'7th Pay Panel Proposals Disappointing'

PUDUCHERRY: The Pondicherry State Government Employees Central Federation has criticised the 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations and said the actual rise was 14.29% for the lowest Group C employees and not 16% rise for the Group C as was announced.

The federation general secretary P Lakshumanaswami said, “In practice, the minimum pay scale of the 6th Pay Commission as on January 1, 2006, was Rs 7,000. But in the 7th Pay Commission, it was fixed as Rs 18,000.

An employee who entered in the minimum basic pay of Rs 7,000 on January 1, 2006, after 10 years of increment plus Dearness Allowance, his minimum pay comes around Rs 18,200 as on January 1, 2016. This reveals that the Pay Commission fixed Rs 18,000 lesser than Rs 18,200 an employee automatically got on January 1, 2016.”

This Pay Commission has cheated the employees at the entry pay of the Group C and Group B cadre without any pay hike, he added.

Lakshumanaswami said the increase in the minimum pay in the 6th Central Pay Commission was 54%, where as in the 7th Pay Commission recommendation, it is 14.3%, which is the lowest increase in the minimum pay in the history.

He said the Joint Consultative Machinery (JCM) demanded Rs 26,000 as the minimum pay on Indian Labour Organisation directions, but it was recommended lesser by Rs 8,000.