8th Pay Commission: NC-JCM Seeks Uniform Fitment Factor Across All Pay Bands — What It Means

The National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery, which will be at the forefront of discussions with the 8th Pay Commission, has sought a uniform fitment factor across all pay bands for the revision of salaries of central government employees.

"We want the fitment factor to be same across all pay bands, whether it is Pay Band 1 or Pay Band 4. This will be our demand before the 8th Pay Commission," NC-JCM (Staff Side) Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra told NDTV Profit.

NC-JCM, notably, is an official body comprising bureaucrats and employee union leaders, and its purpose is to resolve all disputes between the government and staff through dialogue.

A uniform fitment factor would mean that the multiplying factor used for salary revision will be the same for all employees, irrespective of the pay bands under which they are bracketed, Mishra explained.

Under the 7th Pay Commission, 2.57 was used as the fitment factor for revision of salaries of employees bracketed under Pay Band 1. However, the panel had used an index of rationalisation to increase the fitment factor to 2.62 for Pay Band 2, followed by 2.67 for Pay Band 3, and 2.72 for higher pay grades under Pay Band 4.

For the revision of salaries at the apex level, the 7th Pay Commission had recommended a fitment factor of 2.81, after factoring in the index of rationalisation.

"The index of rationalisation is decided by the pay commission...The general approach is that those burdening greater responsibility should get higher pay rise. But our demand is that fitment factor should be uniform to reduce the gap between the maximum and minimum salaries," Mishra said.

Employee unions are of the view that if the index of rationalisation was not used, then the fitment factor would have been higher than what was recommended for those under Pay Band 1.

Under the 7th Pay Commission, the fitment factor for salary revision under the first pay band is 2.57, and at the highest level, it is 2.81. If there would have been no index of rationalisation, then the common fitment factor could have been somewhere in the middle of 2.57 and 2.81, another NC-JCM member said, on the condition of anonymity.

"The 4th Pay Commission had talked about the need to reduce the vast gap between minimum and maximum salaries. But since then, the gap has only increased. In our view, the 8th Pay Commission should recommend a uniform fitment factor to address this," said Mishra, who is also the general secretary of the All India Railwaymen's Federation.

The staff side of NC-JCM, in a meeting with the Department of Personnel and Training last week, also called for the merger of unviable pay scales. They demanded the amalgamation of pay scale level 1 with level 2, level 3 with level 4, and level 5 with level 6.

"This is important to address as non-viable pay scales lead to pay stagnation, and thereby affect MACP (Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme)," Mishra said.

Notably, the 8th Pay Commission's formation was approved by the government last month. The panel, which is yet to be set up, is expected to comprise a chairman and two members. After it is officially constituted, the commission will hold deliberations with several stakeholders before submitting its report to the Centre.