7th Pay Commission: Higher Minimum Pay for Central Government Employees?

National Anomaly Committee (NAC) was formed regarding the pay related anomalies that arose out of the implementation of the recommendations of the 7^thPay Commission. It would recommend a hike in minimum pay soon and fitment factor beyond the recommendations of the 7^thCPC. The government has modified the definition of pay anomaly in a major development, which allows the NAC to take any decision of pay anomaly that was not taken by the 7^thCPC. However, on March 6, P Radhakrishnan, Minister of State Finance, made a mention that the government was not considering a hike in minimum pay of the central government employees and fitment factor beyond the 7^th CPC’s recommendations.

On October 30, 2017, a letter was issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) stating that the demand for increasing the minimum pay and fitment factor has not been treated as an anomaly, and therefore does not come under NAC’s purview. According to the reports, NAC had recommended a hike of Rs 3,000, thereby increasing the minimum pay from the existing Rs 18,000 to Rs 21,000 and the fitment factor of 3.00 replacing the existing 2.57 times, beyond the recommendations of the 7^thCPC.

A proposal was sent by NAC through the DoPT that recommended a hike in the minimum salary for the central government employees beyond the 7^th CPC’s recommendations, but it was opposed by the DoPT. The definition of pay anomaly has now been amended by the government and on March 14, the DoPT issued an Office Memorandum, which gave NAC the authority to take decisions related to salary hike of central government employees. One of the hurdles was the DoPT’s letter, between the central government employees and higher minimum pay.

The 7^thCPC recommended a hike of 14.27% in central government employees’ basic pay, which led to an increase in minimum pay to Rs 18,000 from Rs 7,000 a month and maximum basic pay to Rs 2.5 lakh from Rs 80,000 with 2.57 as the fitment factor. However, the employees of central government demanded a raise in minimum pay to Rs 26,000 from Rs 18,000 and fitment factor to be increased to 3.68 times from 2.57 times, claiming that the sanctionedhike in pay was the lowest in the past 70 years.

The increase in minimum pay is likely, more than the 7^th CPC recommendations, for the central government employees only who get salaries from 1 to 5 pay matrix level. The salary will remain unchanged of a mid-level and senior level under the recommendations of 7^th CPC.