. "The fitment factor for the purpose of fixation of pay in the revised pay structure based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission is 2.57 which is uniformly applicable to all categories of employees. As the same is based on the specific and considered recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission, no change therein is envisaged," the minister said.

What about HRA

The two RS members then asked if the government would increase the HRA from 24 to 30 per cent of the basic salary as was under the 6th Pay Commission. The government however said that the HRA had already been revised vide a resolution dated July 17 2017. HRA shall be revised to 27%, 18% and 9% of Basic Pay in X, Y and Z cities when Dearness Allowance (DA) crosses 25% and further to 30%, 20% and 10% of Basic Pay in X,Y and Z cities when DA crosses 50%," the government said.

Hike looks bleak

This is the second time that the government had said that there is no proposal to increase the basic pay. The 7th Pay Commission had recommended a hike in basic pay of up to 18,000. However the employees have been demanding Rs 26,000 as the basic pay.