7th Pay Commission: Interim budget dashes hopes of pay hike, misery to continue

New Delhi, Jan 9: The wait relating to good news on the 7th Pay Commission has been never ending for Central Government employees.

It appears now that the wait for a hike in basic minimum pay is likely to get longer. At first it was being speculated that the government would go in for a full budget.

It is now however confirmed that there would be only an interim budget. This is actually bad news for CG employees who have been demanding a hike in basic minimum pay from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000.

A top government official confirmed to OneIndia, " leave alone the demand to hike the pay to Rs 26,000, there would no hike of up to Rs 21,000 anytime soon.'

There was a lot of expectation that there would be some positive news relating to the pay hike at least in January. However as of now everything is at a standstill and the government is more keen on pushing forward populist schemes.

There was also news in some quarters that there could be some announcement on January 26.

However that too would turn out to be a damp squib like what had happened on August 15, when it was largely speculated that the Prime Minister would make an announcement during his Independence Day address.

The CG employees also should not expect anything much in the budget to be presented in February. A full budget is not on the cards as there is no time and it would be impossible to pass a full budget before the election process sets into motion.

Jaitley is expected to follow convention and present only an interim budget and allow the new government to present the full budget. The budgetary exercises for the one to be presented in February had begun in October 2018 itself. The finance ministry had even imposed a quarantine from December, which bars the entry of the media into the North Block where the Finance Ministry is housed. The quarantine remains in force until the budget is presented.

An interim budget or a vote on account is a provision by which the government obtains permission from Parliament for a quantum of funds sufficient to incur its expenditures for the part of the year, until a full budget is presented.

With very less scope in the interim budget, it is almost certain that there would no further announcement for CG employees where the 7th Pay Commission is concerned.