What we expect from 7th Pay Commission ?

What we expect from 7th Pay Commission? – Anomalies in 6th CPC Pay Fixation policies which are to be avoided by 7th Pay Commission

Mr.M.Dorai, Deputy Director, ESIC Model Hospital, Bangalore (Ministry of Labour, Government of India, is the author of this article.
His earlier article in GConnect – “NPS is far beneficial than Government Pension’’ (Click here to read his previous article) is receiving the attention of a large number of Central Government Employees with mixed reaction.

The Central Government employees are rejoiced over the timely constitution of 7th Central Pay Commission by the Government of India. This will not only pave the way for implementing the revised pay scales promptly from 1-1-2016 but also save the government from the burden of incurring huge expenditure towards settlement of arrears.

What is very important now is, 7th Central Pay Commission must re-examine the methods adopted by 6th CPC in the matter of formulation of pay scales, pay fixation policies, fitment benefits etc. which consist of many anomalies / disparities leading to disgruntlement among central government employees.

I have touched upon some of these anomalies of 6th CPC recommendations which are quite peculiar in nature and are first of its kind in the history of Central Pay Commissions’ recommendations so far:

I – 6th CPC Broader Pay Bands has no relevance with Pay Fixation:

The 6th CPC had come out with a new concept of formulation of few broader pay bands bringing into its fold as many as 34 pre-revised pay scales / cadres which existed in the V CPC.  The pay bands from P.B 1 to P.B.4 carries common pay scales for several cadres as follows:

6th CPC Broader Pay Bands

5TH CPC Pay Scale	PayBand	6TH CPC correspondingcommon Pay Band Scales	No.of scales/cadres merged
S-1, S-2,S2-A.,S3	-IS	4440-7440	4
S-4 to S-8	PB-1	5200-20200	5
S-9 to S-15	PB-2	9300-34800	7
S-16 to S-23	PB-3	15600-39100	9
S-24 to S-29	PB-4	37400-67000	6
S-30	HAG	67000-79000	1
S-31 to S-32	HAG+	75500-80000	2
S-33	Apex	80,000(Fixed)	1
S-34	Cab.Sec.	90,000(Fixed)	1

However, all the 34 pre-revised scales of the 5th CPC still distinctly exist as same number of revised pay scales even after implementation of 6th CPC, as per detailed Pay Fitment Table circulated   vide O.M No.F.No.1/1/2008-IC dated 30/8/2008  by Ministry of Finance (Click here).

The Fitment Table depicts the full list of all the Pre-revised V Pay Scale from S-1 to S-34  with its equivalent 6th CPC Pay.  Fitment Table also provides 6th CPC revised pay for each of the increment stage in pre-revised pay.

This fitment table was actually utilized by all the central government departments for fixation of pay of all the government employees who were in service as on 1/1/2006.  Needless to say, 6th CPC Broader Pay bands have no relevance here.  Even the pay of new recruits were based on entry Pay Structure under  Section II of Part A of First Schedule of CCS(Revised Pay) Rules, 2008- (Click here).

No correlation between 6th CPC Broader Pay Bands and Fitment Table:

It is could be noticed that minimum pay in Broader 6th CPC pay band applicable to a post or cadre is always lesser than the starting pay of an employee (both direct recruit and existing employee) in that post (except for P.B 4).  This is due to absence of Correlation between 6th CPC pay bands and Fitment Tables.

II. Adopting three different pay fixation methods, that create anomaly in the pay of employees who are promoted, those in service as on 1/1/2006 and those are newly recruited after 01.01.2006

Well, Fitment Tables should have been applied uniformly for employees who continue in the same post, promotees and new appointees (New Entrants)l, which is not the case here. While Fundamental Rules stipulates equal pay for equal work, pay of employees who are promoted / granted MACP are to be fixed at the stages relevant to them like Direct Recruits whose initial pay is much more than minimum pay in the pay band applicable to them. However 6th CPC has not followed same principles for Promotee employees and Direct Recruits. In fact 6th CPC has stipulated three different types of Pay fixation which was made applicable to following three cases.

The following chart incorporating the 3 different pay fixations formulated by the 6th CPC  clearly reflect the true picture of this strange situation.

Post/ Grade	FIFTH CPC PAY SCALE	Name of Pay Band/ Scale	PAY IN PAY BANDS (APPLICABLE FOR PROMOTION AFTER 1/1/2006 (With 3% Increment)	PAY FOR THOSE IN SERVICE AS ON 1/1/2006 As per FITMENT TABLE	PAYFORNEWRECRU -ITS NEW ENTR- ANTS AFTER 1/1/2006	GRADE PAY for the pay under Column (1),(2),(3)
			(1)	(2)	(3)
S-1	2550—3200	-1S	4440-7440	4750	–	1300
S-2	2610–3540	-1S	4440-7440	4860	–	1400
S-2A	2610–4000	-1S	4440-7440	4860	–	1600
S-3	2650-4000	-1S	4440-7440	4930	–	1650
S-1*	2550—3200	PB-1	4440-7440	5200	5200	1800
S-2*	2610–3540	PB-1	4440-7440	5200	–	1800
S-2A*	2610–4000	PB-1	4440-7440	5200	–	1800
S-3*	2650-4000	PB-1	4440-7440	5360	–	1800
S-4	2750-4400	PB-1	5200-20200	5530	–	1800
S-5	3050-4590	PB-1	5200-20200	5880	5830	1900
S-6	3200-4900	PB-1	5200-20200	6060	6460	2000
S-7	4000-6000	PB-1	5200-20200	7440	7510	2400
S-8	4500-7000	PB-1	5200-20200	8370	8560	2800
S-9	5000-8000	PB-2	9300-34800	9300	9300	4200
S-10	5500–9000	PB-2	9300-34800	10230	–	4200
S-11	6500–6900	PB-2	9300-34800	12090	–	4200
S-12	6500–10500	PB-2	9300-34800	12090	–	4200
S-13	7450-11500	PB-2	9300-34800	13860	12540	4600
S-14	7500-12000	PB-2	9300-34800	13950	13350	4800
S-15	8000–13500	PB-2	9300-34800	14880	–	5400
New Scale	8000–13500(Group A	PB-3	15600-39100	15600	15600	5400
S-16	9000	PB-3	15600-39100	16740	–	5400
S-17	9000–9550	PB-3	15600-39100	16740	–	5400
S-18	10325–10975	PB-3	15600-39100	19210	–	6600
S-19	10000–15200	PB-3	15600-39100	18600	18750	6600
S-20	10650–15850	PB-3	15600-39100	19810	–	6600
S-21	12000–16500	PB-3	15600-39100	22320	21900	7600
S-22	12750–16500	PB-3	15600-39100	23720	–	7600
S-23	12000–18000	PB-3	15600-39100	22320	–	7600
S-24	14300–18300	PB-4	37400-67000	37400	37400	8700
S-25	15100–18300	PB-4	37400-67000	39690	–	8700
S-26	16400–20000	PB-4	37400-67000	39690	40200	8900
S-27	16400–20900	PB-4	37400-67000	39690	–	8900
S-28	14300–22400	PB-4	37400-67000	37400	–	10000
S-29	18400–22400	PB-4	37400-67000	44700	43000	10000
S-30	22400–24500	PB-4	37400-67000	51850	–	12000
S-31	22400–26000	HAG	75500- -80000	75500	–	Nil
S-32	24050-26000	HAG	75500- 80000	77765	–	Nil
S-33	26000 (Fixed)	Apex	80000 (Fixed)	80000	–	Nil
S-34	30000 (Fixed)	Cab.Secc	90000 (Fixed)	90000	–	Nil

*(Fitment of existing Group D employees on upgradation to Group C)

Let me illustrate in detail the methodology adopted by the 6th CPC for fixation of Pay in the above 3 categories of pay scales/posts:

(i) Employees who are promoted or granted promotion/MACP on or after 1st January 2006:

Employees who are promoted or provided with MACP after 01.01.2006 are granted with only one increment in the existing pay. Change to next Grade Pay in the hierarchy in these cases may fetch some financial benefit only if next grade pay in the grade pay hierarchy is different from the Grade Pay that is drawn before Promotion / MACP.

This is because next grade pay in the grade pay hierarchy is same certain cases. Even in the case of change of pay band on account of promotion, financial benefit is not significant since the initial pay in the pay band, except for Pay Band 4 (PB-4) is much lower than what is already drawn before promotion

Further, 6CPC pay fixation method for promoted / MACP employees, would not only create anomaly in the first promotion / MACP but also widen the gap in pay of promotee and direct recruits in subsequent promotions / MACP. This is because pay that is fixed in a particular cadre after implementation of 6th CPC continues for ever with grant of just one increment on promotion and change in grade pay and pay band if applicable. But, Direct Recruits (new appointees) in the same cadre will be getting higher pay as their entry pay would be much more than promotees who are seniors to them.

 (ii) Fixation of pay for those in service as on 01.01.2006 in 6th CPC Fitment Table:

For all the employees who were drawing pay in Vth CPC pay scales S-1 to S-23, revised 6th cpc pay is the revised pay given in the fitment tables against each pre-revised pay. In most of the cases, revised pay has been determined by multiplying 1.86 factor with pre-revised pay, since DP and DA as on 01.01.2006 was 186% of pre-revised pay. However for the cadres /posts under pre-revised V CPC Scales from S-24 to S- 34 a substantial increase in Pay was granted by the 6th CPC which was much more than the actual sum total of 1.86 factor.

 (iii) New Entrants (Direct Recruit Employees):

As far as new appointees (New Entrants) on or after 01.01.2006 are concerned, a different table as per Section II of Part A of First Schedule of CCS(Revised Pay) Rules, 2008- (Click here) is being adopted. It could be found that entry pay fixed for them is more than minimum pay in the pay band to which they belong to.

III. Vast variation in the percentage of Fitment benefits granted by 6th CPC in most of the cadres:

All the Pay Commissions upto V Pay Commission formulated new pay scale by clubbing the pre-revised Basic pay, D.A. etc. and granted some increase in the existing pre-revised basic pay which were generally in the range of  about  40 to 50% of the pre-revised basic pay(excluding D.A.) to arrive at new Basic Pay.

This hike usually  called as fitment benefit is given as a bonanza to central government employees by the CPC to satisfy the expectation of central government employees who desparately wait for a pay hike for a prolonged period of 10 years. As otherwise the new pay would be just the sum total of Pay and D.A. after merger which may not fetch any hike in the salary at all inspite of constitution of a New Pay Commission.

Deviating from the usual procedure the 6th CPC had devised an innovative method of showing such fitment benefit distinctly in the form of Grade Pay. This Grade Pay along with Pay constituted new Basic Pay.

The Grade Pay is taken into account for all purpose like H.R.A., D.A.,including pension fixation and pension benefits and thus showing it separately is of no significance. However this is not an issue. The real issue is vast variation in the fitment benefits among the low paid and high paid which I deal in the next heading below.

As can be seen from the table below, the 6th CPC did not grant even a single percent of increase in the Revised Pay (Except a meager increase in the Pay in S-1 to S-6 of P.B.1 ) The Revised 6th CPC Pay for these cadres were just the total of Pay, Dearness Pay, and D.A. as on 1/1/2006 The monetary benefit whatsoever was given in the form of Grade Pay which was arrived by taking approximately 28% to 78% of the maximum of the pre-revised V CPC Pay Scale.

Whereas the 6th CPC had not only granted a huge increase in the Pay for the scales / cadres from S-24 to S-34 but in addition, it also granted Grade Pay for the cadres from S-24 to S-30) resulting into double fitment benefits:

Post/ Grade	FIFTH CPC PAY SCALE	Name of Pay Band/ Scale	ActualSum TotalOf PayD.P and D.A As on 1/1/2006 @ 1.86	Initial Revised pay given for those in service as on 1/1/2006*	Percen tage Of Increase In Revised Pay	GRADE PAY	Percentage Of Grade Pay Increase on the SUM TOTAL OF PAY D.P and D.A As on 1/1/2006 @ 1.86	Percentage Of Total Increase On the sum Total of Pay D.P and D.A As on 1/1/2006 (6+8)
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
S-1	2550—3200	-1S	4750	4750	0%	1300	27.37%	27.37%
S-2	2610–3540	-1S	4860	4860	0%	1400	28.80%	28.80%
S-2A	2610–4000	-1S	4860	4860	0%	1600	32.92%	32.92%
S-3	2650-4000	-1S	4930	4930	0%	1650	33.47%	33.47%
S-1*	2550—3200	PB-1	4750	5200	9.47%	1800	37.89%	47.36%
S-2*	2610–3540	PB-1	4860	5200	6.99%	1800	37.03%	44.02%
S-2A*	2610–4000	PB-1	4860	5200	6.99%	1800	37.03%	44.02%
S-3*	2650-4000	PB-1	4930	5360	8.72%	1800	36.51%	45.23%
S-4	2750-4400	PB-1	5120	5530	8%	1800	35.16%	43.16%
S-5	3050-4590	PB-1	5680	5880	3.52%	1900	33.45%	36.97%
S-6	3200-4900	PB-1	5960	6060	1.68%	2000	33.56%	35.24%
S-7	4000-6000	PB-1	7440	7440	0%	2400	32.26%	32.26%
S-8	4500-7000	PB-1	8370	8370	0%	2800	33.45%	33.45%
S-9	5000-8000	PB-2	9300	9300	0%	4200	45.16%	45.16%
S-10	5500–9000	PB-2	10230	10230	0%	4200	41.06	41.06%
S-11	6500–6900	PB-2	12090	12090	0%	4200	34.74%	34.74%
S-12	6500–10500	PB-2	12090	12090	0%	4200	34.74%	34.74%
S-13	7450-11500	PB-2	13860	13860	0%	4600	33.19%	33.19%
S-14	7500-12000	PB-2	13950	13950	0%	4800	34.41%	34.41%
S-15	8000–13500	PB-2	14880	14880	0%	5400	36.29%	36.29%
New Scale	8000–13500(Group A	PB-3	14880	15600	4.84%	5400	36.29%	41.13%
S-16	9000	PB-3	16740	16740	0%	5400	32.26	32.26%
S-17	9000–9550	PB-3	16740	16740	0%	5400	32.26	32.26%
S-18	10325–10975	PB-3	19210	19210	0%	6600	34.36	34.36%
S-19	10000–15200	PB-3	18600	18600	0%	6600	35.48	35.48%
S-20	10650–15850	PB-3	19810	19810	0%	6600	33.32	33.32%
S-21	12000–16500	PB-3	22320	22320	0%	7600	34.05	34.05%
S-22	12750–16500	PB-3	23720	23720	0%	7600	32.04	32.04%
S-23	12000–18000	PB-3	22320	22320	0%	7600	34.05	34.05%
S-24	14300–18300	PB-4	26600	37400	40.6%	8700	32.71	73.31%
S-25	15100–18300	PB-4	28090	39690	41.3%	8700	30.97	72.27%
S-26	16400–20000	PB-4	30510	39690	30.09%	8900	29.17	59.26%
S-27	16400–20900	PB-4	30510	39690	30.09%	8900	29.17	59.26%
S-28	14300–22400	PB-4	26600	37400	40.6%	10000	37.59	78.19%
S-29	18400–22400	PB-4	34230	44700	30.59%	10000	29.21	59.8%
S-30	22400–24500	PB-4	41670	51850	24.43%	12000	28.80	53.23%
S-31	22400–26000	HAG	41670	75500	81.19%	Nil	0%	81.19%
S-32	24050-26000	HAG	44740	77765	73.82%	Nil	0%	73.82%
S-33	26000 (Fixed)	Apex	48360	80000	65.43%	Nil	0%	65.43%
S-34	30000 (Fixed)	Cab.Secc	55800	90000	61.29%	Nil	0%	61.29%

Let me hasten to add that I do not question payment of such huge percentage of fitment benefits to certain cadres. Let them get it. Because they deserve it and so are every one. The crux of the issue is why such fitment benefits were not equally extended to all cadres in equal percentage so that there will not be any resentment among central government employees.

Conclusion:

In a nutshell, I am of the view that Pay scale pattern, pay fixation pattern, Fitment benefits method etc. adopted by the earlier pay commissions up to 5th Pay Commission were comparatively far better than that of 6th Pay Commission.

Let us hope that the above details attract the special attention of the 7th Central Pay Commission and let us expect they too realize the necessity of revision of pay without any anomalies

M.Dorai

Deputy Director

ESIC Model Hospital

Ministry of Labour, Government of India

The views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and are not intended to represent the views of GConnect.