7th Pay Commission: Demonetisation delays higher allowances

7th Pay Commission: Demonetisation delays higher allowances

New Delhi: Higher allowances under 7th pay commission recommendations is set to be delayed as the cash crunch brought on by demonetisation has hit government’s major announcement for central government employees.

The committee on allowances has finalized the report on the allowances and the government has also sanctioned the funds, but the government is unable to pay it to its employees. On the other hand, the Finance Ministry is facing pressure from the central government employees’ unions which want immediate announcement of higher allowances.

“One of the the government major announcements that has got get affected in the cash crunch process is ‘fatter allowances’ for the central government employees. The announcement has now been postponed, We expect things to normalise January onwards from the current uncertainty, if things settle down, the announcement will be made.” a top official involved with the process of higher allowances told The Sen Times on the condition on anonymity.

He added that the decision on this matter to push since payments to the employees are made in ease and without facing cash crunch. Hence, the Finance Ministry felt it would be wiser to announce of higher allowances when things settle down.

Currently, the central government employees are getting allowances according to the 6th Pay Commission recommendations while the government implemented hike in basic pay with retrospective effect from January 2016 in new pay structure under the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for central government employees.

The government approved hike in basic pay in June but referred hike in allowances other than dearness allowance to the ‘Committee on Allowances’ headed by the Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa for examination as the pay commission had recommended of abolishing 51 allowances and subsuming 37 others out of 196 allowances.

However, the 7th pay commission had recommended 138.71 percent hike in House Rent Allowance (HRA) and 49.79 percent for other allowances and the committee on allowances sticks with the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations, the official confirmed.

After the cabinet approval, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had congratulated central government officers, employees and pensioners on a historic rise in their salary and allowances through the 7th pay commission recommendations but the central government employees have so far not been paid higher allowances.

TST