7th Pay Commission – Government Firmly Rejects Demand to Reduce Pay Gap
The pay gap under the 7th Pay Commission was a major issue for Central
Government employees. The cabinet decided go ahead with the
recommendations of the pay panel which suggested 14.27 per cent hike in
basic pay which was effective from January 1 2016.
The cabinet had cleared the recommendations of the pay panel in June
which effected 4.8 million central government employees and 5.2 million
pensioners.
Recommendations by-passed
While clearing the pay panel’s recommendations the basic hike in pay
effective January 1 2016 was at 14.27 per cent. The recommendations made
by the Empowered Committee headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha for an
average 30 per cent hike in basic pay was bypassed by the Union
Cabinet.
Pay matrix
As per the notification there were 18 pay matrices that were approved.
The notification said, the highest pay matrix (Level-18) for the Cabinet
secretary to the Union government is Rs 2,50,000 (fixed), which was Rs
90,000 (fixed) in the immediate past under 6th pay commission
recommendation. The rate of increase is 178%. The pay matrix in the
lowest grade (Level-1) is Rs 18,000 which was Rs 7,000 under 6th pay
commission recommendation. The rate of increase is 157%.
The ratio of pay between the highest declared pay matrix (Level-18) and
the lowest grade (Level -1) in the 7th Pay Commission recommendations is
1:13.9, which was 1:12 as per the previous pay commission:
No Pay Gap made up
All pay commissions in the past had made up the pay gap between the
lower paid employees and the top officials from second Pay Commission
1:41 ratio to Sixth pay commission 1:12. In the first pay commission,
the pay of the top bureaucrats was 41 times higher than the employee
earning the lowest. The future pay commissions however reduced the ratio
from 1:41 in 1947 to about 1:12 in 2006.
Reducing Pay Gap Ruled Out
Reliable sources confirm, the government has put aside the demand by
central government employees to reduce the pay gap. The government has
categorically made it clear that no decision will be taken to reduce the
pay gap under the 7th Pay Commission, confirm sources. Government
employees have been demanding for a long time to pay ratio should be
minimised. They have also demanded that Rs 25,000 should be the minimum
pay in the new pay scale and the fitment factor will be higher than the
2.57 times approved by the government based on the pay commission
recommendations.
