National Council Writes to Finance Minister to Consider Merger of DA with Pay
National Council (Staff Side)
Shiva Gopal Mishra
General Secretary
Joint Consultative Machinery
for Central Government Employees
13-C, Ferozshah Road, New Delhi – 110001
I personally and on behalf of the Staff
Side of the National Council(JCM) and on behalf of All India
Railwaymen’s Federation congratulate on your taking over as Union
Finance Minister.
I hope that, under your able leadership, the financial health of our country will achieve greater heights.
As you may be kindly aware, Joint
Consultative Machinery (JCM) Scheme is in operation in Government of
India with the object of promoting harmonious relations and of securing
the greatest measure of cooperation between the Central Government, in
its capacity as employer and the general body of its employees in
matters of common concern, and with the object, further, of increasing
the efficiency of the public services. The Joint Consultative Machinery
(JCM) consists of the Official Side and the Staff Side.
We, as Staff Side, have raised a number
of issues with the government, concerning the employees of the
Government of India. Two of these issues are agitating the minds of the
Government employees and need urgent resolution. These relate to Merger
of Dearness Allowance with Pay and removal of the issue relating to
Senior Promotee employees drawing less pay than the Junior Direct
Recruit employee. Since these issues need decision at the level of
Ministry of Finance, I am enclosing brief notes on the same for your
kind perusal.
We are hopeful that, you will be kind enough to have them examined in a positive-manner
I would also be grateful, if you could
spare some time from your busy schedule between 10th and 12th ” June,
2014, so that I may call on you to meet you in person.
With regards!
Yours sincerely,
Shiv Gopal Mishra
To
Shri Arun Jaitley,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
(Government of India),
North Block,
New Delhi
End: As above
Copy to: All Constituent Organizations of the NC/JCM(Staff Side) — for information
MERGER OF DA WITH PAY
The wage revision of the Central
Government employees is carried out through the Central Pay Commissions
which, considering the magnitude of employees is a time consuming
process. The 7 Central Pay Commission (CPC) set up by the Government
will require a reasonable time frame to go into the matter judiciously
especially because the implementation of 6m CPC recommendations have
given rise to large number of issues and cadre related grievances.
During the past, the methodology adopted
for compensating the erosion in the real value of wages due to price
rise as reflected in high rate of DA to Government employees before the
date of the submission of Pay Commission Report and its acceptance by
the Government, had always been though the mechanism of merger of a
portion of DA with Pay. The merger of DA to partially compensate the
erosion in the real wages was first done in pursuance of the Gadgil
Committee in the post 2nd Pay Commission period. The 3 CPC had
recommended such merger of the DA when it crossed 36%, The Government
agreed to merge 60% and later the whole of the DA before the 4°’ CPC was
set up. The 501 CPC merged 98% of DA with pay. The 51h CPC had also
recommended that the DA must be merged with pay and treated as pay for
computing all allowances as and when the percentage of Dearness
compensation exceeds 50%. Accordingly even before the setting up of the 6°’ CPC the DA to the extent of 50% was merged with pay.
Presently, the factual position is that
as on 1.1.2014, the Dearness compensation is 100% and will exceed the
same with effect from 1.7.2014. Since the 7°’ CPC has been set up and
one of the issues to be dealt with by the CPC would relate to revision
in the existing reference base of price index, it becomes all the more
necessary that the Government takes steps to merge at least 50% of DA
with pay to compensate the erosion of the real value of wages
immediately.
ISSUE RELATING TO SENIOR PROMOTEE EMPLOYEES DRAWING LESS PAY THAN THE JUNIOR DIRECT RECRUIT EMPLOYEES
The main issue in this case is that the
6th CPC for the first time recommended specific entry level pay for
Direct Recruits (DRs). This resulted in employees who were appointed in
service prior to the DRs and also got promoted earlier get less pay as
compared to their counterparts recruited directly and who joined after
1.1.2006. It has always been the case that on promotion, the pay of a
promoted employee is never fixed at less than the entry level of pay of
that post as admissible to a direct recruit.
Consequent upon implementation of the
recommendations of the 6th CPC, in respect of pay scales of various
categories of staff, there are certain situations where the senior who
were promoted before 01.01.2006 are getting lesser pay than their
juniors promoted after 01.01.2006, on fixation of their pay w.e.f.
01.01.2006. This, being a serious anomaly, has been raised by us in the
National Anomalies Committee for redressal thereof.
The consensus decision in the National
Anomaly Committee was that the Staff Side as well as the Official Side
agreed that wherever there is a provision of direct recruitment in the
Recruitment Rules, pay on promotion would be fixed at the prescribed
minimum of the Entry Pay as provided for the Direct Entrants in the
Revised Pay Rules, irrespective of the fact whether direct recruitment
has actually taken place or not. However to our distress it was later on
learnt that the Government went back on this mutually agreed solemn
resolution and did not issue any Order in this regard. This being a
serious issue has resulted in discontentment prevailing among the
seniors who are drawing less pay than is legitimately due to them.
A very simple solution to this issue is
that orders may be issued to the effect that the pay on promotion w.e.f.
01.01.2006 would not be fixed less than at the prescribed minimum of
the Entry Pay as provided for the Direct Entrants in the Revised Pay
Rules, to eliminate this unfairness.
