Highlights
of Recommendations of Seventh Central Pay Commission
Recommended Date of implementation: 01.01.2016
Minimum Pay: Based
on the Aykroyd formula, the minimum pay in government is recommended to be set
at ₹18,000 per month.
Maximum Pay:
₹2,25,000 per month for Apex Scale and ₹2,50,000 per month for Cabinet
Secretary and others presently at the same pay level.
Financial
Implications:
The total financial impact in the FY 2016-17 is
likely to be ₹1,02,100 crore, over the expenditure as per the ‘Business As
Usual’ scenario. Of this, the increase in pay would be ₹39,100 crore,
increase in allowances would be ₹ 29,300 crore and increase in pension would be
₹33,700 crore.
Out of the total financial impact of ₹1,02,100
crore, ₹73,650 crore will be borne by the General Budget and₹28,450 crore by
the Railway Budget.
In percentage terms the overall increase in pay
& allowances and pensions over the ‘Business As Usual’ scenario will be
23.55 percent. Within this, the increase in pay will be 16 percent, increase in
allowances will be 63 percent, and increase in pension would be 24 percent.
The total impact of the Commission’s
recommendations are expected to entail an increase of 0.65 percentage points in
the ratio of expenditure on (Pay+Allowances+ Pension) to GDP compared to 0.77
percent in case of VI CPC.
New Pay
Structure: Considering the issues raised regarding the
Grade Pay structure and with a view to bring in greater transparency, the
present system of pay bands and grade pay has been dispensed with and a new pay
matrix has been designed. Grade Pay has been subsumed in the pay matrix. The
status of the employee, hitherto determined by grade pay, will now be
determined by the level in the pay matrix.
Fitment: A
fitment factor of 2.57 is being proposed to be applied uniformly for all
employees.
Annual Increment:
The rate of annual increment is being retained at 3 percent.
Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP):
Performance benchmarks for MACP have been made more stringent from
“Good” to “Very Good”.
The Commission has also proposed that annual increments not be
granted in the case of those employees who are not able to meet the benchmark
either for MACP or for a regular promotion in the first 20 years of their
service.
No other changes in MACP recommended.
Military Service Pay (MSP):
The Military Service Pay, which is a compensation for the various aspects of
military service, will be admissible to the Defence
forces personnel only. As before, Military Service Pay will be
payable to all ranks up to and inclusive of Brigadiers and their equivalents.
The current MSP per month and the revised rates recommended are as follows:
|
|
Present
|
Proposed
|
|
i.
|
Service Officers
|
₹6,000
|
₹15,500
|
|
ii.
|
Nursing Officers
|
₹4,200
|
₹10,800
|
|
iii.
|
JCO/ORs
|
₹2,000
|
₹ 5,200
|
|
iv.
|
Non Combatants (Enrolled) in the Air Force
|
₹1,000
|
₹ 3,600
|
Short Service
Commissioned Officers: Short
Service Commissioned Officers will be allowed to exit the Armed Forces at any
point in time between 7 and 10 years of service, with a terminal gratuity
equivalent of 10.5 months of reckonable emoluments. They will further be
entitled to a fully funded one year Executive Programme or a M.Tech. programme
at a premier Institute.
Lateral
Entry/Settlement: The
Commission is recommending a revised formulation for lateral entry/resettlement
of defence forces personnel which keeps in view the specific requirements of
organization to which such personnel will be absorbed. For lateral entry into
CAPFs an attractive severance package has been recommended.
Headquarters/Field
Parity: Parity between field and headquarters staff recommended for
similar functionaries e.g Assistants and Stenos.
Cadre Review:
Systemic change in the process of Cadre Review for Group A officers
recommended.
Allowances:
The Commission has recommended abolishing 52 allowances altogether. Another 36
allowances have been abolished as separate identities, but subsumed either in
an existing allowance or in newly proposed allowances. Allowances relating to
Risk and Hardship will be governed by the proposed Risk and Hardship Matrix.
Risk and Hardship Allowance: Allowances
relating to Risk and Hardship will be governed by the newly proposed nine-cell
Risk and Hardship Matrix, with one extra cell at the top, viz., RH-Max to
include Siachen Allowance.
The current Siachen Allowance per month and the
revised rates recommended are as follows:
|
|
|
Present
|
Proposed
|
|
i.
|
Service Officers
|
₹21,000
|
₹31,500
|
|
iii.
|
JCO/ORs
|
₹14,000
|
₹21,000
|
This would be the ceiling for risk/hardship
allowances and there would be no individual RHA with an amount higher than this
allowance.
House Rent
Allowance: Since
the Basic Pay has been revised upwards, the Commission recommends that HRA be
paid at the rate of 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the new Basic Pay
for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively. The Commission also recommends that
the rate of HRA will be revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent
respectively when DA crosses 50 percent, and further revised to 30 percent, 20
percent and 10 percent when DA crosses 100 percent.
In the case of PBORs of Defence, CAPFs and
Indian Coast Guard compensation for housing is presently limited to the authorised
married establishment hence many users are being deprived. The HRA coverage has
now been expanded to cover all.
Any allowance not mentioned in the report shall
cease to exist.
Emphasis has been placed on simplifying the
process of claiming allowances.
Advances:
All non-interest bearing Advances have been
abolished.
Regarding interest-bearing Advances, only
Personal Computer Advance and House Building Advance (HBA) have been retained.
HBA ceiling has been increased to ₹25 lakhs from the present ₹7.5 lakhs.
Central Government
Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS): The Rates of
contribution as also the insurance coverage under the CGEGIS have remained
unchanged for long. They have now been enhanced suitably. The following rates
of CGEGIS are recommended:
|
|
Present
|
Proposed
|
|
Level of Employee
|
Monthly Deduction
(₹)
|
Insurance Amount
(₹)
|
Monthly Deduction
(₹)
|
Insurance Amount
(₹)
|
|
10 and
above
|
120
|
1,20,000
|
5000
|
50,00,000
|
|
6 to 9
|
60
|
60,000
|
2500
|
25,00,000
|
|
1 to 5
|
30
|
30,000
|
1500
|
15,00,000
|
Medical Facilities:
Introduction of a Health Insurance Scheme for
Central Government employees and pensioners has been recommended.
Meanwhile, for the benefit of pensioners
residing outside the CGHS areas, CGHS should empanel those hospitals which are
already empanelled under CS (MA)/ECHS for catering to the medical requirement
of these pensioners on a cashless basis.
All postal pensioners should be covered
under CGHS. All postal dispensaries should be merged with CGHS.
Pension: The Commission recommends a revised pension
formulation for civil employees including CAPF personnel as well as for Defence
personnel, who have retired before 01.01.2016. This formulation will bring
about parity between past pensioners and current retirees for the same length
of service in the pay scale at the time of retirement.
The past pensioners shall first be fixed in the
Pay Matrix being recommended by the Commission on the basis of Pay Band and
Grade Pay at which they retired, at the minimum of the corresponding level in
the pay matrix.
This amount shall be raised to arrive at the
notional pay of retirees, by adding number of increments he/she had earned in
that level while in service at the rate of 3 percent.
In the case of defence forces personnel this amount
will include Military Service Pay as admissible.
Fifty percent of the total amount so arrived at
shall be the new pension.
An alternative calculation will be carried out,
which will be a multiple of 2.57 times of the current basic pension.
The pensioner will get the higher of the two.
Gratuity:
Enhancement in the ceiling of gratuity from the existing ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh.
The ceiling on gratuity may be raised by 25 percent whenever DA rises by 50
percent.
Disability Pension
for Armed Forces: The Commission is recommending reverting to a
slab based system for disability element, instead of existing percentile based
disability pension regime.
Ex-gratia Lump sum
Compensation to Next of Kin: The
Commission is recommending the revision of rates of lump sum compensation for
next of kin (NOK) in case of death arising in various circumstances relating to
performance of duties, to be applied uniformly for the defence forces personnel
and civilians including CAPF personnel.
Martyr Status for
CAPF Personnel: The Commission is of the view that in case of
death in the line of duty, the force personnel of CAPFs should be accorded
martyr status, at par with the defence forces personnel.
New Pension System:
The Commission received many grievances relating to NPS. It has recommended a
number of steps to improve the functioning of NPS. It has also recommended
establishment of a strong grievance redressal mechanism.
Regulatory Bodies:
The Commission has recommended a consolidated pay package of ₹4,50,000 and
₹4,00,000 per month for Chairpersons and Members respectively of select
Regulatory bodies. In case of retired government servants, their pension will
not be deducted from their consolidated pay. The consolidated pay package will
be raised by 25 percent as and when Dearness Allowance goes up by 50 percent.
For Members of the remaining Regulatory bodies normal replacement pay has been
recommended.
Performance Related
Pay: The Commission has recommended introduction of the Performance
Related Pay (PRP) for all categories of Central Government employees, based on
quality Results Framework Documents, reformed Annual Performance Appraisal
Reports and some other broad Guidelines. The Commission has also recommended
that the PRP should subsume the existing Bonus schemes.
There are few recommendations of the Commission
where there was no unanimity of view and these are as follows:
The Edge: An edge is presently accordeded to the Indian
Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) at three
promotion stages from Senior Time Scale (STS), to the Junior Administrative
Grade (JAG) and the NFSG. is recommended by the Chairman, to be extended
to the Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS).
Shri Vivek Rae, Member is of the view that
financial edge is justified only for the IAS and IFS. Dr. Rathin Roy, Member is
of the view that the financial edge accorded to the IAS and IFS should be
removed.
Empanelment: The
Chairman and Dr. Rathin Roy, Member, recommend that All India Service officers
and Central Services Group A officers who have completed 17 years of service
should be eligible for empanelment under the Central Staffing Scheme and there
should not be “two year edge”, vis-Ã -vis the IAS. Shri Vivek Rae, Member, has
not agreed with this view and has recommended review of the Central Staffing
Scheme guidelines.
Non Functional
Upgradation for Organised Group ‘A’ Services: The Chairman is of
the view that NFU availed by all the organised Group `A’ Services should be
allowed to continue and be extended to all officers in the CAPFs, Indian Coast
Guard and the Defence forces. NFU should henceforth be based on the respective
residency periods in the preceding substantive grade. Shri Vivek Rae, Member
and Dr. Rathin Roy, Member, have favoured abolition of NFU at SAG and HAG
level.
Superannuation: Chairman and Dr. Rathin Roy, Member, recommend
the age of superannuation for all CAPF personnel should be 60 years uniformly.
Shri Vivek Rae, Member, has not agreed with this recommendation and has
endorsed the stand of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
