7th Pay Commission: Employees in dark, fear they may never get allowances

The recommendations made regarding salaries and pensions have been approved by the Cabinet in June last year.

None in the government are giving the central government employees any clarity on the implementation of the allowance recommendations as per the 7th Pay Commission. There is a lot of anxiety that has been building up.

Although the E-CoS is set to meet on June 1 to take a final call on the allowances before submitting it to the Union Cabinet, several employees say that no real update is forthcoming. Many felt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would not let them down, but today the patience is running out as there is no clarity on the matter.

Don't know anything

Several government employees say that they are not aware of anything. They are not sure if the allowances will be given. Even if it is, then none are aware of the date. Nothing has been made known including what reforms have been made in the structure.

Although sources say that the Ashok Lavasa committee has given a favourable report on HRA and allowances, there seems to be no clarity at all. A letter submitted by National Council (Staff Side) Joint Consultative Machinery for Central Government Employees to Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha suggests that the central government employees have not been told about the recommendations by Lavasa Committee about allowance reforms under the 7th pay commission.

Taking too long

The Committee on Allowances took longer time while finalizing its recommendations, but it is a matter of deep regret that, even after submission of the report by the said committee, the same has not been made available to the Staff Side (JCM), therefore, we do not know what recommendations have been made by the said committee, the letter stated. Staff Side (JCM), therefore, requests that the recommendations of the Allowances Committee should be made available to the Staff Side (JCM). Moreover, it would be highly appreciated that, the Allowances should be implemented without any further delay, and the date of the implementation should be w.e.f. 01.01.2016," the letter also read.

What was recommended

The pay panel had recommended that 52 allowances out of a total of 196 should be abolished completely and 36 allowances should be merged with existing ones instead of being treated with separate identities. The Lavasa Committee was formed to look into these changes regarding allowances and to address the representations sent in by various staff associations and ministries.

House Rent Allowance

The commission had suggested that HRO should be reduced for central government employees irrespective of their place of deployment. For employees living in metros, the 7th CPC has recommended their HRA be reduced to 24 per cent, 16 per cent and 8 per cent of basic pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively against the outgoing rates of 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 per cent. 
The Lavasa Committee has suggested the rates be revised to 27 per cent, 18 per cent and 9 per cent when DA is more than 50 per cent, and revised to 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 per cent when it is more than 100 per cent.

Allowances

The recommendations made regarding salaries and pensions have been approved by the Cabinet in June last year, but those about allowances have been put on hold considering the radical changes suggested. Employees and pensioners are getting paychecks and pensions according to the new pay scale. That is not the case with allowances, though, which are being paid on old rates. Central government employees have demanded that the changes regarding allowances should be put into effect from January 1, 2016 and relevant arrears be paid against the allowances.

Bad pay hike

The central government employees were disappointed with the marginal pay hike in their salaries and pensions. This has led to an anxious wait for the committee on allowances to come out with a final report so that their pay scale goes up.

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