Committee on Allowances may submit its report on April 27 or after FM’s Arrival
Central government employees have been waiting for higher allowance since July when the government notified the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations. The government is waiting for report of the Committee on Allowances on higher allowances under the 7th Pay Commission. The Committee on Allowances may submit its report on April 27 or after that when the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will return to the country after his visit to US and Russia. There is no official confirmation on when the Committee on Allowances will submit its report.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley left for US on April 20 to attend the annual Spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. From US, Arun Jaitley will travel to Moscow for a two-day visit from April 25.
The Finance Minister, who also hold the additional charge of the Defence Ministry, will return to the capital on April 27. It is believed that the Committee on Allowances then submit its report on higher allowances under the 7th Pay Commission. Earlier, sources in the Finance Ministry informed that the report on higher allowances under the 7th Pay Commission was in the final stage and the Committee on Allowances would submit it to the Finance Ministry anytime soon.
According to media reports, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa led committee is in the process of preparing notes for it to be taken up by the government. The committee had held a meeting on April 6, which was called as ‘conclusive’ by employees’ unions. A government official had attributed the delay in submission of the report to non-availability of allowance panel members. “I believe that there has been some delay in the finalisation of the report as some allowance panel members were outside the country on an official visit,” he was quoted as saying.
The 7th Pay Commission had recommended abolition of 51 allowances and subsuming 37 others out of 196 allowances. The government referred the matter of the higher allowances to the Committee on Allowance after the central government employees raised concerns. The basic pay was hiked from January 1, 2016 as per the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, but for last 10 months, the central government employees are still waiting for the higher allowances.