7th Pay Commission: No 'achhe din' for central govt employees as Centre likely to delay higher allowances by 3-4 months

7th Pay Commission: No 'achhe din' for central govt employees as Centre likely to delay higher allowances by 3-4 months

New Delhi, Jan 27 : Central government employees, who have been waiting for higher allowances under the 7th Pay Commission since July last year, will have to wait another 3-4 months to get pay bonanza. The central government is likely to delay the payment of the higher allowances as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission as the model code of conduct has been imposed following the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. The five state polls begin on February 4. The results would be declared on March 11.

Implementing the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, the government has given higher basic pay with arrears, effective from January 1, 2016 to its employees. The Centre referred hike in allowances other than dearness allowance to the ‘Committee on Allowances’ for examination. The 7th Pay Commission had abolished 51 of the total 196 allowances. A sources within the Finance Ministry linked to Sen Times,  the central government might delay the hike higher allowances by by another 3-4 months on the pretext of the model code of conduct.

“The government want to keep in abeyance to issue higher allowances notification as government wishes to give the higher allowances without arrears from August,the implementation month of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, to its employees,” a finance ministry official was quoted as saying. The government gave extension the ‘Committee on Allowances’ till February 22, 2017 to submit the report on higher allowances.

If the government accepts the report of the ‘Committee on Allowances’, higher allowances will be paid with retrospective effect from August 2016. Then the government will have to pay the arrears and the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is very much against the payment of higher allowances arrears. “Government is very pleased to pay the higher allowances to its employees after Budget,” a Finance Ministry official had said.

The 7th Pay Commission report submitted by Justice (retd) AK Mathur had suggested a total hike, inclusive of salary and allowance, of 23.5 per cent. The basic pay was increased by 14.27%.