The recommendations will benefit 1 million employees, including those of local bodies, schoolteachers serving in government and government-aided schools as well as 400,000 pensioners.
However, the commission's proposals, if implemented, will encourage employees to opt for early retirement schemes and voluntary retirement schemes. For, it has recommended that employees retiring after 20 years of service be paid a full pension, which is 50% of the last pay. At present, full pension is paid only to those retiring after 33 years of service.
The Pay Commission recommended paying employees their arrears with effect from April 1, 2008, in three annual instalments, preferably from 2009-10. Dasgupta said the government would review the commission's report and decide on the recommendations in a fortnight.
The minister further stated that the recommendations would partially bridge the gap between state and central government employees, who got a major hike after implementation of the Central Pay Commission's recommendations last year. The commission wants pay scales replaced by a system of pay bands and grade pay. Instead of the 24 existing scales, five pay bands have been recommended, one each for Gr D, Gr C, Gr B and two for Gr A category employees.
The recommendations include increasing the maximum gratuity payable to Rs 6 lakh from Rs 2.5 lakh, said commission chairman Satyen Ghosh. He added that the medical allowance had been revised to Rs 300 per month from Rs 100. Even the ceiling on house rent has been raised to Rs 6,000 from Rs 2,000.
The minimum basic pay recommended now is Rs 6,600. The commission recommended a minimum pension of Rs 3,300 and a maximum of Rs 35,000. The commission also suggested that pending instalments of DA be paid at an early date. All future instalments of DA should be released twice a year like that done by the Centre, the commission said.
Source : Times of India
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