7th Pay Commission: No cabinet meet this week, IB warns of unrest by govt employees

The E-CoS has suggested to keep the HRA rate at 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay.

The central government employees waiting for their higher allowances and HRA under the 7th Pay Commission will get good news only after June 25. The Cabinet will not set the agenda for the issue at least June 24. The Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will not be in the country till June 24.

Jaitley will leave on a 4 day visit to Russia on June 20. When sources were asked if the agenda could be fixed on June 19, they said it is unlikely. Jaitley is busy with the presidential polls and will fix the cabinet agenda only next week.

Surely by end of month

With Jaitley away and the preparations for the presidential elections, central government will have to wait a while longer for updates on HRA and higher allowances. However top government sources said that the government wants to complete the matter by the end of this month itself. Jaitley is away in Russia between June 20 and 24. He will be meeting with Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu. The matter will be taken up once he returns.

IB report on employees

Meanwhile various intelligence agencies say that if the matter is delayed further there could be a nation wide unrest. There is already lot of tension and frustration among the employees. The IB has said that if the matter gets delayed any further it could go out of hand. For now the employees are indulging in peaceful protests such as forming human chains. However if the matter gets delayed further, it could go out of control. The government has taken this report seriously and will work on the issue and try resolving by June end.

Higher Allowances

The central government employees will start getting their revised allowances from July itself, sources have said. Various reports state that the government is ready to roll out higher allowances from July 18 2017 itself.

Arrears

While the salaries of central government employees have been hiked as per the 7th Pay Commission, revised higher allowances haven't been paid. The central government employees have demanded arrears on higher allowances as well, but the government neither accepted, nor rejected their demand. Shiv Gopal Mishra, chief of the National Joint Council of Action (NJCA), leading the negotiations with the government, was unsure whether their demands about arrears on higher allowances will be met or not.

HRA

The E-CoS has suggested to keep the HRA rate at 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively, as recommended by the 7th Pay Commission. The central government employees, however, demanded to retain HRA rate at 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent of Basic pay (pay in the pay band plus grade pay). HRA in cities with population above 5 million could be 27 per cent of the basic pay.

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