7th Pay Commission: Frustrated due to delay, central govt employees may go on strike

Frustrated by the delay in getting higher allowances under 7th Pay Commission, the central government employees' union are planning to go on nationwide strike, a media report said.

The allowance committee which was formed by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in August last year, has been failed to submit report on recommendations for higher allowance till now. 

This delay has left National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) with no other option but to call for a nationwide strike, as reported by India Today. NJCA is a joint body of unions representing central government employees.

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Jaitley had formed Ashok Lavasa committee to look into the demands of nearly 1 crore central government employees and pensioners for provisions of higher dearness and house rent allowances. 

The report was expected to be submitted by October. But, since then the submission has been delayed. 

However, there were reports, that the committee will submit the report by April 18 after the "crucial" meeting held on April 6, which did not happened. Also, the government has not given any official statement on when the submission of report is expected.

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Apart from allowances, the panel will be giving suggestions on House Rent Allowances to the government. Under the 7th Pay Commission, HRA should be paid at the rate of 24%, 16% and 8% of the new Basic Pay, depending on the type of cities.  

Employees' unions demanded HRA at 30, 20 and 10%. 

Before that last meeting, on March 28, the Lavasa Panel had said they will finalise the report after receiving comments from ministries on treatment of 14 allowances and benefits. The panel had sought comments from ministries of defence, railways and posts on treatment of over a dozen benefits.

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Other recommendations that included a change in the present system of accounting, wherein pay and allowances are clubbed and it would be difficult to bifurcate these. Out of 196 allowances, the 7th Pay Commission report had recommended abolition of 52 and subsuming of another 36 into larger existing ones.