7th Pay Commission: No clue about recommendations of Ashok Lavasa panel, employees' forum tells Cabinet Secretary

IndiaToday.in  | New Delhi, May 28, 2017 |

The inordinate delay in implementation of revised allowances under the Seventh Pay Commission has left Central government employees frustrated.

In a letter to Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, the secretary of National Council (staff side) Joint Consultative Machinery said Central government employees were clueless about the recommendations of the Ashok Lavasa committee.

"The Committee on Allowances took longer time while finalising its recommendations, but it is a matter of deep regret that even after submission of the report by the said committee, the same has not been made available to the staff side (JCM), therefore we do not know what recommendations have been made by the said committee," said Shiv Gopal Mishra, secretary of staff side (JCM).

The JCM requested the Cabinet Secretary to make the recommendations of the Committee of Allowances available to them. On behalf of Central government employees, the JCM said that the government should implement revised allowances without further delay with effect from January 1, 2016.

While Central government employees are still waiting to hear from the Narendra Modi government, let us take a look at how other states are faring in implementation of the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission.

BIHAR: The Cabinet of Nitish Kumar recently agreed to increase the salary of its employees and pensioners following submission of report by the fitment committee on the Seventh Pay Commission. The salary of state government employees is likely to increase by 14-15 per cent. The decision will benefit 3.65 lakh employees and 6 lakh pensioners in Bihar.

CHHATTISGARH: The Raman Singh government announced implementation of Seventh Pay Commission for its employees in March.  Nearly 3 lakh state government employees will benefit from the decision.

JAMMU AND KASHMIR: The state government recently set up a seven-member panel to examine the revision of pay scales of employees and pensioners under the Seventh Pay Commission. The state's finance minister Haseeb Drabu, in his budget speech, had announced a 23.5 per cent hike in salary and post-retirement payouts. The Jammu and Kashmir government said it would implement the Seventh Pay Commission's recommendations from April 2018.

States like Uttarakhand, Haryana have already implemented the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission from January.