Seventh Pay Commission arrears to be paid from January 1

Jaipur: Benefits under the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations to nearly 12.5 lakh employees and pensioners in the state will be provided by the Rajasthan government. The government announced that it would provide these benefits with effect from January 1, 2017.

An additional yearly burden of Rs 10,400 crore will be on the government now.  In a press conference, State Industries Minister Rajpal Singh Shekhawat also confirmed that the arrears would be paid in three installments. 30 percent of the arrears would be paid as the first installment in April 2018 while the second 30 percent installment would be paid in July. The third which is 40 percent will be paid in October.

The state government had earlier announced to implement the recommendations of the pay commission before Diwali and had also released a notification, with effect from October 1, 2017. Shekhawat stated that it has always taken one year for the state government to implement the changes after these have been announced by the central government. He cited the examples of the fifth and sixth pay commissions. The central government had announced the fifth pay commission in January 1996 and it was implemented in the state in January 1997. The sixth pay commission was announced by the center in January 2006 and was implemented in the state in January 2007.

Shekhawat also stated that under the pay commission, government pensioners and employees would get a minimum increment of 14.22 percent. Employees would get over 100 percent increased HRA and there would be minimum 32 percent increase in the basic pay. Payable gratuity limit has been increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. Government’s decision is as per the report of the DC Samant committee. This committee was formed to examine and implement the recommendations of the seventh pay commission in the state.

The state government employees though are not happy with the announcement. Tej Singh Rathore, member of the Akhil Rajasthan Rajya Karamchari Sanyukt Sangharsh Samiti, stated that the government has made an incomplete announcement to suppress the employee’s agitation and the proposed Aakrosh rally on Sunday. The announcement on arrears has also made the state government employees’ union angry. The union is upset over arrears not being given from October, and have threatened to stage a statewide Aakrosh rally from December 3.