Set up by the Manmohan Singh led UPA Government under the chairmanship of Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, Seventh Pay Commission was brought into existence on 28 February 2014.
In this article, we discuss the 7th pay commission, key takeaways of the 7th pay commission, and the level in the 7th pay commission.
What is the Pay Commission?
An administrative mechanism or system appointed by the government to examine, review and recommend feasible and desirable changes in the government employees' salary structure is pay commission.
The salary structure consists of everything an employee is given, including basic salary, allowance, bonus, other facilities or benefits in cash, etc. The pay commission gets set up to review and recommend changes of government employees of various departments, agencies, and services for the employees of the following categories:
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Personnel belonging to the Defense forces
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Central government employees, both industrial and non-industrial
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Officers and employees of the Supreme court
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Officials belonging to the All India Services
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Members of the regulating bodies set up under the Acts of Parliament (Excluding the Reserve Bank of India)
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An official of the Union Territories
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Officers and the employees of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department
To make its recommendations, every pay commission analyses various aspects such as the economic condition of the country, financial resources of the government, impact to likely cause on finances of state Governments, private sector and state government pay sector, their adaptability and relevance to Indian conditions, best global practices, comparison with the public sector, etc.
The pay commission of the country gets headquartered in Delhi. The commission is provided with 18 months to submit its recommendations and findings via a report from the day of its constitution. The commission may also consider sending interim reports of any matters when recommendations get finalized.
The recommendations may either be accepted or rejected by the Government of India. The State Government usually adopts the recommendations with certain modifications in them.
A chairman heads the pay commission, and the commission consists of the members who are senior officials of various fields. Since India’s Independence, seven commissions have been set up to review and recommend changes to the emolument structure of civil and defense Government personnel.
Pay commissions are generally set up every ten years, and the 7th pay commission is the latest of them all.
What is the level in the 7th pay commission?
The chart presenting the pay structure of the Central Government of India employees is called a level pay matrix. There are 18 pay levels in the pay matrix and get presented in columns and 40 rows. These rows and columns show the expected salary growth at a particular level over the employee’s career.
The pay commission uses the level pay matrix for bringing about necessary changes in the employee’s pay structure. If you are a Central Government employee, a level pay matrix can help you identify the level where you belong in the pay structure and get an idea of growth within the level you fall in.
The latest pay commission, i.e. the 7th pay commission, incorporated a rationalized pay matrix chart in 2016. The chart is a rationalized chart showing the salary structure of the Central Government of India’s employees. There has been a reported pay or salary increase of employees under the 7th pay matrix by 23.35%.
The benefits of new pay matrix of 7th pay commission
The new pay matrix has several benefits, also known as the 7th pay matrix. The most prominent is that the grade pay gets subsumed, and the pay levels now get rationalized under the new matrix. A Central Government employee can check his or her pay levels and determine their growth in their career span from this 7th pay matrix.
Highlights of 7th pay commission
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Minimum pay of Rs.18,000
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A maximum recommended pay of Rs.2,25,000
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The annual increment rate remained constant at 3%, as in the 6th pay commission.
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The new system of Pay Matrix will replace the present system of Grade Pay and pay band.
To Conclude –
If you are a government-serving employee and not sure about your pay level, now you know where to look for, and you can now also get an idea of your potential growth over your career span. The pay matrix introduced by the 7th pay commission has made it easy and has provided benefits to every government employee, ensuring that every employee benefits from it.
