8th Pay Commission: No Proposal Presently Under Consideration, Finance Ministry Clarifies
"No such proposal is under consideration with the government for constitution of 8th Central Pay Commission for the central government employees, at present," the MoS Finance said.
The government on Tuesday clarified in the Parliament that there is no proposal currently under consideration for the formation of 8th Pay Commission.
The clarification was issued by the Ministry of Finance, while responding to queries related to the 8th Pay Commission's constitution raised in the Rajya Sabha.
"No such proposal is under consideration with the government for constitution of Eighth Central Pay Commission for the central government employees, at present," Pankaj Chaudhary, the Union minister of state for finance, said in a written reply.
The question was raised by Rajya Sabha MPs Javed Ali Khan and Ramji Lal Suman, who asked whether the government was actively considering to announce the constitution of 8th Pay Commission during the upcoming Budget.
The minister's response also comes amid persistent appeals made by employee federations for the immediate setting up of the pay panel. A decision in this regard would affect over one crore central government employees and retirees, as the formation of pay commissions is seen as the first concrete step to revise their salaries and pensions, respectively.
Notably, the implementation of pay commission's recommendations comes at a significant cost to the exchequer. The 7th Pay Commission had added financial implications to the tune of Rs 1.02 lakh crore in fiscal 2017.
Pay commissions are generally formed once in 10 years to revise the salaries of government employees and pensions of retirees. The last pay panel—the 7th Pay Commission—was formed in February 2014, and its recommendations were implemented from January 2016.
As compared to the date of previous pay panel's formation, the announcement of 8th Pay Commission has already been delayed, employee unions point out.
"There is no reason why the 8th Pay Commission should not be formed now. We have raised the demand with the government several times, and most recently, we made this demand before the Union Finance Secretary in the first week of November," said Shiv Gopal Mishra, the secretary of National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery, while speaking to NDTV Profit last month.
The NC-JCM, which is headed by the Union Cabinet Secretary, is an official platform to resolve the disputes between the government and its employees through dialogue. Mishra expects the NC-JCM meeting to be held this month, where clarity would be shed on the pay panel's formation.
The Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers also expects the NC-JCM meeting to be held in December. "Clarity should probably emerge in that meeting," a senior official of the Confederation told NDTV Profit.
