Secretariat & Non-Secretariat Staff Pay Anomalies – Will the 7th Pay Commission Address it?

Secretariat & Non-Secretariat Staff Pay Anomalies – It remains to be seen if the 7th Pay Commission will address the long standing demand of the non-central secretariat staff across the country for parity of pay scale with the Secretariat staff.

The 7th Pay Commission is ready with its report and is expected to hand over the recommendations to the Central Government any time now. The Department of Personnel and Training will examine the recommendations and consult the Finance Ministry on them. After which the recommendations will be implemented from January 1, 2016.

The 7th Pay Commission is expected to recommend at least 20 Per cent or more pay hike. However, it remains to be seen if the 7th Pay Commission will address the long standing demand of the non-central secretariat staff across the country for parity of pay scale with the Secretariat staff.

For Example, the Assistants and Section Officers get pay grade Rs 4600 and Rs 4800 in central Secretariat service while the Assistants and Section Officers of non-central secretariat service get pay grade Rs 4200 and Rs 4600 respectively. Not only this but also the non-functional pay scale of Rs 15600-39100 (PB-3)+Rs 5400 (Grade Pay) is admissible to the Section Officers of the central Secretariat service on completion of 4 years service in that grade but no such system for the Section Officers of non-central secretariat service.

A newly recruited Group A officer begins with the pay scale of Rs 15600-39100 (PB-3)+Rs 5400 (Grade Pay) but central Secretariat service staff begin their group A service on the promotion of Under Secretary with the pay scale of Rs 15600-39100 (PB-3)+Rs 6600 (Grade Pay).

The 6th Pay Commission in order to fulfill the terms of references, in its report para 3.1.3 recommended that Higher pay scales in the Secretariat offices may have been justified in the past when formulation of proper policies was of paramount importance. The present position is different. Today, the weakest link in respect of any government policy is at the delivery stage, having said that, it recommended for pay scale parity, which was promptly rejected by the Government.

Even now, a large number of representations have been made with the 7th Pay Commission demanding pay parity. It is expected that the 7th Pay Commission too will head to the just demands of the Non-Secretariat Staff, just as the 6th Pay Commission did. However, the big question mark is, will the Government accept the recommendation? or reject it once again just as it did after the 6th CPC recommendation.

Source: TST