6th Pay Commission : Panel recommends up to 40 pc pay hike for top officials

New Delhi: Government employees are in celebratory mode as the Sixth Pay Commission has handed over its report to the Finance Ministry on Monday. A major hike has been announced for Government servants across the board.
The Government will incur a one-time burden of Rs 18,060 crore on payment of arrears in the event of the report being accepted with the salary increase of 77 per cent for the starting level employees.
The hike would be effective from January 1, 2006 as per the prevailing practice.
The maximum salary of Government employees will be Rs 80,000 per month while the minimum salary will be Rs 6,600 per month.
The Commission has reportedly recommended a hike of over 40 per cent in salaries of Government employees at the senior level and substantial salary hike in other categories as well.
As widely speculated, the Commission is silent on the retirement age for government workers.
The existing HRA rate has been retained for A-1 cities while it is higher by 20 per cent for A, B-1 and B-2 cities. For C and unclassified cities the allowance is higher by 10 per cent.
The report recommends that CCA be subsumed in Transport Allowance, and the rate be increased by four times. In other changes, travel is to be paid on actuals.
The Finance Ministry will consider the report and will submit its recommendations to the Union Cabinet.
With general elections round the corner, the Government is likely to accept the recommendations without any cut.
The Commission — the arbitrator in the collective bargaining process between labour and the largest employer in the country, the Central Government — however, faces challenges that seem staggering.