7th CPC Allowances should be implemented without any further delay-NCJCM

ncjcm Staff Side Meeting

No.NC/JCM/2017 Dated: May 23, 2017

The Cabinet Secretary,

(Government of India),

Cabinet Secretariat,

Rashtrapati Bhawan,

New Delhi

Dear Sir,

Sub: Inordinate delay in implementation of the report of the Committee on Allowances

It is a matter of regret that, in spite of all the persuasions made by the Staff Side(JCM) there is inordinate delay in finalization of recommendations of the Ashok Lavasa Committee on Allowances. More than one year and three months have passed after implementation of the report of the VII CPC, but the employees are still getting allowances at the old rates as had been recommended by the VI CPC.

The Committee on Allowancestook longer time while finalizing 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.

Staff Side(JCM), therefore, requests that the recommendations of the Allowances Committee should be made available to the Staff Side(JCM).

Moreover, it would be highly appreciated that, the Allowances should be implemented without any further delay, and the date of the implementation should be w.e.f. 01.01.2016.

With Kind Regards!

Sincerely Yours

Shiv Gopal Mishra

Secretary (Staff Side)

Source :URL

As a result revised pension under 7th CPC w.e.f 1.1.2016

Disability Pension being paid to Pre-2016 Defence Forces Pensioners as on 31.12.2015 Will Continue to be paid Pending Decision of Anomoly Committee 

The Government Order for implementation of decision of the Government on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) for revision of pension of pre-2016 Defence Forces Pensioners has been issued on 29.10.2016. As per the order, for the pre 1.1.2016pensioners, the revised pension w.e.f. 1.1.2016 shall be determined by multiplying the basic pension/basic family pension as had been drawn as on 31.12.2015 by 2.57 to arrive at revised pension under 7th CPC.

The implementation of 7th CPC recommendation relating to methodology for calculation of disability element has been referred to the Anomaly Committee. The disability element which was being paid to pre-2016 Defence Forces Pensioners as on 31.12.2015 will continue to be paid pending decision on the recommendations of the Anomaly Committee.

Source:PIBNEWS

7th Pay Commission Latest News: Committee for allowances to submit report this week; no likely hikes in allowances!

The Committee for allowances was constituted in July this year and was given four months to submit its report about weather allowances should be hiked or not.

New Delhi, September 19: The special committee that was appointed to look into the allowances recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission, will submit its report this week. The Committee headed by the Union Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa, has reportedly finalised the report and it will be submitted to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley this week. However, the conclusions that the committee has reached regarding the anomalies in the allowances have not yet been ascertained. The Committee was set up in July this year, after it was announced that the recommendations of the Pay Commission will be implemented from this financial year itself.

The Committee to look into allowances was constituted with the aim of looking into “the provision of allowances other than dearness allowance under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations”, as well as any other issue related to the matter. The allowances had been a major bone of contention amongst majority of the central government employees, along with the defense personnel too. After expressing dissatisfaction on the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations, the forces chiefs had openly denied to implement the recommendations, until the anomalies and pay gaps between their allowances and the allowances of the civil servants were addressed. However, last week the chiefs had reportedly agreed to accept the implementation of the recommendations, after Air Chief Marshall Arup Raha had met with the Union Defence Minister Manohar Prrikar, who had assured him that all concerns of the forces will be addressed. 

Raha, along with Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba, met with Parrikar last week, where the latter has assured him that their concerns will be taken up at the highest level. The three services had, on September 9, issued letters to their formations, saying that they have asked the government to hold ‘in abeyance’ the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission, given the ‘unresolved anomalies’. The letter was clear indication of a possible and impending confrontation between the forces and the central government. However, Parrikar played the diplomat, assuring the chiefs that the government cared for the forces and that their concerns will be addressed.

Central government employees had started pressurizing the government to relook its recommendations that abolished 51 allowances and subsumed 37 others, out of the 196 allowances that were present earlier. A committee was constituted in June last year, to look into allowances when it cleared the recommendations, with respect to basic pay hikes of central government employees and pensioners. Another point of contention was about the timing of the implementation of the hikes and allowances- while the government approved the implementation of the pay hikes, retrospectively from January 1, 2016, it excluded the allowances, which were to be implemented prospectively. However, the employees unions demanded that the allowances also be implemented retrospectively.

The Committee was given four months to submit its report on allowances. It has met two times and has interacted with representatives of central government employees, besides gathering responses on other platforms as well and it’s ready to support it’s report within two months. However, sources have said that the Committee is likely to go along with the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, in relation with the allowances too. The proposal to hike allowances (if any) will be placed before the Finance Ministry in October.

Source:India.com

7th Pay Commission latest news: From August 1 Central Government employees will get 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay, not overall 23.5 per cent

The Central Government are also considering the demand made by employees union leaders to increase minimum wage from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000.

New Delhi, July 17: The much awaited hiked salary of Central Government employees will be credited to their official salary account bu August 1, 2016, as the recommendations made by 7th Pay Commission was approved on June 29 by Narendra Modi government. More than 47 lakh Central Government employees eagerly waiting for the hike will get 14.27 per cent hike in the basic pay and not 23.5 per cent.

The hike in allowance has been delayed by at least four months. For which the government has formed a high level committee headed by Finance Minister Ashok Lavasa to re-examine the hike in HRA, NP, DA and many other allowances for the employees. 

As per reports, the salaries government employees would receive from August 1, would be hiked by 14.27 per cent, without any allowances. Which technically makes it a lowest ever salary hike implemented by any Pay Commission since independence.

On June 29, Central government had set up a high level committee to examine the anomalies in the 7CPC recommendations related to allowances. The committee will also consider the demand made by Central Government Employees Union leaders to increase minimum wage from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000.

The implementations of 7CPC which was done almost six months after Justice A K Mathur and his team submitted its findings and it will positively impact a total of 47 lakh central government employees, along with 53 lakh pensioners. The notification of the salary hike will be issued by the government by the end of this week.

Modified Date: July 17, 2016 10:37 PM

Source:India

PMO wants implementation of 7th Pay Commission soon

New Delhi: Influential quarters of the government are lobbying for 7th Pay Commission award to central government employees at crucial period for central government like centre defeat in the Uttarakhand assembly floor test on Tuesday, the Prime Minister Office (PMO) has advised to the Finance Ministry to offer 7th Pay Commission package soon despite other crises.

The PMO has recommended to offer 7th Pay Commission award in July to augment the financial assistance to central government employees, sources in Finance Ministry familiar with the matter said on Friday asking not be named,

“We have seen the recommendations of the PMO. Accordingly the Secretaries group works hard for the the execution of new pay package would definitely in July,” said sources.

They said execution of the new pay package involves Rs 120 crore and before that the government has to spend Rs 70 crore on salaries and arrears in this year for the central government employees.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley provided fund for pay commission implementation in his Budget 2016-17. “Jaitley while introducing the Seventh Pay Commission report on November 19 already said that the final decisions on the Seventh Pay Commission report took five and a half months including the process of Secretaries group,” source said.

“PMO, narrating the “importance” of the implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations, said it was necessary to provide different incentives, including a higher pay package, to the central government employees to build a “pro-people” administration.

The PMO asked to adopt the method in which salaries of central government employees in all segments automatically go up with the pace of inflation or consumer price indices.

PMO asked a 30% rise in the basic pay of a central government employee and that the lowest salary be increased to Rs 21,000,” source added.

The 7th Pay Commission recommended 23.55 per cent gross increase in salary, allowances and pensions, 63 per cent per cent increase in allowances, 24 per cent per cent increase in pension, while 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay, the lowest in 70 years.

The previous Sixth Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike in basic pay which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.

A 13 member secretary-level Empowered Committee or Secretaries group, led by cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, formed in January to review the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission before cabinet nod.

Source:Govemployees

7th Pay Commission – Government may accept Rs. 24000 as minimum pay

7th Pay Commission Latest News – BMS met Minister for issues such as Removal of 5% ceiling for Compassionate Appointments, 5% annual increment, rationalization of pay structure, abolition of certain allowances, discontinuance of Grade Pay etc

A delegation of Labour Union leaders representing Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) led by Pawan Kumar today held a meeting with Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh and sought his intervention for redressal of their issues, mainly pertaining to grant of one-time relaxation from ceiling of 5% for compassionate appointments in Ministry of Defence and the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC).

They also thanked the Government for having brought in a legislation in response to their demand for fixing the minimum wage for Government employees.

The BMS leaders pointed out to the ceiling of 5% on compassionate ground vacancies imposed over Central Government employees and requested that this be removed in order to make it possible to accommodate more candidates. They submitted that Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) is the competent authority to grant relaxation of the ceiling over vacancies falling under direct recruitment quota in Group-C posts and requested the Minister to kindly take a sympathetic view.

The demand to rationalize the pay structure through 7th Central Pay Commission was also taken up by the BMS representatives. They stated that the allowances were allowed by department as per their operational and administrative needs, but alleged that the 7th CPC on its own initiative had declared them as “outlived their utility” and recommended for their discontinuance. They also complained that the concept of grade pay and pay band has been done away, which should be reconsidered.

Among the other points raised by the BMS delegation were modification of the minimum pay and cognizance of “Senior Citizen and Parents Maintenance Act”, which provides liability of mother and father who are employed sons / daughters.

On behalf of the Government Employees National Federation, an affiliate of BMS, the delegation also sought attention to the fact that the employees are getting only 3% incremental benefit which, they demanded, to be increased to 5%.

Dr Jitendra Singh gave the delegation a patient hearing and said their observations and inputs will be put up at the appropriate level.

Among other members present in the meeting were Sadhu Singh, Shivkant Mishra, P.C. Sharma, Virender Kumar, Yogender Rai, Rajnish Kumar, Nirmal Jain, A.K. Dhankar, D.K. Sharma, Sunil Gupta and Manoj Kumar Singh

Source: Govemployess

7th Pay Commission: Govt flip-flop on EPF may lead to strike on July 11? Employees want higher pay

New Delhi, April 29: The flip-flops by Union government on the revised EPF withdrawal norms has emboldened the government employees for nationwide protests. If reports are to be believed then, the central government employees are planning to strike work on July 11 so that they get higher wages and allowances under the 7th Pay Commission.

According to a Zeenews report, "First, under the public outlash, the government withdrew the budgetary proposal to make 40 percent of the EPF corpus taxable. Now, under the protest of garment factory workers in the Bangluru area, central government again withdrew its February 10 notification which prevented an employee from withdrawing 100 percent of the EPF corpus before the age of 58 years." "This labour movement of the garment workers of Karnataka state is an eye-opener for all the other working class in the entire country,"said PS Prasad, Secretary General, Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers Karnataka State was quoted as saying in the Zee report. "If the Central Government employees also participate in trade union action against the retrograde recommendations of the VII CPC similar to the Garment Workers of Karnataka, we too can get similar results and hope for a better wage revision and a decent wage hike", Prasad was further quoted as saying. Thousands of garment workers, mostly women, staged protests against curbs on withdrawal of provident fund (PF) before attaining the age of 58 years, especially the amount contributed by the employer with government interest. According to police estimates, a record one lakh workforce from other factories and firms across the city assembled at Bommanahalli industrial area in the south and Peenya industrial area in the north to demonstrate against the PF withdrawal norms. 

Source:One India 

Good news! Minimum pay under 7th CPC likely to be revised to Rs 20,000; award to come with increment bonanza

New Delhi: The central government employees seeking revision of salary structure proposed under the 7th Pay Commission are likely to see around 19 percent raise on the minimum salary being drawn currently. The Cabinet nod to the effect is expected in June.

As per reports, the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (CoS)are likely to propose a minimum pay of Rs 20,000. The 7th pay panel report, which was released in November had raised the minimum pay to Rs 18,000 per month from currently drawn Rs 7,000, while the maximum pay was recommended Rs 2.5 lakh per month from Rs 90,000. 

The central government unions, seeking the revision in 7th pay panel recommendations have sought the minimum pay of Rs 26,000

As per reports, the 7th CPC award is likely to come with salary increment which was anyway due in the month of July.

The financial burden of the 7th CPC recommendations on the exchequer is expected to be around Rs 1.02 lakh crore in meeting the revised pay structure. The central government has already made provision of Rs 70,000 crore in the Budget 2016-17 to meet the payout of the pay commission award.

Since the minimum pay has been revised upwards, the 7th pay panel has recommended that HRA be paid at the rate of 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the new Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively.

The Commission also recommended that the rate of HRA will be revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent respectively when DA crosses 50 percent, and further revised to 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent when DA crosses 100 percent. However, no arrears will be paid on the HRA, and will be effective only when the pay panel award is notified.

Source:Zee News

7th Pay commission will be approved along with one increment in July

New Delhi: The cabinet is likely to approve the 7th pay commission award for central government employees in June for which the public exchequer will have to spend an additional amount of Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

However, there are no dearness allowance in their salary structure as the government recently announced 125 percent Dearness Allowance (DA) on which the pay panel recommended the 7th pay commission award.

Introducing a new provision of perks with the pay packet, the central government is also likely to give an increment, which is to be due in July, the month of implementation of pay commission recommendations for the central government employees, sources said.

The pay panel recommended minimum pay to Rs 18,000 per month from Rs 7,000, while the maximum pay has been recommended Rs 2.5 lakh per month from current Rs 90,000. It’s made a width pay gap discrimination between employees and higher officers from existing 1:12 to 1: 13.8.

The Empowered Committee of Secretaries is likely to propose minimum pay Rs 20,ooo but central government employees unions demanded minimum pay Rs 26,000.

Under the pay scale the officers and employees will be entitled to House Rent Allowance (HRA) at the rate of 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 per cent of their new basic pays but it will be paid from the date of the Seventh pay commission award implementation. So no arrears will be paid in this segment.

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

So the HRA segment will rise dramatically more than 100 percent of the existing House Rent Allowance (HRA).

The pay as per the pay panel report was set at Rs 2.25 lakh for secretary-level officers. Accordingly, the House Rent Allowance (HRA) for secretaries would be more than Rs 56,000.

The report of the Seventh Pay Commission was presented to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in November with a recommendation for 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay. The overall increase in salary, allowances and pensions is 23.55%. The increase in allowances will be higher by 63% while pensions will rise 24%.

The government set up a 13-member Empowered Committee of Secretaries (CoS) headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha for processing the report of the Seventh Pay Commission before cabinet nod.

An Implementation Cell has been created in the Finance Ministry which works as the Secretariat of the Empowered Committee. All central government employees unions’ submitted their written demands in respect of seventh pay commission’s anomalies in the cell to review, which are under process.

The central government has also been provisioned Rs 70,000 crore in the Union Budget 2016-17 to meet the demand for the new pay commission award that will be made effective from January 2016.

Source:GovEmployees

7th Pay Commission expressed its regret about transition from Old Pension Scheme to New Pension Scheme in its report.

2004-2011 Entrants : Government employees who have joined service between 2004 and 2011 have suffered due to delay in finalizing the structure of the NPS and the issue of detailed instructions. Although they have made regular contributions, in many cases, this money and/or counterpart contributions were not deployed in the market. In the case of AIS officers, some states are yet  to release counterpart contributions or pay interest on delayed contributions. This has led to a situation where the accumulated corpus even after 11 years of service could be meagre. It is necessary that this situation which arose during the transition from OPS to NPS be addressed.

The Commission therefore recommends that Central Governments and State Governments should, in a time bound manner, ensure that all the due contribution along with compounded interest, where contributions have been delayed, be deposited in the accounts of the beneficiaries. Advisories should be issued to the State Governments to deposit amounts, if not already done, in respect of NPS beneficiaries belonging to All India Services.

Many Association have pointed out that unlike the facility under GPF, it is not possible to make withdrawals under NPS, even to meet obligatory social expenditure. This forces employees towards increased indebtedness as they have to borrow from elsewhere.

The Commission notes that under the NPS Tier-I account, a subscriber is permitted to make partial withdrawal of twenty five percent of the contributions made to his/her individual pension account for certain specified purposes. Such withdrawals are permitted a maximum of three times during the entire tenure of subscription and a period of at least five years should have elapsed between two such withdrawals.

The Commission further notes that there exists a voluntary Tier-II account. Under this account, a subscriber can, at any time, withdraw the accumulated wealth either in full or part and there is no limit on such withdrawals provided the account has sufficient balance of accumulated pension wealth to cover the amount being withdrawn. However, the Tier-II account is yet to be made operational. The Commission therefore recommends that PFRDA should take steps to make the Tier-II accounts operational as early as possible to enable the NPS subscribers the facility of withdrawals from their accounts in case of requirement.

Transparency under NPS : Many associations and individuals have complained that the information relating to the NPS is inadequate, resulting in high degree of uncertainty in the minds of contributors about post-retirement benefits. The Commission noted that PFRDA sends a communication to every participant each month with the current pension wealth and the latest contribution that has been credited. The Commission recommends that focused efforts be made to capture email addresses and mobile numbers of subscribers so that seamless communication is ensured for all subscribers. The Commission recommends that consultation with stakeholders should also be held periodically in different parts of the country.

The Commission notes that no department of Government of India is taking ownership of the NPS. The Commission recommends that a Committee consisting of Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Secretary, Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare and Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances may be constituted to review the progress of implementation of NPS. The Commission also recommends that steps should be taken for establishment of an Ombudsman for redressing individual grievances relating to NPS.

Tax Treatment under the NPS : NPS is under the Exempt–Exempt – Tax (EET) regime while the General Provident Fund under the OPS is under Exempt–Exempt–Exempt (EEE) dispensation. Under the NPS, while the contributions and the accumulations are tax-exempt, withdrawals are taxable. As such, this is an inferior tax treatment when compared to other pension programmes such as General Provident Fund, Contributory Provident Fund, Employees Provident Fund and Public Provident Fund wherein contributions, accumulations and withdrawals are tax-exempt.

The Commission feels that tax neutrality should be ensured across various avenues for long term savings for post retirement incomes so that the employees covered by NPS are not at a disadvantage. The Commission therefore recommends that withdrawals under the NPS should be tax-exempt to place NPS at par with other pension schemes. The Commission also recommends that the service tax levied at the time of annuity purchase by NPS subscribers should be exempted.

Source:sapost

7th CPC Latest News : BPMS Protest for Minimum Pay 24000 and Fitment formula 3.42

BPMS circular for agitation programme from 01.03.2016 to 05.03.2016

BHARATIYA PRATIRAKSHA MAZDOOR SANGH

(AN ALL INDIA FEDERATION OF DEFENCE WORKERS)

(AN INDUSTRIAL UNIT OF B.M.S.)

(RECOGNISED BY MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, GOVT. OF INDIA)

CENTRAL OFFICE: 2-A, NAVEEN MARKET, KANPUR – 208001, PH & FAX : (0512) 2332222

MOBILE: 09415733686, 09235729390, 09335621629, WEB : www.bpms.org.in

REF: BPMS/20/CIR/2015

Dated: 19.02.2016

To,

The President/ General Secretary

Unions Affiliated to Federation

Subject: Agitation Programme from 01 March, 2016 to 05 March, 2016.

Sadar Namaskar

I hope this letter will find to all of you in good health and high spirit and busy in accelerating trade union activities. The meeting of office bearers of BPMS was conducted on dated: 11th and 12th February, 2016. In this meeting the recommendations of 7th CPC was discussed specially. As all of you know that 7th CPC submitted its recommendations to Honorable Finance Minister of Govt. of India on 19.11.2015. After analyzing the recommendations of 7th CPC, BPMS wrote a letter to Govt of India addressing anomalies in recommendations along with conducting a National level protest day on the call of GENC. We met Dr Jitendra Singh/Minister of DoP&T and Prime Minister Office at his office situated in Parliament and discussed the issues and submitted a memorandum. Honorable Minister assured the representatives of GENC and BPMS that all necessary action would be taken at the earliest and a meeting would be fixed with Honorable Finance Minister. But it is matter of concern that the federation has not been apprised about the    action taken till date.

Therefore, it was decided in the meeting of office bearers to conduct agitation programmes of gate meetings, sit in, wearing black badges in their respective establishments from 01 March 2016 to 05 March 2016. On 04 March 2016 ‘Dharna’ will be performed and on the last day a memorandum will be presented to the Head of Establishment addressing Honorable Prime Minister and its photocopy should be sent to BMS office and BPMS office.

The demands are as follows-

1. Minimum Pay should be fixed 24000/- rupees in place of 18000/-.

2. The fitment formula should be 3.42 in place of 2.57

3. The ratio of minimum Pay and maximum Pay should be 1:10.

4. Annual increment should be 5% in place of 3%.

5. Five financial upgradations should be granted within the period of 30 years of Service under MACP scheme.

6. Pay Scales of Group ‘C’ employees should be merged and upgraded. Grade Pay 1900 and Grade Pay 2000 should be merged and upgraded to 2400 and Grade Pay 2400 and Grade Pay 2800 should be merged and upgraded to Grade Pay 2800.

7. Risk Allowance, Washing Allowance, Family Planning Allowance should be continued.

8. HRA should be granted at the rate of 15%, 25% and 35%.

9. Minimum two increments should be granted at Promotion.

10.Interest free Advances should be continued.

11.OTA is being granted to the employees posted in offices, directorates etc at the rate of 12 rupees per hour (on the pay scales of 4th CPC). OTA should be granted on the Pay Scales of 7th CPC.

12.Old Pension Scheme should be restored in place of NPS.

13.The employees covered under NPS scheme should be benefited with gratuity.

14.Commuted Pension should be restored on 12th year in place of 15th year.

15.CCL related to women employees should not be reduced.

16.There should not be any educational criteria (High School passed) for grant of compassionate ground appointment.

17.Benefits of 7th CPC should be granted to Centre, State and autonomous body employees equally.

18.Since amendment in Bonus Act has retrospective effect and implemented since 2014, the arrear of 2014-2015 should be granted without any delay.

19.All the employees should be granted Night Duty Allowance without any ceiling.

20.In Ordnance Factories all Piece work employees should be paid OTA (Between 44¾ and 48 hours) on their actual Pay instead of minimum Pay.

21.The employees having equal qualification and same nature of work should be granted equal pay in all ministries.

22.Examiners working in Quality control department in OFB should be granted Incentive Bonus.

23.According to 7th CPC recommendations, civilian employees retiring on same Post or same pay scale should be granted equal Pension.

24.Wards of employees died in harness are unable to find a Job due to 5% ceiling in compassionate appointment. Therefore, waiting dependants should be granted one time relaxation in compassionate appointment.

25.The employees of DRDO should be granted the benefit of PRIS.

Thanking you.

Brotherly yours

(M P Singh)

General Secretary

Copy to:

1. The General Secretary

BMS, New Delhi

2. The Secretary General

GENC, Naveen Market, Kanpur

Source:Sapost

7th CPC recommends 23.55% hike in Salary; OROP for Civilians too

Pay Panel recommendations to make an annual dent of Rs.28,450 Crore on Indian Railways’ expenditure

New Delhi: In a big bonanza to central employees and pensioners, the Seventh Pay Commission on Thursday recommended a 23.55 per cent increase in salary, allowances and pension along with a virtual one-rank-one-pension for civilians, involving an additional outgo of Rs 1.02 lakh crore a year.

A minimum pay of Rs 18,000 per month and a maximum of Rs 250,000 lakh per month has been recommended by the Commission, headed by Justice A K Mathur that presented its 900-page report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi.

The recommendations, which are to be implemented from January 1, 2016, will benefit 47 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners.

The recommendations of the seventh Central Pay Commission will impact Indian Railways’ (IR) finances by Rs 28,450 crore annually. This is roughly 70 per cent of its budgeted wage bill of Rs 40,435 crore for this financial year, 2015-16.

The rise is to take effect from January 2016. It includes an additional Rs 11,350 crore on salaries, Rs 9,500 crore on pensions, Rs 4,000 crore on house rent allowance and Rs 3,600 crore on other allowances.

“The total impact of the pay commission recommendations would be around Rs 1 lakh crore, including Rs 74,000 crore for the general budget and around Rs 28,000 crore for the railways,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told journalists.

IR employs around 1.3 million people. Salaries and wages were nearly 24 per cent (Rs 35,565 crore) of its total expenditure of Rs 1,46,000 crore in 2014-15. The current year’s budgeted wage bill of Rs 40,435 crore is nearly a fourth of the total budgeted expenditure of Rs 1,63,000 crore.

The recommendations come as the railways ministry is struggling to meet a stiff Operating Ratio (money spent to earn Rs 100) target of 88.5 as against the 91.8 of FY15. The impact of the higher wage bill will worsen its finances, under stress due to declining passenger volumes.

A senior ministry official said this was a tough challenge and the railway board might ask for help from the finance ministry. “Unlike other departments, the railways pays its salaries and wages from its own pocket,” he noted.

Asked if a rise in fares was therefore likely, the official said that was “far-fetched”. The recommendations of the earlier, sixth, Pay Commission had led to a total outgo of Rs 72,000 crore in arrears for IR over the three years beginning 2006.

The award of the pay panel will also benefit staff of autonomous bodies, universities and public sector units, Jaitley said after receiving the report.

“In percentage terms, the overall increase in pay and allowance and pensions over the business-as-usual scenario will be 23.55 per cent,” the report said. Within this, the increase in pay will be 16 per cent, in allowances 63 per cent and in pension would be 24 per cent, it said.

The total salary and pension bill of the central government, which will also include Railway employees, will go up from estimated Rs 4.33 lakh crore to Rs 5.35 lakh crore during 2016-17.

The panel has suggested abolition of the pay band and the grade pay, though it retained the annual increment of 3 per cent.

It has also recommended a fitment factor of 2.57 which will be applied uniformally to all employees.

Source"RailNews

Key highlights of 7th Pay Commission report

The Pay Commission headed by Justice A K Mathur has suggested a 15 percent increase over the basic salary plus DA for the central government staff. An increase in allowances like HRA has also been recommended.

The total increase will be 23.55 percent of the gross salary (basic plus DA plus allowances). The pay commission has also  proposed a status quo on the retirement age of central government employees. Retirement age for central government employees is 60 years now.

The recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission are scheduled to take effect from January 1, 2016.

Besides Chairman, other members of the commission are Vivek Rae, a retired IAS officer of 1978 batch, and Rathin Roy, an economist. Meena Agarwal is secretary of the commission.

The central government constitutes the pay commission every 10 years to revise the pay scale of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some modifications.

The Commission was set up by the UPA government in February 2014 to revise remuneration of about 48 lakh central government employees and 55 lakh pensioners.

The Union Cabinet had extended the term of the panel in August by four months, till December. The 6th Pay Commission was implemented with effect from January 1, 2006.

Source:govemployees

Revising Retirement age does not come under the purview of 7th Pay Commission.

Recently the news about retirement age is blown out of proportion in Social Media. In Social Media it has been signaled casually that the retirement age will be brought down to 58 years. Initially it was said that 7th pay commission going to recommend the criteria for retirement age as either 33 years of Service or 60 Years of age whichever comes first.

And gradually it is reduced to 58 years of age or 33 years of service and finally ends up with 30 years of service or at the age of 55 years.

7th pay commission Vs Retirement Age

Does it worth to believe the news circulated in social media about 7th pay commission recommendation and retirement age..? We asked the Federation sources about this and they want to maintain anonymity told that it depends upon the individuals to decide whether it is true or not. We should not blame the media for everything. We should be able to know the difference between the news and rumors.

One of our Sources told that revising the retirement age will not fall under the purview of Pay commission. It should be decided by central government only. No Pay commission has recommended anything about Retirement age so far.

Federation Leaders were asked about this retirement age issue, when it became sensational in Print and e-Media, why don’t they come forward to clear the doubts on this sensational issue?. They told that they didn’t want do give importance to the rumors and hear says.

They said, “We need to clarify the doubts of our cadres across the country whenever it was rumored in social media about their service related sensational issues. But when sensational becomes routine, it’s not our business to respond to such hearsays on daily basis”

“As far as retirement age is concerned we know that 7th pay commission cannot recommend revising the retirement age of central government employees, since it does not fall under the purview of 7th Pay Commission. Even we won’t accept it if the central government tries to reduce the retirement age,” the sources added.

Source:http://govtstaffnews.in/revising-retirement-age-does-not-come-under-the-purview-of-7th-pay-commission/

Government has delayed 7th Pay Commission deliberately – NJCA

NJCA

National Joint Council of Action

4, State Entry Road New Delhi – 110055

No.NJCA/2015 Dated: September 30, 2015

All members of the NJCA

Dear Comrade,

The National JCA met today on 30.09.2015. In the background of the engineered delay in the submission of the 7th CPC report, the meeting reviewed the decision to go for indefinite strike action commencing from 23rd Nov.2015 and arrived at the following conclusions.

1. The 7th CPC, as per the indication the NJCA had, concluded its deliberations and finalised its report. But due to the pressure exerted by the GOI the report is not likely to be out till the Bihar election is going to be concluded on 8.11.2015.

2. Even if the report is given, the Government might plead for some more time to consider the same and arrive at conclusions .

3. Even though the charter of demand contain other major issues, viz FDI, outsourcing, New Pension Scheme etc, the CPC related issues especially the revision of wages has its own significance and struggle without the said issue is impracticable.

4. The meeting also noted that after the impressive march to parliament held on 28th April, 2015, no serious programme of action was undertaken, which has created a certain complacency in the movement. The meeting noted the necessity to rejuvenate the NJCA functioning at all levels.

5. It was also noted that there are states which have not held the state level conventions and consequently have not brought into being the state apparatus required to spearhead a serious action like indefinite strike.

6. In view of above mentioned conclusions, the National JCA has decided to defer the strike action slated for 23rd November 2015 to a date during the Budget session of the parliament i.e from Feb to April 2016. The exact date of commencement of the strike will be decided by the National JCA when the 7th CPC report is available.

7. The NJCA also has decided to call upon all Federations of Central Government Employees to organise a massive protest demonstration in front of all work-spots/offices on 19th November 2015 wearies Black Badge to register our anger and resentment over the Government’s action in engineering delay in the submission of the report by the 7th CPC.

8. The National JCA leaders and all standing council members will sit on a day long Dharna at Jantar Mantar on 19.11.2015 by wearies Black Badge to highlight the anti worker attitude of the GOI and its concerted efforts to undermine the functioning of JCM.

We also send herewith the resolution adopted at the meeting which has been forwarded to the Government already.

With greetings

Encl: Resolution Comradely yours,

(Shiva Gopal Mishra)

Convener

RESOLUTION

1. The National JCA of Central Government Employee, which met today on 30.09.2015 at New Delhi strongly condemns the Governments’ action in engineering delay in the submission of 7th CPC report. The 7th CPC was to submit its report on 28th August 2015. i.e on the expiry of 18th months time provided to it by the Government as per the terms of reference. The demand for interim-relief and merger of DA was denied. The Government refused to amend the terms of reference despite repeated appeals made by the National JCA on several occasions.

2. The Charter of demand submitted by the National JCA to the cabinet Secretary realisation of which it has been decided to organize indefinite strike commencing from 23rd November 2015 has remained unattended and unsettled. No follow up action was initiated by the Government after discussion of the issues at the level of Secretary personnel held on 25th February 2015.

3. The National Council JCM has not met in the past 5 years even once, giving the impression that the Government’s intention is to award a natural death to the negotiating forums and compel the employees to tread the path of struggle for realization of the demands. Many departmental councils have been placed on hibernation for the part one decade.

4. The National JCA has come to the inescapable conclusion that the present Govt has no intention to reach out to a settlement on any issue pertaining to the Central Govt. Employees, given its anti labour, anti people attitude.

5. The National JCA has decided to call upon the Central Government Employees throughout the country to organise massive protest demonstration jointly on 19th November 2015 in front of all Offices/work place eliciting the participation of all employees workers and pass resolution and send the same to the Finance Minister and the Cabinet secretary.

Source :govemployees.in

The Seventh Pay Commission is likely to propose minimum basic salary Rs 20,000 of central government employees.

New Delhi: The Seventh Pay Commission is likely to propose minimum basic salary Rs 20,000 of central government employees.

Highly-placed sources in the pay panel said on Monday, “the average increase in basic pay for all government employees will be in the region of 30-40%.”

Currently, the minimum basic salary of central government employees is Rs 7730 with Grade pay excluding dearness and other allowances. After the Seventh pay commission recommendations will come into force, the minimum basic salary will be 20,000 excluding dearness and other allowances.

A competitive minimum pay is important because it determines the the socialism view of the government and the higher number of central government employees are in the minimum pay slabs. Apart from giving good salary to lower grade employees, the pay panel also will have to consider the disparity ratio between its highest and lowest paid employees.

“A joint secretary gets now Rs 128,000 as monthly salary with dearness allowance. I do not expect it to go up to more than Rs 160,000,” a joint secretary-level official of the Central Government said.

The first, second, third, fourth, fifth pay and sixth pay commission recommended the minimum basic salary Rs 35, Rs 80, Rs 260, Rs 950, Rs 3050 and Rs 7730 respectively.

The Commission has already completed discussions with various stakeholders, including organisations, federations, groups representing civil employees as well as Defence services and is in the process of finalising its recommendations.

It’s now in the process of finalising its recommendations.

The Seventh Pay Commission is also likely to keep the retirement age of central government employees unchanged at 60 years, although most of the central employees bodies sought to increase the retirement age to 62 years in their memorandum in the pay panel.

“We are not going to either recommend lowering or raising the retirement age. If we lower the age limit, the pension burden will bust the government’s medium-term fiscal targets.” highly-placed sources in the pay panel said.

Seventh Pay Commission Likely To Introduce Health Insurance

In a move that could benefit more than 50 lakh central government employees and 56 lakh pensioners, the Seventh Pay commission is planning to propose to introduce health insurance scheme to replace Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) at highly subsidized rates.

The pay panel has already held detailed discussions about this with various stakeholders, including organisations, federations, groups representing civil employees as well as Defence services.

The pay panel will ask the central government to urge the insurance industry to come up with feasible health insurance solution for the central government employees and pensioners. The IRDA, the insurance regulatory body of India, will be compelled to ask the health insurance companies to offer a basic insurance to every central government employee and pensioner, regardless of age or medical condition and are not allowed to make a profit off this basic insurance.

The serving central government employees in non-CGHS areas are provided healthcare facilities under the CS(MA) Rules, 1994, but pensioners are not covered under these rules.

The pensioners are, however, entitled to a fixed medical allowance of Rs 500 per month. The pensioners residing in non-CGHS areas have the option to become a CGHS member in any CGHS-covered city of their choice to avail the medical facilities under the CGHS Scheme.

Health insurance would be available for central government employees and pensioners till death, with the insured employees and pensioners will have to pay 50% of the premium from their salaries and pensions and the remaining 50% premium may be paid by the central government.

The health insurance would cover a family of six the employee and pensioner himself or herself, the spouse, two children and two parents. The maximum sum assured for family in a year could up to Rs 5 lakh.

Under the CGHS, the annual per capita expenditure is more than Rs 5,000. In contrast, the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), which caters to the rural masses, spends just Rs 180 per head.

The CGHS is financed mainly through the Centre’s tax revenues. Though beneficiaries do contribute a share of their wages towards premium, ranging from Rs 600 to Rs 6,000 a year depending on their pay scale, this accounts for just about 5 per cent of the total expenditure. The government shells out the remaining 95 per cent.

So, the central government also wanted for ending the CGHS in its current form and to move to an insurance-based health scheme to cut costs.

Source:Govemployees.

2nd September 2015 Strike – Additional pressure on the 7th CPC to accept our justified demands – COC Karnataka

7th CPC Report & 2nd September 2015 Strike

To

All Affiliates

COC Karnataka

Comrade,

The latest information is that the 7th CPC report will be submitted only in last week of September, we should not be too worried about this as the 7th CPC report was expected to submit its report in first week of September , the delay is only by few days only and that too the 7th CPC period is upto end of September 2015 as the 7th CPC was constituted on 28th Feb 2014 and allowed 18 months time the 7th CPC has started functioning only in April 2014 onwards.

The COC Karnataka meeting held on 4th August 2015 at RMS office has decided to participate in the 2nd September 2015 strike program as per the directions of the Confederation of CG Employees New Delhi. Now due to many reasons the 7th CPC report release has been postponed, now let us to utilise the postponement period and put additional pressure on the 7th CPC and the Government of India to accept our justified demand’s of Central Government Employees such as minimum wage of Rs 26,000/- with effect from Jan 2014, fitment formula of 3.72 , five promotion scheme , date of effect of the 7th CPC from 1/1/2014 etc.

Comrades if the 2nd September 2015 strike by the Central Government Employees is a success, then we can get more financial benefits from the 7th CPC and the Government of India apart from other important issues of unwanted labour reforms will be solved.

I request all comrades to prepare and educate the grass root leaders and employees on our demands. Conduct gate meetings / general body meetings from 11th August onwards.

Comradely yours

(P.S.Prasad)

General Secretary

Source: http://karnatakacoc.blogspot.in/

State Government employees are not covered within the terms of reference of the 7th central Pay Commission

While answering to a question in Parliament on 12th August 2014 regarding the employees working in State Government, Ministry of State for Finance Smt.Nirmala Sitharaman said that the State Government employees are not covered within the terms of reference of the 7th central Pay Commission.

She replied in written form to a question asked by a member that service conditions of State Government employees fall within the exclusive domain of respective State Governments. Therefore, State Government employees are not covered within the terms of reference of the 7th central Pay Commission.

Thus, the recommendations of Commission will not directly apply to State Government employees. Accordingly, it is not possible for the Central Government to indicate the financial burden on State Governments, if they decide to adopt the recommendation of the 7th Central Pay Commission in respect of their employees with or without modification.

She also added, the Central Government had sought the views of the State Governments and till the date of the constitution of the 7th Central Pay Commission on 28.2.2014, only 14 States had responded. These State Governments generally mentioned, inter-alia, that adoption of the recommendations of a Central Pay Commission by them in case of State Government employees adds to substantial financial burden

Since the decision to adopt the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission in case of the State Government employees will exclusively concern respective State Government, the question of any assistance by the Central Government will not arise. However, the Terms of Reference of the 7th Central Pay Commission provide, inter-alia, that while making its recommendations, the Commission will also keep in view the likely impact of the recommendations on the finances of the State Governments, which usually adopt the recommendations with some modifications.

Source: 7thCPCNEWS.