7th Pay Commission: Know all about allowances, HRA

7th Pay Commission: Know all about allowances, HRA

Zee Media Bureau, Thursday, July 21, 2016

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on June 29 cleared the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission headed by AK Mathur in respect of the hike in basic pay and pension. However, the decision on 7th Pay Commission suggestions relating to allowances has been referred to a Committee headed by the Finance Secretary.

The Committee will complete its work in a time bound manner and submit its reports within a period of 4 months. Till a final decision, all existing allowances will continue to be paid at the existing rates.

"The 7th Pay Commission examined a total of 196 existing allowances and, by way of rationalization, recommended abolition of 51 allowances and subsuming of 37 allowances. Given the significant changes in the existing provisions for allowances which may have wide ranging implications, the Cabinet decided to constitute a Committee headed by Finance Secretary for further examination of the recommendations of 7th CPC on allowances," as per the press release issued by the government after the Cabinet approval to Pay Commission recommendations.

 Now it is clear that, if the 7th Pay Commission recommendations come into force with immediate effect after publication of Gazette Notification, the HRA and TA will be paid to the central government employees at Sixth CPC rates in pre revised scale up till the Committee decides on allowances.

 The 7th Pay Commission had earlier proposed the rate of House Rent Allowance (HRA) at 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively.

The Commission had also recommended that the rate of HRA will be revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent when DA crosses 50 percent, and further revised to 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent when DA crosses 100 percent.

The existing rates of HRA for Class X, Y and Z cities and towns are 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent of Basic pay (pay in the pay band plus grade pay).

Population of City			DA above
	Present	Proposed	50%	100%
Above 50 lakh	30%	24%	27%	30%
5 lakh to 50 lakh	20%	16%	18%	20%
Below 5 lakh	10%	8%	9%	10%

Assumingly, if the Committee accepts the bare recommendations of A K Mathur-led 7th Pay Commission then the HRA component of central government employees will increase ranging between 106 percent and 122 percent.

Take, for instance, a central government employee at the very bottom of the pay scale, where the basic pay (pay of pay band + grade pay) is now Rs 7,000, would currently be entitled to an HRA of Rs 2,100 in a Class X city. As per 7th Pay Commission, the new entry level pay at this level is Rs 18,000 per month against which the new HRA for a Class X city would be Rs 4,320 per month, that is 106 percent more than the existing level.

Similarly, at the highest level of the pay scale, the Cabinet Secretary and officers of the same rank have a basic pay of Rs 90,000, which means they are entitled to current HRA of Rs 27,000 in Class X towns. After the revised pay scale, the new basic pay is Rs 2.5 lakh, for which the HRA would be Rs 60,000, meaning a hike of 122 percent.

As far as Transport Allowance (TA) is concerned, Pay Commission had proposed no increase.