In a major setback to the central government employees, the government is re-planning not pay the arrears on pay hike. The proposal will soon be placed by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley before the Cabinet. The development was confirmed to The Sen Times by a Finance Ministry official on the condition of anonymity.
A ministry official was quoted as saying that arrears are important payment for lower-level employees but no it won’t be paid on pay hike and the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will place it before the Cabinet in the beginning of April. An official also said that raising minimum pay might be useful to make up the pay gap.
As per the current norms, the lowest earning government employees are paid Rs 18,000 since January, 2016 because the 7th pay panel recommended minimum pay from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 per month while the maximum pay was from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh with a fitment factor of 2.57 times of basic pay of 6th pay commission. These recommendations got Cabinet nod on June 29, 2016. However, if the Cabinet does approve the hike in arrears, it will come as a major setback for government employees.
Another official however, has said, “Government is committed towards its responsibilities on Finance Minister’s assurance of raising pay for lower-level employees beyond the suggestion of the 7th Pay Commission, which will be paid from April”.
After the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, the pay gap between the highest maximum pay and the lowest minimum pay is 1:14. It was 1:12 in the 6th pay scale. The government employees since then have been demanding to raise the minimum pay from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000. They have also asked to raise fitment factor 3.68 times from 2.57 times.
The unions had also gone on an indefinite strike but it was called off after the assurance from the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on June 30, 2016. Acting on this demand, the government had formed the National Anomaly Committee (NAC) in September 2016 instead of the High-Level Committee to resolve pay anomalies.
