The recommendations on 7th pay commission made by DC Samant Committee will be approved at a cabinet meeting headed by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje scheduled on Wednesday. The recommendations are expected to benefit over 6.7 lakh government employees and over 2.7 lakh pensioners while putting a burden of Rs10,500 crore on the exchequer. The cabinet will also discuss bills including reservation to Gurjars and other four castes, which the government will table in the upcoming session beginning from October 23.
On Saturday, a circular approving the pay commission recommendations was signed by all cabinet ministers. The cabinet meeting will approve the circular and decide which formula it wants to implement regarding the 7th pay commission recommendations. The DC Samant committee, in its 150-page report, has made suggestions on certain formulas.
A hike of 14 percent in honorarium is one of the recommendations which the committee made in its report for the in-service employees. The important issue for the government is the cut-off date of the implementation of the recommendations. The employee’s unions have been demanding the pay benefits from January 1, 2016, which if accepted, will put more burden on the state’s coffers with arrears of nearly 21 months. However, the government wants to give cash benefit from January 1, 2017. For allowances, a committee has been already formed by the government to look into it.
The sources hinted the government employees will get hiked salary of October month in November with the implementation of the report as a Diwali bonanza. The government machinery will have to do a lot of exercise for fixation of the salaries of people working in departments, boards and autonomous bodies. The departments where the manpower is marginally lower will get hiked salary first, while big departments like police, education and health will take more time to fix the salaries.
The Diwali Bonus
The Raje government has announced Diwali bonus for more than six 6 lakh in service government employees. The ad hoc bonus will be credited into the account of the employees drawing salary in Rs 4800 grade pay or less than it, said a statement quoting the chief minister Vasundhara Raje. Maximum Rs 6774 bonus will be given to the employees depending on the pay grade. The move will put an additional burden of Rs406 crore on the exchequer.
Hike in DA
Similarly, Raje has also cleared a proposal to hike 3 percent DA (dearness allowance) for in service government employees and pensioners. The hike comes into effect from July 1, 2017 and will benefit 8 lakh government employees, 3.5 lakh pensioners. With this, the DA of the employees has reached 139 percent from existing 136. The government will deposit arrears of DA for last 3 months (July to September).
