7th Pay Commission: Committee on Allowances submits its report; this is what they said

The central government employees are likely to receive higher dearness allowances (DA) than the recommendation under the 7th Pay Commission, a source told Zee Business.

As per the source, the final decision on allowance will be taken by the end of this month or in the next meeting scheduled on Thursday.

Committee on Allowances, headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa, has already submitted the report on higher allowance to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the source said. 

Moreover, the Committee has also recommended to not reduce the House Rent Allowance (HRA). As per the 7th Pay Commission, HRA will be paid at the rate of 24%, 16% and 8% of the new Basic Pay, depending on the type of cities. But unions had demanded HRA at 30, 20 and 10%. 

The rate demanded by the unions are in line with 6th Pay Commission. The report submitted to Finance Minister mentioned that HRA should be paid according to the 6th Pay Commission report. 

According to the source, of 196 allowances which were under 6th Pay Commission, the committe has recommended abolition of 56 and subsuming of another 36 into larger existing ones.