7th Pay Commission – Modi, Jaitley meet, revised allowances from July, HRA at 27 per cent

7th Pay Commission – Modi, Jaitley meet, revised allowances from July, HRA at 27 per cent

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa yesterday evening to discuss his views on the 7th Pay Commission allowances, reported ANI.

With pressure building on the government from the lakhs of central government employees, both Modi and Jaitley met yesterday to discuss the issue.

The government has confirmed that the central government employees will get revised allowances from July 2017 onwards. The exact date given for this is July 18 2017.

Crucial Modi-Jaitley meet

With the unrest among the central government employees growing, it was decided that the government does not want to keep the issue pending. Both the Prime Minister and Finance Minister are going out of the country this week. While Modi will be away in the US, Jaitley is on a visit to Russia from June 20 onwards.

Both Modi and Jaitley were unable to discuss the 7th Pay Commission recommendations earlier as they were busy with the Presidential candidate. However it was decided that the two leaders would hold a quick meeting to clear pending issues.

What next?

Now that the meeting has been held, there is still no confirmation that revised allowances would be rolled out from next month.The issue of revised allowances and higher HRA, the matter would be placed before the Union Cabinet. The Cabinet is meeting on Wednesday, but is unlikely to take up the matter as Jaitley would not be present. It is the Finance Minister who has to place the matter before the Cabinet. Sources say that the matter will be taken up in the next Cabinet to be held on June 28.

The federal Cabinet too is reluctant to discuss the matter in absence of its Finance Minister as seen in the past two weeks. Twice the issue of reformed allowance structure has been dropped from the Cabinet’s agenda.

Agenda to be fixed

The matter which should have been cleared two weeks ago remains pending. On both occasions the agenda was not fixed as a result of which it was not taken up. Government sources said that certain issues were being finalised and hence there was a delay. Moreover many in the BJP government were busy with the Presidential elections and hence there was a delay on higher allowances and HRA.

HRA to be fixed at 27 per cent

While there is confirmed news that revised allowances would be rolled out from July 2017 onwards, sources now say that the Finance Ministry is in favour of giving HRA at 27 per cent, 18 per cent and 9 per cent for X, Y and Z cities respectively under the 7th Pay Commission. The general secretary of National Joint Council of Action or NJCA is holding talks with the government on behalf of the employees. He recently met the Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha and urged him not to delay the matter further.

IB warns of unrest

Meanwhile various intelligence agencies say that if the matter is delayed further there could be a nation wide unrest. There is already lot of tension and frustration among the employees. The IB has said that if the matter gets delayed any further it could go out of hand. For now the employees are indulging in peaceful protests such as forming human chains. However if the matter gets delayed further, it could go out of control. The government has taken this report seriously and will work on the issue and try resolving by June end.

With inputs from ANI