The wait for clarification on minimum pay scale and fitment factor beyond 7th Pay Commission has finally come to an end for 48 lakh government employees, as the Centre has decided to more than double their deputation allowance.
 
A notification issued by Department of Personnel and Training said, "The recommendation of the 7CPC for enhancement of ceiling of deputation (duty) allowance for civilians by 2.25 times has been accepted and this decision is effective from July 01, 2017."
 
In case of deputation within the same station, the duty allowance will be payable at the rate of 5% of basic pay subject to a maximum of Rs 4,500 per month. And for deputation, involving change of station, will attract allowance rate of 10% of the basic pay subject to maximum of Rs 9,000 per month.
 
Currently, duty allowance stands at Rs 2,000 per month for deputation within the same station, and Rs 4,000 per month involving change in the station. The ceiling of this allowance will rise by 25% each time dearness allowance increases by 50%.
 
The department, however, made it clear that basic pay, from time to time, plus deputation allowance shall not exceed the basic pay in the apex level, which is Rs 2,25,000.
 
If a government servant receives non-practising allowance, then his basic pay plus non-practising allowance plus deputation allowance should not exceed the average basic pay.
 
In June 2017, the government had approved a list of recommendation under the 7CPC, among which was the revision of HRA when Dearness Allowance reaches 50% and 100%. It had also approved to revise the rates when DA crosses 25% and 50% respectively.
 
Since June, the government employees have been waiting with bated breath for their minimum pay scale and fitment factor. Now the cainet has finally raised the minimum pay from Rs 7,000 to Rs 18,000 per month and fitment factor to 2.57 times.
 
It may be noted that the employees had asked the government to raise minimum pay from Rs 18,000 to Rs 26,000 and fitment factors to 3.68 times under the 7CPC.