BHUBANESWAR: The Cabinet on Tuesday gave post facto approval to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s announcement to implement the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission from January 1, 2016 with an additional burden of Rs 4500 crore per annum on the State exchequer. Besides, a decision was taken to revise the remuneration of contractual employees.
The pay matrix with 17 levels starting from level-1 will have minimum pay of Rs 16,600 per month and highest pay of Rs 2,19,900 per month. However, details of the pay matrix will be available after a couple of days. Pension and family pension will also be revised from January 1, 2016.
Chief Secretary AP Padhi told mediapersons that pay and pension are to be fixed in the revised structure by multiplying a factor of 2.57. The minimum pension/family pension has been fixed at Rs 8300 per month as per the revised pay.
The employees will get enhanced pay from September, Padhi said and added that the salary will increase by 14.2 per cent. A budget provision of Rs 2250 crore has been made for payment of salary as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, he said and added that payment of arrear will be worked out later. The arrear amounts to a staggering Rs 7500 crore.
The Chief Secretary said the prevailing revised assured career progression (RACP) has been substituted by Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme on the lines adopted by the Union Government. The existing ceiling of gratuity of Rs 7.5 lakh has been enhanced to Rs 15 lakh. Dearness allowance will be included with emoluments for determination of death-cum-retirement gratuity (DCRG), Padhi said and added that earlier, gratuity was calculated on the basis of basic pay only.
The employees appointed on or after January 1, 2005 and governed under new pension scheme will be included under the DCRG on the same terms and conditions as applicable to the employees governed under the Odisha Civil Services Pension Rules, 1992.
The Cabinet also decided to revise the monthly consolidated remuneration of the contractual employees which will increase by 25 per cent at their initial appointment and 10 per cent increase every year till their regularisation as per rules.
The Chief Secretary said the revised remuneration will be payable with effect from January 1, 2016. Annual increase in remuneration has been proposed to be payable after completion of one year from the next date on which the employee completes one year of continuous service subject to satisfactory performance, Padhi said and added that the increased remuneration will be paid to the contractual employees from September.
Padhi said the Cabinet also approved amendment of the Odisha Group-B Posts (contractual Appointment) Rules, 2013 and Odisha Group-C and Group-D Posts (Contractual appointment) Rule, 2013 in a bid to enhance the remuneration of the contractual employees. While the minimum remuneration for the lowest category of contractual employee will be Rs 8,070 at the time of joining, the highest initial amount is fixed at Rs 16,880.