7th Pay Commission: Government employees pin hopes on this big factor now

7th Pay Commission: Nearly 50 lakh central government employees are still hoping for an increase in the fitment factor and minimum pay beyond the recommendations of the panel report. This is despite the fact that the government has said it is not thinking along those lines at all. However, news related directly or indirectly to 7th Pay commission keeps drawing attention of all concerned to the matter. Just days ago, salaries of Lt. Governors have been hiked to a level that the pay panel had recommended for secretary level officers. Now, the LG will get pay equal to those of secretaries of the central government. After the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission award on January 1, 2016, the top-most bureaucrat in the country, the cabinet secretary, gets Rs 2.5 lakh pay per month, while a secretary draws Rs 2.25 lakh per month. 
 
The Union cabinet presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently gave nod for implementation of this hike for the LGs. This decision was taken just two months after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced in his 2018-19 Budget that emoluments of the President would be revised to Rs 5 lakh, Rs 4 lakh for the vice president and to Rs 3.5 lakh per month for the governors.
 
This development is stated to be the impact of 7th Pay Commission committee report as it had put certain other authorities on whom it did not apply, at a significant disadvantage. This anomaly has been removed now. The official statement from the government said the proposal to hike the pay and allowances of LGs with effect from January 1, 2016 from Rs 80,000 per month plus dearness allowance, sumptuary allowance at the rate of Rs 4,000 per month and local allowances to a total of Rs 2,25,000 plus dearness allowance.  

The LGs are some of the people in authority whose pay has been raised. Various other state government employees pay too has been raised after the report was cleared by their governments. Also, some states have even cleared hike in retirement age. However, what central government employees have pinned their hope of a significant pay hike is on general elections. Will the government be swayed or not by the poll maths? Nothing is clear as yet. 

Since the next year will witness the general elections, several state governments are toying with the idea to please their employees. Among such state is Tripura, which recently went through assembly polls, but Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb along with Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma held discussions in connection with the implementation of seventh pay commission in the state. Madhya Pradesh is another state to have cleared significant benefits for its employees by increasing their retirement age from 60 to 62 years.   

What is clear is that an air of uncertainty is hanging over the issue and central government employees will just have to wait, watch and hope for the best.