GoI likely to announce revised allowances in April: 7th Pay Panel

Post the ongoing budget session of the Parliament, the government may announce the revised version of 7th pay allowance including house rent allowances for the central government employees around April 12, 2017. 

  
The panel formed to revise the allowances, headed by the Finance Secretary, is expected to hold the final meeting over 7th pay allowances soon. However, the panel is reported to be working on the final drafting of the allowances, revised in accordance with the recommendations of the 7th Pay Panel.

The central government employees in the metro cities are likely to be granted better perks, with a more generous HRA, in comparison with the CPC’s award. The HRA may be extended to a 30 per cent of basic pay for employees in cities with over 5 million population unlike the 24 per cent recommended by the CPC. Moreover, in the Sixth CPC award period (2006-2015), the HRA stood at 30 per cent, accounting for around 60 per cent of the total bill.  

The railways is expected to bear Rs 7,600 crore, while, with Rs 4,500 crore additional allocation in the Budget, the exchequer is expected to fall short by Rs 15,000 crore in 2017-18. Further, the Union Budget for the next fiscal year is speculated to Rs 21.47 lakh crore.

While the formation of the secretary panel attracted criticism by government employees, the consequential delay in the execution has saved crores as regards additional cost burden on the government for implementation in 2016-17.