7th Pay Commission: No hike in pay matrix for top and mid-level employees 

New Delhi: Finance Ministry yesterday ruled out the possibility of hike in pay matrix for the top and middle-level employees of central government beyond the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendation, much to the frustration of central government employees.

FM Arun Jaitley had said in Rajya Sabha on  July 19, 2016, “the government will consider hiking pay after discussions with all stakeholders.”

“They will never be given hike in pay matrix above the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendation because they do not need it,” A Finance Ministry official told our reporter when asked his views on the hike in minimum pay of central government employees.
Earlier media reports mentioning that the National Anomaly Committee (NAC) is likely to go ahead for hike in minimum pay Rs 21,000 from Rs 18,000 and fitment factor 3.00. The fitment formula with 3.00 times from the existing 2.57 fitment, which will be gone up he salary and pension in general for all segments of employees.
“It’s sorrow that the government will not hike the pay matrix of top and middle-level employees. I think it will be disappointing to them,” he said.
He said the top and middle-level employees have sufficient salaries to maintain family comfortably.
“The government have already reviewed the salaries and perks of the central government above the pay matrix level 5 and decided they do not need higher pay matrix levels,” he added.
Earlier, The 7th pay panel recommended minimum pay from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 per month while the maximum pay from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh with a fitment factor of 2.57 times uniformly of basic pay of 6th pay commission and the recommendations got the Cabinet nod on June 29, 2016.
The central government employees’ unions have been demanding minimum pay Rs. 26,000 instead of Rs 18,000 and 3.68 fitment factor for all employees. Accordingly, they had threatened to go on an indefinite strike over pay hike on July 11, 2016.
The unions had called off their indefinite strike after they had met the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on June 30, 2016 and he assured the unions leaders that a High Level Committee would look into the increasing Pay and fitment formula.
So, the government formed the 22-member National Anomaly Committee (NAC) headed by Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in September, 2016.
In the meantime, DoPT issued a letter on October 30, 2017 stating that the demand for increase in minimum Pay and fitment formula do not appear to be treated as anomaly, therefore, these do not come under the purview of NAC.
But the official in the Finance Ministry said that the government would like to review the DoPT letter in respect of employees who draw salaries from pay matrix level 1 to 5.

TST