7th Pay Commission: CG employees in pay matrix 1 to 5 likely to hike first

New Delhi, Sep 5: The hike beyond the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission is likely to be made first available to the Central Government employees of the lower-level.

Sources say that hikes would be effected in a phased manner and the fitment factor for employees earning lower salaries would be effected first. In a bid to encourage the lower level employees, the fitment factor is expected to raise from 2.56 to 2.7 times.

If this decision is implemented then it would positively impact employees in the pay matrix level 1 to 5.

The 7th Pay Commission had proposed a salary hike from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000. The fitment factor post this increase stood at 2.57 times for lower level CG employees.

The source said that this is still at the deliberations stage. During the last meeting, it was decided that the government would take a call on the matter after studying the financial implications. During the backdoor talks it was felt that the hikes must be rolled out in phased manner.

The government is of the view if the hikes beyond the 7th Pay Commission are announced for all employees at one go then it would severely impact the economy. One proposal which sounded feasible was to roll out the hike in a phased manner. The first persons to get the hike could be the employees in the pay matrix 1 to 5.

The hopes of the CG employees was dashed when Minister of State for Finance, P Radhakrishnan had said in the Rajya Sabha that the issue regarding the 7th Pay Commission was closed. However CG employees have been citing difficulties and have made several representations to the government.

The talks regarding the issue had come to a standstill after Arun Jaitley had to step down briefly as Finance Minister owing to health related issues. However with Jaitley back in the hot seat, the issue relating to the 7th Pay Commission has been re-kindled. The start of a change could be the hike that is likely to be rolled out by the end of this year for employees at the lower level.