New Delhi: The 10-month long wait of central government employees and pensioners for allowances is about to end as the Narendra Modi government is expected to  announce a maximum HRA hike of up to 122 percent for them soon.


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A high-level committee headed by the Finance Secretary, Ashok Lavasa had on last Thursday submitted its report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The report will now be examined by the empowered committee of secretaries and following that it will be placed before the Cabinet.


The committee on allowances has reportedly given its view in favour of AK Mathur-led 7th Pay Commission recommendation, regarding decrease in house rent allowance (HRA) by 2-6 percent depending on type of cities.


Population of City              DA above
Present Proposed 50% 100%
Above 50 lakh (Class X) 30% 24% 27% 30%
5 lakh to 50 lakh (Class Y) 20% 16% 18% 20%
Below 5 lakh (Class Z) 10% 8% 9% 10%

The 7th Pay Commission headed by AK Mathur had earlier proposed the rate of House Rent Allowance (HRA) at 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively.


The Commission had also recommended that the rate of HRA will be revised to 27 percent, 18 percent and 9 percent when DA crosses 50 percent, and further revised to 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent when DA crosses 100 percent.


The existing rates of HRA for Class X, Y and Z cities and towns are 30 percent, 20 percent and 10 percent of Basic pay (pay in the pay band plus grade pay)


Below is the list of cities/towns classified for grant of House Rent Allowance (HRA) to central government employees


  States/Union Territories Cities classified as X Cities classified as Y
1 Andaman & Nicobar Islands    
2 Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad

Vijawada, Warangal, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Nellore
3 Arunachal  Pradesh    
4 Assam   Guwahati
5 Bihar  

Patna


 


 


 
6 Chandigarh   Chandigarh
7 Chhattisgarh   Durg-Bhilai Nagar, Raipur
8 Dadra & Nagar Haveli    
9 Daman & Diu    
10 Delhi Delhi  
11 Goa    
12 Gujarat Ahmedabad

Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Vadodara, Sutat
13 Haryana   Faridabad, Gurgaon
14 Himachal Pradesh    
15

Jammu & Kashmir

   Srinagar, Jammu
16 Jharkhand   Jamshedpur,  Dhanbad,  Ranchi, Bokaro Steel City
17 Karnataka Bengaluru

Belgaum, Hubli-Dharwad, Mangalore, Mysore, Gulbarga
18 Kerala   Khozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvanthapuram, Thrissur, Malappuram, Kannur, Kollam
19 Lakshadweep    
20

Madhya Pradesh

  

Gwalior, Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Ujjain
21 Maharashtra

Greater Mumbai, Pune

 Amravati, Nagpur, Aurangabad, Nashik, Bhiwandi, Solapur, Kolhapur, Vasai-Virar City, Malegaon, Nanded-Waghala, Sangli
22 Manipur    
23 Meghalaya    
24 Mizoram    
25 Nagaland    
26 Odisha   Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Raurkela
27 Pondicherry   Pondicherry
28 Punjab   Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana
29 Rajasthan   Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Ajmer
30 Sikkim    
31 Tamil Nadu Chennai Salem, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Erode
32 Tripura    
33 Uttar Pradesh   Moradabad, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Agra, Bareilly, Lucknow, Kanpur,
Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Saharanpur, Noida, Firozabad, Jhansi
34 Uttarakhand   Dehradun
35 West Bengal Kolkata Asansol, Siliguri, Durgapur

The remaining cities / towns in various cities / UTs which are not covered by classification as ‘X’ or ‘Y’ classified as “Z” for the purpose of HRA.


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If the Narendra Modi government accepts the bare recommendations of A K Mathur-led 7th Pay Commission then the HRA component of central government employees will increase ranging between 106 percent and 122 percent.


Take, for instance, a central government employee at the very bottom of the pay scale under 6th Pay Commission was till now entitled to an HRA of Rs 2,100 on basic pay of Rs 7,000 (basic pay that includes pay of pay band + grade pay) in a Class X city. It is to be noted that government, while implementing the 7th Pay Commission in June last year had made it clear that till the final outcome of allowances committee is being placed, the employees would be getting the allowances as per 6th Pay Commission.


Now, as per 7th Pay Commission, the new entry level pay at this level is Rs 18,000 per month against which the new HRA for a Class X city would be Rs 4,320 per month, that is 106 percent more than the existing level.


Similarly, at the highest level of the pay scale, the Cabinet Secretary and officers of the same rank have a basic pay of Rs 90,000, which means they are entitled to current HRA of Rs 27,000 in Class X towns. After the revised pay scale, the new basic pay is Rs 2.5 lakh, for which the HRA would be Rs 60,000, meaning a hike of 122 percent.