7th Pay Commission: Latest news on HRA, DA and arrears

The wait to get clarity on allowances like House Rent Allowance (HRA) and Dearness Allowance (DA) under the 7th Pay Commission may  be over on Wednesday as the Cabinet is likely to convene a meeting and announce its decision. 

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One crore Central Government employees and pensioners are waiting for news on their arrears and allowances like HRA and DA. 

The 7th Pay Commission had recommended HRA too be fixed at 24%, 16% and 8% depending on the cities employees work in. 

However, employees were not happy with this increase and demanded 30%, 24% and 16% HRA. 

The Committee on Allowances that FM Jaitley set up last year under leadership of Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa submitted its reported earlier this year and suggested HRA to be fixed at between 25% and 27%. 

Although the HRA recommended by Committee on Allowances is higher than the one given by 7th Pay Commission, it is still lower than what the employees demanded. 

Under the 7th Pay Commission, nearly 200 allowances have been subsumed into a smaller batch.

There has been considerable delay on the allowances front of the 7th Pay Commission as the Empowered Committee of Secretaries submitted its report to FM Jaitley on June 1, 2017.