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-à-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.
The full report is available in the website,
http://7cpc.india.gov.in.
-Courtsey : PIB