7th Pay commission alert: Are you a central government employee? Know why you suffer pay disparity

7th Pay Commission: The central government employees have been getting an increased salary according to the recommendations of the seventh pay commission. However, employees have been demanding a better pay hike from the Centre. Recently, a finance ministry official had even confirmed that the Centre has finalised revised fitment factor and the same is likely to be announced on January 26, 2019. 

The central government employees have been demanding that the minimum basic pay should be increased to Rs 26,000 from the current Rs 18,000.  They have also been demanding that the pay should be hiked by the fitment factor of 3.68 times rather than current 2.57 times.

Several central government employees and unions have alleged that the 7th pay commission has caused pay disparity between the lower, middle and senior level employees. This happened due to the Centre's approach of adopting different fitment factors for the different levels.

DA accountant and former Assistant Secretary General, All India Audit & Accounts Association (AIA), Hari Shankar Tiwari has said that Central government gave a certain increment on the basis of different fitment factors for different levels. According to this, the highest fitment factor was at Level 17, which was a whopping 2.81. Officers at this level get a basic pay of Rs 2,25,000.

On the other hand, those at Level  13 had received a pay hike by the fitment factor of 2.67 times. Not just this, the government had even modified the pay matrix of the Level -13 employees under the 'terms of CCS (Revised Pay) (Amendment) Rules, 2017 promulgated vide GSR 592 (E) dated 15.6.2017'. "Modified Level 13 starts at Rs 1,23,100 at Cell one, ending at Rs 2,15,900 at Cell twenty," the ministry of finance had said in a statement. Earlier the Level 13 used to start at Rs 1,18,500.  

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On the other hand, those at the lower and middle level had received a pay hike by the fitment factor of 2.57 times. This has resulted in an uneven pay hike across the Pay Matrix leading to the pay disparity.  However, the elections are near and the central government employees are hopeful of getting the pay hike news. The central government employees and pensioners are 11 million strong and no government can afford to ignore them and that too just a few months before elections.