New Delhi: Despite pressure exerted by the State governments, the central government has decided to implement the Seventh Pay Commission Award for central government employees in the course of next year.
Sinha said, “Increase in salary bill due to Seventh Pay Commission will not strain central government’s fiscal position.”
A senior official in Finance Ministry, who familiar with the pay commission matter said that some states are expected to delay implementing the Seventh Pay Commission Award to central government employees from centre side to be able them to get extra time for absorb similar pay hikes for state government employees.
“There are several states who have approached the Prime Minister’s Office, Cabinet Secretary and Niti Aayog, seeking more time in implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission’s report,” he said to Indian Express.
However, the central government is confident that the government will stick to fiscal consolidation laid out in the Budget and implementation of Seventh Commission’s recommendation of 23.6% hike in salaries and pensions of central government employees with effect from January 1, 2016, could not hurt centre’s finances, he added.
West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha governments suggested delay in implementation of Seventh Commission’s recommendation for central government employees will give them more time to equip themselves with resources to meet Seventh Pay Commission Award for their employees, he confirmed.
West Bengal assembly elections are slated for next year and the Bengal government constituted Pay Commission for its employees on November 28, eight days after the Central Pay Commission submitted its report. Accordingly, it is expected that the state Pay Commission to follow on the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations.
Punjab Finance Minister P S Dhindsa said, “Punjab’s finances are under stress and the burden of the Pay Commission’s recommendations will certainly have an impact… Our officials have informally taken up the matter with the Centre.”
“We are yet to assess the fiscal implication of the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan said.
“At this stage, we don’t want to comment on it,” Additional Finance Chief Secretary of Odisha R Balakrishnan said.
We didn’t get any comment from Tamil Nadu government in respect of implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.
Despite pressure from the state government, no sign has been found that the central government not to implement the seventh pay commission award in next financial year, the sources in Finance Ministry said.
The implementation cell for processing and implementing accepted recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission is working hard to implement it in next year as ministers and top officials in Finance Ministry are pressing hard for this, sources added.
Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha made it clear while interacting with reporters after a meeting of economists which was chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at NITI Aayog, that the government’s fiscal position is strong enough to bear the impact of implementation of Seventh Pay Commission.
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