Central Government Employees News :: Seventh Pay Commission

While rejecting uniform grade pay for military officers on par with their civilian counterparts, the government seems to have more or less agreed to the other three demands of armed forces over their new revised pay scales. The "decision'' of the three-member ministerial committee, headed by foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, is to be officially announced in the next few days. Sources, however, said there were indications the government had given the go-ahead to the elevation of Lt-Colonel rank officers to a higher pay scale; placement of a majority of Lt-Generals in the new "higher administrative grade-plus'' with police DGPs; and restoration of the reduction in pension for jawans. The government, however, has apparently rejected the fourth "core demand'' of granting uniform grade pay to officers of armed forces on par with civilian officers, said sources. As reported earlier by TOI, the armed forces blame "bureaucratic subversion'...

The economic downturn seems to be delaying the announcement of a new home loan policy for Central Government employees as recommended by the Sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC). Known as the house building assistance (HBA), it’s a key interest-bearing advance given by the government to its employees to construct/acquire house/flats of their own. The HBA is given to all permanent employees, members of All India Services (IAS, IPS & IFS) deputed to the Central government, public sector undertakings (PSUs) under control of the Centre, international organisations, autonomous bodies etc. The advance is to assist acquiring a plot and constructing a house thereon, building a new house on a plot already owned singly or jointly with spouse, enlarging living accommodation in a house, purchase of a ready built house/flat etc. According to existing rules, the cost of the house (excluding cost of land) should not exceed 134 times the basic pay (and dearness pay taken together) subject to a ma...

The country's second largest car maker Hyundai Motor India today said it has extended the discount scheme for government and public-sector units employees till December this year on account of  encouraging response from the consumers.  "We value the government employees and are pleased with the tremendous response that we have received from them. We have extended the scheme so that more and more government employees can be benefited," Hyundai Motor India Senior Vice President (Marketing and Sales) Arvind Saxena said in a statement. Under the scheme, special pricing and attractive finance options are available to enable the government employees and this would be in addition to the full benefit of the reduction in CENVAT by four per cent. This scheme, applicable to the entire product range of Hyundai, would also include exchange bonus of up to Rs 20,000. The company would offer a total discount between Rs 22,200 and Rs 46,660 on various Hyundai cars, the statement said. ...

In an attempt to make bureaucracy accountable, a radical system of assessment has been mooted by an official panel allowing government servants to be sacked after 20 years of service if they are found unfit to continue. The Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) headed by senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily recommended unprecedented and far-reaching changes in the service rules of government servants and suggested two intensive reviews to make civil servants accountable. The first of its kind report in 150 years suggests far-reaching recommendations, including removal of non performing bureaucrats and perhaps even a formal degree in public policy. The report on 'Refurbishing of Personnel Administration' said the first review at 14 years would primarily serve the purpose of intimating to the public servant about his or her strengths and shortcomings, while the second review at 20 years would mainly serve to assess the fitness of the officer for further continuation in ser...

The cabinet Thursday approved the recommendations of the second Pay Revision Committee for central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) but there will be no additional cost to the government as the enterprises will bear the cost, a minister said."There will be no additional cost to the government as the enterprises will bear the additional cost from their internal resources," Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Prithviraj Chavan said. "It is for this reason that I cannot tell you what the additional expenditure will be," he said in reply to a question while briefing reporters after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "The revised pay scales would be implemented by the issue of a separate Presidential Directive in respect of each CPSE by the concerned administrative ministry or department," Chavan said. While the revised pay scales will be effective Jan 1, 2007, the payment of house rent allowance, perks and a...

The Union Cabinet is expected to take a call on the issue of hiking the salary of the Supreme Court and High Court judges on Thursday. The cabinet is meeting amidst reports that the plan has not found favour with the Union Finance Ministry.  As per media reports the Finance Ministry, although seems inclined to approve a hike but is unwilling to do so as per the recommendations proposed by a three-judge committee constituted by the Chief Justice of India (CJI).  Once the Cabinet takes a call on the issue, a Bill would be introduced in Parliament as the legislatures nod is required for any change in the salary structure of higher judiciary.  Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, in a letter to the ministry in July, had sought a hike of two to three times the present monthly salaries of judges of the higher judiciary.  He had pointed towards the pay revision proposal for government employees under the Sixth Pay Commission and built a case for salary hike for judge...

Many of the five million government employees are yet to receive the retroactive portion of a salary hike that came into effect from January 2006 after the Union government implemented the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations. The employees started getting a new salary from 1 September, but the delay in clearing the so-called arrears is causing some angst among employees, many of whom live in states where elections are being held now. The Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government announced an average increase of 21% in the salaries of government employees in August. But only the employees of Union ministries have received their payouts so far. The government had planned to disburse 40% of the Rs29,373 crore as arrears during 2008-09 and the remaining 60% in 2009-10. "The arrears have been received by the employees working in the Union ministries and the main (Central) secretariat. However, the employees working in field offices and attached organizat...

The Cabinet Secretary K. M. Chandrasekhar today informed that there is no plans to revise the retirement age for Central Government employees. After the sixth pay commission implementation, employees were hoping for the rise in pension age, as doing so can reduce the burden of the additional payment to some extend. However the government decided other stopping all the rumours associated. Shri. K. M. Chandrasekhar  clarified that the government has no intentions in changing the retirement age and the current system will be followed. "I tried to find out. But there is no file in (Department of) Expenditure, no file in DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training). There is nothing. It is more of a wishful thinking," he said in an interview. At present the retirement age for the Central Government employees is 60. He also added that there is no plans to unify the retirement age of the state government staff across the states. "The states will decide their own retirement ...

List of Government of India Holidays during the Year 2009 for Delhi / New Delhi Offices. List of Government of India Restricted Holidays during the Year 2009 for Delhi / New Delhi Offices. Download http://staffcorner.com/2009/holidays2009.pdf

At a time when the government is facing an economic downslide with lower or negative tax collection, it is facing serious unrest in the ranks of departments assigned the job of mopping up resources with thousands of customs, central excise and income tax officials being up in arms against anomalies in their pay scales and bleak promotional avenues. Thousands of customs officials struck work on Tuesday and took to the streets against the delay in their promotions, in what can set back government’s already difficult task to realise the revenue target. Customs and central excise officials from across the country gathered at Jantar Mantar in the Capital on Tuesday, to march up to barricades raised at Parliament Street police station. The protest comes even as income tax officials, another revenue gathering arm, have already resorted to a ‘go slow’ to insist on removal of pay anomalies and for better prospects of promotion There has been no official announcement yet. But officials of the...

Makes sense to wait as prices will fall further; desperate builders are not finding many buyers. Housing Loans : Interest rates expected to come down, so wait a while; good time to pre-pay part of the loan if it is not tax-efficient. [Source : Outlook] Future economic historians may remember the month that just ended as Black September. Lehman Brothers collapsed; the Bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch; AIG was nationalised; banks such as Washington Mutual and Wachovia were wiped out. As credit and finance markets around the world tumbled like ninepins, so did stock markets in India, with the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index (Sensex) falling 3.35% or 469 points on September 15. The worst affected was the realty index which dropped 7.6% on the same day. Since then, while stocks prices in India have seen massive swings, shares of real estate firms have remained depressed, falling a total of 20% as of October 1. In addition to housing stocks, home prices are taking a beating. By...

Country's premier defence research organisation DRDO is facing the attrition problems as 785 defence scientists have resigned in the last three years. The government has offered various incentives for scientists in the Sixth Central Pay Commission (CPC) report, the Lok Sabha was informed today. "A number of incentives were recommended by the CPC, which have been accepted and implemented by the government," Defence Minister A K Antony said in a written reply to a question on exodus of scientists from DRDO. Incentives to arrest the attrition rate in DRDO include providing career enhancement opportunities to scientists by granting them study leaves, sending them to attend conferences and seminars and long term training courses. "DRDO is providing study leaves to scientists for acquiring higher qualifications like PhDs, Masters Degrees. Scientists are sponsored to go and attend conferences and seminars and for long term courses for research both within and outside th...

As the committee headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is looking into the armed forces’ grievances over their new pay scales, the army on Wednesday said any decision by the government on the issue will be for the good of the country and the Services. “The pay anomalies issues is currently with the Cabinet and I am sure it will take care of it. Whatever it decides, it will be for the good of the country and the armed forces,” Vice-Chief of the Army, Lieutenant-General M L Naidu, said on the sidelines of an Army Postal Service Awards ceremony ihn New Delhi. “They (the committee members) are our national leaders and they will keep all issues in mind before taking a decision. It (pay issues) is not a matter of our expectations,” Naidu said, replying to a query on the course of action the armed forces would take if all their expectations are not met by the Mukherjee committee. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had late last month set up the Mukherjee committee with Defence Mi...

A ministerial committee, set up to look into the armed forces' grievance about pay “anomalies”, is likely to sort out the matter soon. External affairs minister Mr Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the three-member committee, today said he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and defence minister Mr AK Antony. “Shortly, I am going to discuss with the finance minister (P Chidambaram),” he told reporters here when asked about the issue. Without giving details of his discussions with the Prime Minister, Mr Mukherjee merely said: “I do hope we will be able to sort out the issue shortly”. The committee, which also includes Mr Antony and Mr Chidambaram, was set up by the Prime Minister on 25 September in the wake of deep resentment in the armed forces, who complained that there were “anomalies” in the 6th Pay Commission recommendations and that it had lowered the status of their officers. After the government notification was issued on 29 August, the issues of “anomal...

A ministerial committee, set up to look into the armed forces' grievance about pay "anomalies", is likely to sort out the matter soon. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who heads the three-member committee, on Monday said he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence Minister A K Antony. "Shortly, I am going to discuss with the Finance Minister (P Chidambaram)," he told reporters here when asked about the issue. Without giving details of his discussions with the Prime Minister, Mukherjee merely said "I do hope we will be able to sort out the issue shortly". The committee, which also includes Antony and Chidambaram, was set up by the Prime Minister on September 25 in the wake of deep resentment in the armed forces, who complained that there were "anomalies" in the 6th Pay Commission recommendations and that it had lowered the status of their officers. After the government notification was issued on A...

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A similar scene is now being re-enacted in a democratic India. The three defence services, in unison, have refused to accept the orders of the Union cabinet on the Sixth Central Pay Commission award. The three service chiefs cited “the larger interest of the services” in an open communication to the rank and file. The defence services have two main grouses against the current pay award: reduction in status of military officers and lower pay than their civilian counterparts. While the pay commission and the government have gone by existent parities, the services refer to the extant Warrant of Precedence. The issue of salaries of lieutenant colonels is being projected as the main bone of contention by the services. Yet, this ignores the fact that while a lieutenant colonel used to lead a battalion of nearly 1,000 soldiers three decades ago, today, he only leads a sub-unit of 150. We have come to this pass due to a lack of appetite—both among civilians and among the Armed Forces—for funda...

Various teachers' organisations have expressed resentment over the UGC-Pay Review Committee's recommendations, saying the report has fallen short of their expectations as it has several "anomalies". The Delhi University Teachers' Association has said major demand of teachers for higher pay scale to lecturers so as to attract talent to the university system has not been accepted. "The demand for introduction of professorship/professor's grade in all colleges to retain talent has not been considered by the committee headed by Prof G K Chadha," it said. DUTA representatives on Monday met UGC Chairman Sukhadeo Thorat to air their grievances, its president Aditya Narayan Mishra said. Democratic Teachers' Front, a teachers' organisation in Delhi University, said the recommendations of the Pay Review Committee with regard to pay scales and service conditions failed to reflect its objective of making the teaching profession more attractive. It s...

The department of science and technology (DST) that took the lead in formulating a performance-related incentive scheme for research organizations it funds, now plans to implement the scheme on a voluntary basis because some beneficiary organizations are still not convinced of the efficacy of the scheme.The dept of science and technology proposes to scrap annual confidential reports The Sixth Pay Commission had carried out a study through the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, on a performance-based incentive system, to ostensibly improve the performance outputs of Central government employees. The study, according to the official website of the pay commission, was aimed at working out a model whereby a base salary is attached to each post based on skills and responsibility and simultaneously, a second component would be payable over and above the salary on the basis of the productivity and performance of employees, either individually or as a group. The study recommended an a...

The University Grants Commission-appointed pay review committee, headed by Prof G K Chaddha on Friday recommended over 70 per cent pay hike with additional allowances and new positions to academics in the higher education sector. It also recommended 65 years as the retirement age, which can be extended up to 70 years. The committee submitted its report to UGC Chairman Prof Sukhadeo Thorat. UGC will meet on October 7 and 8 to accept the recommendations. According to the committee’s recommendations, at the entry level, a faculty member will join as an assistant professor, not as a lecturer as earlier, and his new pay band will be between Rs 15,600 to Rs 39,100. The teacher at the entry level will be entitled to a grade pay of Rs 6,600. At present, a lecturer’s pay scale is between Rs 8,000 to Rs 13,500. A teacher will be entitled for annual increment of three per cent of the basic salary with compounding effect. Certain teachers with good performance record will be eligible for four p...