Bonanza for central govt staff: 7th Pay Commission may seek 22% hike in salaries

NEW DELHI: The Seventh Pay Commission, likely to submit its report recommending higher salaries for almost 5 million central government employees and more than 5 million pensioners, is reportedly close to suggesting a 22 percent bump up in the paycheque. [caption id=“attachment_2457654” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Pay Commission report needs Cabinet nod to kick in/ Reuters[/caption] The Indian Express reports that this 22 per cent will likely include a 15 per cent raise in basic pay and up to 25 per cent increase in allowances. The panel is headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur. An average of 15 per cent upwards has been doing the rounds and now The Indian Express nails it to a specific number - 22 per cent for central government employees. The newspaper quotes a source saying the “net increase is likely to be in the range of 22 per cent after subsuming the current 119 per cent dearness allowance in the new basic and grade pay scale.” Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan has placed his bets firmly on the Seventh Pay Commission’s handouts to boost spending and push up “aggregate demand”. The recommendation needs Cabinet approval to kick in officially. The hike in salaries is effective from January 2016, reports say. Besides Chairman, other members of the commission are Vivek Rae, a retired IAS officer of 1978 batch, and Rathin Roy, an economist. Meena Agarwal is secretary of the commission. The central government constitutes the pay commission every 10 years to revise the pay scale of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some modifications. The Commission was set up by the UPA government in February 2014 to revise remuneration of about 48 lakh central government employees and 55 lakh pensioners. The Union Cabinet had extended the term of the panel in August by four months, till December. The 6th Pay Commission was implemented with effect from January 1, 2006. Agencies