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| 7CPC Chairman Justice A. K. Mathur |
New
Delhi: A central minister thinks most central government employees are good
workers – and they deserve a pay raise and advocated to implement Seventh pay
commission for them from next budget.
The
minister wouldn’t say whether he agrees with the central government
proposal not to merge 50 percent dearness allowance (DA) after its hiked to 100
percent, but he did say central government employees should not lose ground as
inflation erodes their salaries.
“We
realised that government employees are upset as it is becoming difficult for
them to manage their household expenses with the high inflation rate. They
protested against us not to merge 50 percent dearness allowance with basic
pay before implementation of Seventh Pay Commission,” the central minister
told us, requesting anonymity.“People
that work in the central government, I find they’re hard working, they care
about their country, they are patriotic, they do a good job” the minister said.
It
is also time to stop demonizing central government employees and to encourage
them, he said, the recommendations of Seventh Pay Commission for central
government employees will be implemented in the next financial year.
The
Seventh Pay Commission, headed by Justice A K Mathur, was appointed by the
previous UPA government in February 2014 for 18 months. Its terms was extended
in August 2015 by four months till December 31, 2015. The recommendations of
the commission would be implemented from January 1, 2016.The
government constitutes the Pay Commission almost every 10 years to revise the
pay scale of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some
modifications.
Besides
pay hikes, the Pay Commissions recommend to hike medical benefits, House
rent allowance, transport allowance and other allowances for central government
employees.As
part of the exercise, the Commission holds discussions with various
stakeholders, including organisations, federations, groups representing civil
employees as well as Defence services.Pay
Commission was ready to submit its report by the end of September but
government gave nod to submit its report till December 31.
According
to the Minister, the reports of Seventh Central Pay Commission may be
implicated from April next year and Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley will get the pay panel reports shortly.
