7th Pay Commission: Confusion Over Hike in Minimum Pay, Fitment Factor After Conflicting Reports on NAC

7th Pay Commission: Confusion Over Hike in Minimum Pay, Fitment Factor After Conflicting Reports on NAC

New Delhi, Nov 21: The central government employees are in a state of confusion regarding a hike in minimum pay and fitment factor beyond the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission or 7th CPC. Conflicting reports about the National Anomaly Committee (NAC), which was formed to resolve all matters related to the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission‘s recommendations, have left the central government employees puzzled. There is no clarity whether the NAC will suggest a hike in minimum pay and fitment factor beyond the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission. 

There were reports that the government had given green signal to the NAC for raising minimum pay to Rs 21,000 from Rs 18,000, which was recommended by the 7th Pay Commission and approved by the Cabinet, with fitment factor 3.00. However, a letter of D.K. Sengupta, Deputy Secretary to the government, to Secretary of Staff Side Shiv Gopal Mishra stated that the matter of hiking minimum pay and fitment factor beyond the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission doesn’t appear to be an ‘anomaly’.

“As against the Minimum Wage decided to be Rs 18,000/- by the Govt. w.e.f. 01.01.2016 while the Staff-Side has said that this should be not less than Rs 26,000/-and the multiplication factor ought to have been 3.714 and not 2.57. They have further asked for the pay matrix to be changed. Objecting to the methodology adopted by the 7th CPC in computing the Minimum Wage, they have given a number of reasons like the retail prices of the commodities quoted by the Labour Bureau being irrational, adoption of the 12 monthly average of the retail price being contents to the Dr. Avkrovd formula, the website of the Agriculture Ministry giving the retail prices of commodities forming the basis of computation of minimum wage provides a different picture, so on and so forth. However, when one compares this item with the three situations given in DoPT’s OM. No. 11/2/2016-jCA dated 16th August, 2016 and 20th February, 2017, it does not appear that this satisfies any of them to be treated as an anomaly,” the letter said.

Speaking to India.com, Shiv Gopal Mishra, in September, denied reports that claimed the NAC would suggest a hike in minimum pay beyond the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission. “This is not true. We have received no such confirmation. As a matter of fact, the national anomaly committee is not looking into the issue of minimum wages. A separate committee has been constituted to look into minimum wages and this issue has been raised twice in front of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,” Mishra had said to India.com.

However, sources in the Finance Ministry told the Sen Times that the government may go ahead for a hike in minimum pay Rs 21,000 from Rs 18,000 and fitment factor may be raised 3.00 times from 2.57 times uniformly in next financial year. On the other hand, the central government employees have been asking to raise minimum pay to Rs 26,000 and fitment factor 3.68 times from 2.57 times. The higher minimum pay would be released from April 2018, they said.

The government had approved a hike in salary and allowances as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission in June 2016 and July 2017 respectively. The 7th Pay Commission had recommended a 14.27 percent hike in basic pay — the lowest in 70 years, raising minimum pay from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 month.