From time to time, by the end of every decade, the Government revises the pay and perks of its servants. It is generally done for the officers to cope with the growing economic scenario, based on the living standards and the income earned by its servants. The services include the pure government services, and the other government-owned public sector undertakings have a different package. Still, there has always been a difference while fixing the salaries and perks of Military personnel and civil personnel.
The services departments staffed by officers and clerical categories of employees get the advantage of pay revision recommended by the Pay commissions duly appointed by the Government.
The Seventh Pay Commission got appointed with Sh A.K. Mathur as the committee head.
The seventh pay commission was appointed as there were murmurs around the military sector when they were not given equanimity with their civil employees while revising the pay and perks. The Military or the defence department is indeed of prime importance as they are the guardians of the Nation. They are given various fringe benefits, which the other civil servants do not get as they rightly deserve such treatment.
However, regarding pay scales, in comparison with the civil servants were not at par at various levels. The government-appointed the Seventh pay commission to evaluate and recommend changes so that the Military personnel could get their rightful salary package and their promotional avenues cadre wise. The civil servants enjoyed a time scale promotion, which was not there in the Military cadres. Though the Seventh Pay Commission report was to be implemented in 2016, it was delayed for various reasons.
Thus the 7th pay commission establishes a new pay matrix and pays scale that ensures pioneer and government employees get a 2.5% hike on their current income. The salary of a central government employee gets doubled. The “Fitment factor” of the 7th pay commission stands at a 3% annual increment for all employees. Henceforth the pay matrix came into action instead of the earlier grade pay standard. The apex scale employees receive an increased salary amount of Rs. 2.25 lakh per month, and for the office cabinets, the maximum wage is Rs.2.5 lakh. For the defence section, a total salary of Rs. 2,50,000 and a minimum payable wage of Rs. 21,700 has been set according to the 7th pay commission. The Indian Government handles the entire cost of this whole exercise.
The Central Government implemented the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations in July 2018, and nearly 5 million central government employees benefitted. They revised trip allowance, accident allowance, outstation posting compensation, Difficult areas compensation, etc. The central government also appointed the LAVASA committee to examine the current budget and consider including or excluding specific allowances.
The Seventh Pay Commission also recommended highly simplified pension calculations based on the current revisions. The importance of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendation is that it follows a MATRIX SYSTEM of revision compared to the earlier Grade system.
