IAS officers may maintain their edge over IRS, IPS in 7th Pay Commission

New Delhi: One of the most contentious issues before the 7th Pay Commission has been pay parity between the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers and those from the IRS and IPS. Well, our sources tell us that the chairman and two members of the Commission could not arrive at a consensus and in all likelihood, the report will not make any recommendation whatsoever as far as pay parity for the three services is concerned. The report is scheduled for submission to the finance ministry this evening.[caption id=“attachment_2443518” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  7th Pay Commission report is ready. AFP[/caption] These sources say each of the three (chairman and members) have submitted differing views on the matter and all the views will be there in the report but no recommendation. It seems the bone of contention could be the two higher increments that the IAS officers are given early on in their career - something the other two cadres are not entitled to. Along with parity, IAS officers may have lost out on preferential empanelment too. These sources said every pay commission has agonized over this question of alleged preferential treatment to the IAS officers but has chosen to maintain status quo in the end. Top-ranked students in the civil services exam are assigned the IAS and Indian Foreign Service (IFS) streams, followed by other branches such as the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian Revenue Service (IRS). Empanelment refers to the selection of officer to a post which has the rank of joint secretary in the central government. A story in The Times of India recently had pointed out that the IAS brigade started a campaign weeks before the submission of the 7th Pay Commission Report to maintain their edge over other civil services. The Commission is expected to submit its report this evening in which it is likely to to recommend a hike for Central government employees and pensioners which is significantly lower than the quantum suggested by the 6th Pay Commission. The reduced bonanza for government employees follows falling revenue receipts of the government and a vastly subdued global economic scenario compared to the time when the last report was being finalised. Once the report is submitted, it will be sent to all ministries and employee unions (it will not be shared with Officers’ Associations though) for their comments and suggestions. Thereafter, it will be sent to an Implementation Committee which is chaired by the cabinet secretary. It may finally get implemented by mid next year, after the Union cabinet had cleared it.