7th Pay Commission: Gujarat govt brings cheer to 8.5 lakh employees, pensioners

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government on Wednesday approved the implementation of the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission, raising salaries of over 8.5 lakh state employees and pensioners, in a move that would cost Rs 8,513 crore annually to the exchequer.

The Cabinet gave its approval to a proposal to implement the recommendations at a meeting in Gandhinagar chaired by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

The pay scale would come into effect from January 1, 2016 though the actual implementation would start from August 1, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel told reporters after the meeting.

"The Cabinet has accepted the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission, which would be implemented from August 1 for the employees of the state government, Panchayats as well as pensioners," Patel said.

"Though the actual implementation for the employees would start from August 1, it will come into effect from January 1. For pensioners, the actual implementation would commence from October 1. The government will have to bear an extra burden of Rs 8,513 crore annually for implementing it," he said.

Over 4.65 lakh Gujarat government employees and more than 4.12 lakh pensioners would benefit from the new pay structure, stated an official press release.

To address the issues related to disbursement of arrears from January to August as well as fixation of new rates of allowances, the government has constituted a committee of senior bureaucrats under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary J N Singh.

"This committee would come up with suggestions and submit them to a sub-committee of ministers headed by me. Then, our committee will study those recommendations and submit them to the Cabinet for a final decision," said Patel.

The announcement to implement the new pay scales was made by then Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on July 31, just a day before she expressed her desire to step down.