Government to announce revised allowances as per 7th Pay Commission in April

Central government employees may be in for some good news this April as revised allowances including house rent allowance (HRA) are likely to be announced after April 12, when the ongoing Budget session of Parliament gets over, reports The Financial Express.

The panel, headed by the Finance Secretary, will hold its final meeting very soon and is on the verge of giving final touches to the allowances which have been reworked in accordance with the 7th Pay Panel’s recommendations.

The panel meeting which took place on Wednesday to mull over the subject lasted for more than three hours. It seems employees in metro cities are in for a bigger cheer as sources suggest that the panel was considering to make HRA a little more generous than the CPC’s award.

Central D.A. from 01.01.2017 : Order issued

Ministry of Finance issued O.M. for grant of Dearness Allowance for Central Govt. employees from 2% to 4% with effect from 01st January 2017.
Click here to download the order

Cabinet may decide higher allowances for central employees tomorrow

Hike in HRA ?
As per media report (Zee Business), cabinet likely to take a call on higher allowances in the next cabinet meeting scheduled tomorrow (23/03/17).
Committee on Allowances, headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa, has already submitted the report on higher allowance to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the source said.
The report submitted to Finance Minister mentioned that HRA should be paid according to the 6th Pay Commission report. - Sources revealed.
Source : Zee Business

Media Report : Meeting on Higher Allowance and National Pension Scheme today, major announcement awaited

Several senior officials on union cabinet are likely to meet members of panel over Higher Allowance and National Pension Scheme (NPS) on Friday that was constituted a day after the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations, said Shiv Gopal Mishra, the chief secretary of National Joint Council of Action (NJCA), a joint body of unions representing the central government employees in large numbers. The committee on higher allowance is also likely to make a major announcement on Friday after they have submitted its report to the government. A day after 7th Pay Commission’s recommendation was implemented by the Union Government, several ministers had met Shiv Gopal Mishra and had assured him that his plea on increasing the higher allowances will be heard.

Cabinet approves additional 2% Dearness Allowance / Dearness Relief due from January, 2017

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners w.e.f. 01.01.2017. It has increased by 2% over the existing rate of 2% of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise. 

This increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. 

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief would be Rs. 5,857.28 crore per annum and Rs.6,833.50 crore in the Financial Year 2017-18 (for a period of 14 months from January, 2017 to February, 2018). 

This will benefit about 48.85 lakh Central Government employees and 55.51 lakh pensioners. 

Source : PIB

Nationwide strike of central Govt. employees tomorrow

Click here to view Govt. response

"Allowance committee did not submit report yet " - Govt reply in Loksabha

"The Committee on Allowances has been constituted vide order dated 22.07.2016. The Committee is to examine the recommendations of the 7th CPC in regard to various allowances having regard to the representations made by the Staff Associations and the suggestions of the concerned Ministries/Departments and make recommendations as to whether any changes in the recommendations of the 7th CPC are warranted and if so, in what form."
"The Committee has not submitted its report to the Government. The deliberations of the Committee are in the final stages. Decisions on implementing the Report will be taken after the Report is submitted by the Committee."
As stated by  SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL, MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE in Loksabha on 10th March 2017

Lavasa Committee yet to finalize report

A panel headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa and tasked with examining the 7th Pay Commission’s (7th CPC) recommendations on allowances has been unable to reach a conclusion in its last scheduled meeting last Friday. It will now have a few more meetings before submitting its report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Business Standard has learnt.

In late June last year, after implementing the CPC proposals on salary and pension for the central government’s 4.7 million employees, Jaitley had announced the Lavasa panel would examine the suggestions on allowances. It had time till October to give the report but this got delayed. The decision on allowances was postponed because the CPC wanted a number of these to be abolished or subsumed. Employee unions were opposed.

“There were no conclusive decisions taken at the meeting last Friday. There will be some more meetings. For now, the panel is not ready to give its report to the Finance Minister,” said a senior government official aware of the developments.

It was earlier reported that the panel would submit its recommendations to the government’s political leadership soon and the Centre could announce revised allowances any time after March 11, the day of counting the votes for the five Assembly polls, and probably before the second half of the Budget Session of Parliament ends. That timeline now seems doubtful.

All eyes on FM for announcement on higher allowances for central employees

With the second part of the Budget session in Parliament starting today, all eyes are on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who may just announce a hike in allowances for Central government employees.

The Committee on Allowances has already submitted its report to the Finance Ministry in which it has reviewed the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission on allowances.

The Committee under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa is believed to have suggested that the house rent allowance be kept as it is and not brought down as recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission.

The pay hike under the Seventh Pay Commission has been the lowest in the last 70 years and a decrease in allowances is unlikely to go down well with nearly 50 lakh government employees.

Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) — January, 2017

The All-India CPI-IW for January, 2017 decreased by 1 point and stood at 274 (two hundred and seventy four)
Central D.A. from January 2017 :
As predicted earlier, Central Govt. employees to get D.A. @ 2% with effect from January 2017. Hence the total D.A. payable will be 4%. Of course formal announcement is awaited, which may take place likely in later part of this month.

Report of 3rd Pay Revision Committee for CPSEs

Grade / Level          Pre-revised                 Revised
                             w.e.f. 1.1.2007            w.e.f. 1.1.2017 
                                Min. Max.                Min. Max.
 Below Board Level Executives: 
E0                   12600 - 32500             30000 - 120000 
E1                   16400 - 40500             40000 - 140000 
E2                   20600 - 46500             50000 - 160000 
E3                   24900 - 50500             60000 - 180000 
E4                   29100 - 54500             70000 - 200000 
E5                   32900 - 58000             80000 - 220000 
E6                   36600 - 62000             90000 - 240000 
Board Level Executives:
 Director (Sch-D) 43200 - 66000        100000 - 260000
 CMD (Sch-D) 51300 - 73000             120000 - 280000
Click here for fullReport of 3rd Pay Revision Committee for CPSEs