7th Pay Commission: Key E-CoS meet on allowances today, good news soon assures govt

The Ashok Lavasa-led Committee on Allowances has already submitted its review report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley nearly a month ago.

A meeting on the allowance updates regarding the 7th Pay Commission is likely to be held today. Central Government employees who have been waiting for an update since the past year could soon hear some good news as the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) is expected to hold a meeting today.

Many reports suggested that the meeting would be held today. Once a decision is taken the same would be placed before the Union Cabinet for a final approval. The process is likely to take at least a week, sources also said.

The Ashok Lavasa-led Committee on Allowances has already submitted its review report on the 7th Pay Commission to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley nearly a month ago.

Who would attend the meeting

Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha and officials from Home Affairs, Personnel and Training, Health and Family Welfare, Railways and Post are likely to attend the Empowered Committee of Secretaries meeting. The meeting would take into account the demands made by the various employees' unions.

What will be discussed?

Arrears on revised allowances and an increase in basic pay are the two main issues which will be taken up at the meeting. Central government employees are now drawing allowances at old rates.

What next?
The E-CoS will have to approve the suggestions made by the Ashok Lavasa committee. The same would then be placed before the Union Cabinet for final approval. This could happen this week itself.

What 7th Pay Commission had suggested?

The Pay Panel had suggested doing away with 52 of the 196 allowances for Central government employees. The pay commission also recommended merging 36 smaller allowances into bigger ones.

On HRA

The Panel wanted the House Rent Allowance (HRA) to be reduced by 2-6 per cent depending on the categories of cities.

The Ashok Lavasa panel, which submitted its report to Arun Jaitley backed Central government employees in their demand to not alter the HRA rates. In that scenario, the employees will continue to draw the HRA as per the standards set by the Sixth Pay Commission.

What employees are likely to get?

The decision on allowance revision affects over 50 lakh employees. Once the recommendations are implemented employees would get their arrears on revised allowances.

OneIndia News