7th Pay Commission: The countdown to implementation of revised allowances has begun

It can be a wait for just a few more days before the Narendra Modi government makes an announcement on implementation of revised allowances under the Seventh Pay Commission.

According to some reports, the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) may have finalised its draft report on Ashok Lavasa panel's recommendations at a meeting on Monday.

Earlier Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha had assured representatives of Central government employees that the Empowered Committee of Secretaries will go through the Lavasa report on revised allowances before June 1.

If reports are to be believed, the Empowered Committee of Secretaries may table its report on Seventh Pay Commission before the Union cabinet on June 1.

HERE IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE STATUS OF ALLOWANCES UNDER SEVENTH PAY COMMISSION:

The Committee on Allowances under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa submitted its report on revised allowances to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on April 27.

The Ashok Lavasa Committee on Allowances was constituted by the Narendra Modi government in July last year after Central government employees expressed their dissatisfaction with the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission.

The Seventh Pay Commission recommended abolishing 53 of the 196 allowances that Central government employees get, besides merging 36 of the smaller allowances into bigger ones.

The Seventh Pay Commission also suggested reducing the House Rent Allowance (HRA) for employees by varying percentage depending on the category of cities. For those living in metros, the pay commission suggested bringing down the HRA from 30 per cent to 24 per cent.

The Ashok Lavasa panel which was initially given a four-month deadline to submit its revision report on allowances failed to meet the extended deadline of February 22, and finally submitted the report last month.

While the Ashok Lavasa committee met various stakeholders before finalising its report on allowances under Seventh Pay Commission, representatives of Central government employees recently wrote to Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha stating they were not aware of what the Ashok Lavasa panel recommended.

In their letter to the Cabinet Secretary, the Central government employees also expressed their anguish over the inordinate delay in implementation of revised allowances by the government. Earlier, it was speculated that the Modi government would implement revised allowances from the start of the new financial year.

The pay hike of 14.27 per cent under the Seventh Pay Commission is the lowest Central government employees have got in the last 70 years. Employees are hoping that the revision in allowances will take factors like inflation, price rise in consideration.

The Empowered Committee of Secretaries after screening the Ashok Lavasa report on allowances will present the same to the Narendra Modi cabinet for its final approval.

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