Central government employees' wait for revised allowances under 7th Pay Commission may end soon
House Rent Allowance (HRA), arrears on revised allowances and a hike in basic pay are likely to be taken up at the meeting between senior government officials and employee representatives.
The wait for Central government employees over revised allowances under the Seventh Pay Commission may end soon.
If reports are to be believed, representatives of government employees may meet senior government officials today. Earlier, it was being speculated that a similar meeting may have taken place on Tuesday.
Following the meeting, Central goveernment employees may receive some updates on the revised allowances and when they will be implemented.
The Ashok Lavasa-led Committee on Allowances had submitted its review report on recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on April 27.
- House Rent Allowance (HRA), arrears on revised allowances and a hike in basic pay are likely to be taken up at the meeting between senior government officials and employee representatives.
- After Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa submitted the report to Arun Jaitley, it will be examined by the Department of Expenditure and then the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS). Finally, it will be tabled in front of the Union cabinet for approval.
- In its report, the Ashok Lavasa-led Committee on Allowances suggested some modifications to allowances applicable to all Central government employees. Some other modifications suggested by the Lavasa committee will be applicable to only certain categories, a Finance Ministry statement had earlier said.
- A committee under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa was constituted in July last year following protests by government employees over the Seventh Pay Commission's recommendations on allowances.
- The Seventh Pay Commission recommended doing away with 52 of the 196 allowances that Central government employees get, and suggested subsuming another 36 existing allowances into larger ones.
- Another Seventh Pay Commission recommendation was to reduce the HRA for Central government employees. The panel suggested bringing down the HRA by 2-6 per cent for all employees depending on categories of cities. The suggestion did not go down well with Central government employees.
- The Ashok Lavasa committee was given a deadline of four months to submit the report, which was later extended to February 22 this year. The committee, however, managed to submit the report to the government on April 27.
- The report by the Committee on Allowances was submitted after discussions with various government departments, ministries and representatives of Central government employees.
- Various reports have suggested that the Lavasa committee is expected to take a favourable view on allowances such as the HRA, keeping in mind the concerns of Central government employees.
ALSO READ:
7th Pay Commission: All you need to know about Cabinet decisions on pension and the JCM meet
7th Pay Commission: No hike in transport allowance, HRA to remain at 30 per cent
J&K government sets up panel for 7th Pay Commission implementation
ALSO WATCH: 7th Pay Commission: Allowance-revision to benefit over 50 lakh employees