7th Pay Commission: Government to implement soon on higher allowances, says unions

7th Pay Commission: Government to implement soon on higher allowances, says unions

New Delhi: Central government employees unions today said the government has promised that it will implement soon the ‘higher allowances‘ under 7th Pay Commission recommendations, with retrospective effect from August 2016.

A top union leader told that the employee representatives have sought an early finalisation of the ‘Committee on Allowances‘ report.

“We were promised in August, 2016 that the higher allowances (as per the 7th Pay Commission) would be given to us within four months, but we haven’t got its till now,” the union leader said.

Meanwhile, the ‘Committee on Allowances‘ has sought views from different ministries on 14 allowances, a PTI report said, citing sources.

These allowances include accidental allowance, outstation detention allowance, trip allowance, and ghat allowance.

The government in July last year had formed the ‘Committee on Allowances‘, headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa, for examination of the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission on allowances other than dearness allowance as the pay commission had recommended abolition of 51 allowances and subsuming 37 others out of 196 allowances.

The committee was initially given four months time to submit the report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Later, the Finance Minister extended the deadline for report submission to February 22, 2017.

Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal on March 10 had again clarified in Lok Sabha that the ‘Committee on Allowances‘ is yet to submit its report.

Meghwal added the ‘Committee on Allowances‘ is now in the process of finalising its report and the government would take a decision after the report is submitted.

Meghwal also explained why the ‘Committee on Allowances‘ has taken more time to finalise its report.

“The ‘Committee on Allowances‘ has taken more time than was initially prescribed in view of large number of demands received,” he clarified.

“The committee has received a large number of demands on allowances and even now receives demands in this regards. All the demands have been diligently examined,” the minister also said.

The ‘Committee on Allowances‘ is likely to finalise its views on house rent allowance (HRA) at its next meeting, reported PTI, citing sources.

The 7th Pay Commission had recommended that HRA be paid at the rate of 24 per cent, 16 per cent and 8 per cent of the new basic pay, depending on type of cities. The Commission had also recommended that the rate of HRA be revised to 27 per cent, 18 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively when DA crosses 50 per cent, and further revised to 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 per cent when DA crosses 100 per cent.

Source: TST