7th pay commission: One group of government employees won’t benefit much

While lakhs of government employees are waiting for the benefits of the 7th pay commission, reports have said that mid-level employees may not get much hike with the implementation of the same. According to a report in The Sen Times, Finance Ministry sources have said that there’s disparity in benefits that employees from different categories are getting.

The report claims that the government has kept its focus largely on the employees who are either at the higher or at the lower end of pay scale. It also talks about the attempt by the government to reduce the number of employees in the middle level, by merging Group B officers and Group C staff of directorates under Central Board of Excise and Customs. The move was implemented on February 12.

Meanwhile, on the implementation of enhanced pay scale and fitment factor hike under 7th Pay Commission, reports have said that employees may hear some good news in April.

The Finance Ministry also reportedly has set up a panel that will take a final call on demands of these employees by April this year.

Reports have also added that the central government is working on a strategy to accomodate the concerns of lower-level employees of pay matrix between level 1 and 5 with reports coming in that it is contemplating hike in pay with fitment formula 3.00 times of basic pay of 6th pay commission.

The new scales of pay provide for entry-level basic pay going up from Rs 7,000 per month to Rs 18,000, while at the highest level i.e. Secretary, it would go up from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh. For Class 1 officers, the starting salary will be Rs 56,100.

However, the central government employee unions had demanded for hiking minimum pay of Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000. They also demanded that fitment factor be raised from 2.57 times to 3.68 times.