Pay Commission report: 20 services seek fair representation on panel

New Delhi, Jan 24: Seeking to check IAS dominance, a confederation representing thousands of officers of 20 civil services, including Indian Police Service, has sought fair representation on an empowered committee that will examine the 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations.

In a memorandum submitted to Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha and Expenditure Secretary Ratan P Watal recently, it demanded that the representation of any one service should be restricted to 25 per cent of the total strength of the committee.

The Union Cabinet had on January 13 given its approval for setting up an empowered committee of Secretaries under the Cabinet Secretary to process the recommendations of the pay panel.

The move assumes significance as various civil services have been raising their voice against career benefits enjoyed by officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Foreign Service (IFS).

The Confederation of Civil Services Association (COCSA) has highlighted the "apprehensions" shared by a "majority" of officers and requested for a fair representation to other services on committee, limiting the representation of any one service to 25 per cent of the total strength, said senior IRS officer Jayant Misra, its convener.

The COCSA had in December forwarded a memorandum and sought an appointment with the Cabinet Secretary to explain to him the "concern" of these officers.

"We are still waiting for an opportunity to meet the Cabinet Secretary. We have submitted fresh Memoranda dated January 19, 2016 to the Cabinet Secretary and also to the Expenditure Secretary, reiterating our demand that equitable representation be given to various services in all the bodies or committees etc. looking into or implementing recommendations of the 7th CPC, so that there is no domination by any particular service," he said.

Amid a bitter war of words among services, the confederation maintained "that officers from various services continue to maintain excellent interpersonal relations and serve the Government with full devotion".

PTI