Will 2019 general election bring good news to govt employees’ minimum pay, fitment factor issue

Will 2019 general election bring good news to govt employees’ minimum pay, fitment factor issue – Will 7th Pay Commission will be implemented in toto with Govt employees representations

The government has not made any proposal on withdrawal of discussions in regards to hike in minimum pay scale and fitment factor.

The struggle of 48 lakh central government employees over their minimum pay and fitment factor hike beyond 7th CPC report recommendation has continued for nearly two years now. These employees feel hard done by especially as FM Arun Jaitley had promised to give due consideration to their issue at official venues. However, government employees are still hoping for an increase in the fitment factor and minimum pay, despite the fact that the government has said it is not thinking along those lines at all. The hope are pinned to a list of development taken by government, which leads directly or indirectly to 7CPC drawing attention of all concerned to the matter.

Many reports are mentioning that, the government has not made any proposal on withdrawal of discussions in regards to hike in minimum pay scale and fitment factor. It is being believed that a final call can be taken on these two issue in upcoming months of 2018 ahead of general elections 2019.

In a latest development, as per reports, the Haryana government has on Sunday announced enhancement of nine allowances for their employees on the pattern of 7CPC recommendation. Not only this, the government has also proposed to introduce a special allowance for child care to female government employees with disability.

Increase in the Haryana government employees allowance is expected to be effective from May 01, 2018.

While Haryana govt employees’ sees ‘ache din’, in another development hopes are still afloat among central government employees that NDA government may consider their demand soon.

Since the next year will witness the elections, several state governments are toying with the idea to please their employees. Among such states is Tripura, which recently went through assembly polls, and Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb along with Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma held discussions in connection with the implementation of seventh pay commission in the state. Madhya Pradesh is another state to have cleared significant benefits for its employees by increasing their retirement age from 60 to 62 years.

What is clear is that an air of uncertainty is hanging over the issue and central government employees will just have to wait, watch and hope for the best.

In June 2016, the government last revised the minimum pay to Rs 18,000 from previous Rs 7,000 per month, along with fitment factor of 2.57 for central government employees. However, showing dissatisfaction employees demand fitment factor of 3.68 times with minimum pay scale of Rs 26,000.

It was known that, the government may hike minimum pay to Rs 21,000 and fitment factor to 3.00 times. However, the NDA government at centre claimed that they are looking to hike minimum pay beyond the recommendations of the 7th CPC.

Assurances were provided by a group of ministers including Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on June 30, 2016, that the high level committee will be increasing minimum pay and fitment formula.

Source : govemployees.in