Pay Commission rcommends 23.5% salary hike to central govt. employees

Hyderabad, Nov 20: The seventh Pay Commission today recommended a 23.55 per cent salary increase bonanza to the central employees and pensioners. The 23.55 per cent increase gets reflected in the salary, allowances and pension along with a virtual one-rank-one-pension for civilians. This involves an additional outgo of Rs 1.02 lakh crore a year for the central government. The commission recommended a minimum pay of Rs 18,000 per month and a maximum of Rs 2.5 lakh per month. The Commission, headed by Justice A K Mathur, presented its 900-page report to the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi. The recommendations are to be implemented from January 1, 2016 and they will benefit at least 47 lakh central government employees and another 52 lakh pensioners. The pay panel recommendation will benefit staff of autonomous bodies, universities and public sector units, Jaitley said. In its report, the commission suggested the abolition of the pay band and the grade pay. However, it retained the annual increment of 3 per cent. It has also recommended a fitment factor of 2.57 which will be applied uniformly to all employees.