New
Delhi: Central government employees’ pay bill are unlikely to get increased
salary from April under the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, as the
central government might delay the hike by six months to evaluate the actual
needs of employees, said finance ministry officials.
The
economists advised the government to measure the possible impact of the salary
increase on next year’s budget before implementing it, they said.
The
Empowered Committee of Secretaries led by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha may
recommend raising salary of junior and middle level employees as employees
associations are pressing hard for it.
The
committee will submit its report to the finance minister after reviewing the
commission’s suggestions, and holding discussions with government high-ups.
Wishing
anonymity, a finance ministry official said the government would see whether
there would be any wastage of public money in paying increased salary and allowances
or any new conditions can be imposed in line with the recommendations of the
Pay Commission.
The
empowered committee would place a proposal before the cabinet after budget for
delaying the implementation of increased salary of Central government
employees, said the officials.
Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley while introducing the Seventh Pay Commission report on
November 19 said that the final decisions on the Seventh Pay Commission report
took five and a half months.
The
Seventh Pay Commission award bill is about Rs 1,02,000 crore, according to the
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that can be afforded.
A
pay commission reviews the pay of government employees every 10 years and its
recommendations are usually accepted with some modifications.
The
Seventh Pay Commission was set up by the UPA government in February 2014, The
Commission headed by Justice A K Mathur submitted its 900-page final report to
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on November 19, recommending 23.55 per cent hike
in salaries and allowances of Central government employees and pensioners.
The
panel recommended a 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay, the lowest in 70
years. The previous Sixth Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike,
which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.
The
Seventh pay commission recommended fixing the highest basic salary at Rs
250,000 and the lowest at Rs 18,000 and its increased the pay gap between the
minimum and maximum from existing 1:12 to 1: 13.8
The
Seventh Pay Commission suggested to discontinue the practice of appointing pay
commissions in future.
