7th Pay Commission: Higher Allowances Report To Be Submitted Thursday

New Delhi: The Committee on Allowances will submit its report on Thursday, when the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley returns to the country after his visit to US and Russia.

Committee on Allowances will submit its report on higher allowances after FM Arun Jaitley returns from his visit to the US and Russia.

However, there is no official confirmation on when the Committee on Allowances will submit its report.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley left for Washington on April 20 to attend the 2017 Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF before traveling to Moscow to boost military ties with Russia.

From Washington, Jaitley will travel to Moscow for a two-day visit from April 25.

Jaitley, who also holds additional charge of Defence Ministry, will discuss bilateral ties with Kremlin.

Media reports said that the Committee on Allowances will submit its report on higher allowances under the 7th Pay Commission soon after finance minister Arun Jaitley returns from his visit to the US and Russia.

The Finance Ministry sources said that the report on higher allowances was in the final stage and the Committee on Allowances would submit it to the Finance Ministry anytime.

The Committee on Allowances had held a meeting on April 6, which was called as ‘conclusive’ by employees’ unions.

The Finance Ministry sources said the delay in submission of the report to non-availability of allowance panel members.

“There has been some delay in the finalisation of the report as some allowance panel members were outside the country on an official visit,” they informed.

The Committee on Allowances, under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa, was formed in July 2016 following protests by government employees over recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission on allowances.

The 7th Pay Commission had recommended of abolishing 51 allowances and subsuming 37 others out of 196 allowances.

The committee was initially given four months’ time to submit the report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Later, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley extended the deadline for report submission to February 22, 2017 but committee has not yet submitted its report.

So, the employees now get all allowances except dearness allowance, according to the 6th Pay Commission recommendations until issuing of higher allowances notification.

The central government employees got theirs arrears of basic pay arising from implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations in one go in August salaries. The hike in basic pay has been made effective from January 1, 2016 but they are still awaiting for the higher allowances.

SOURCE: TST