7th Pay Commission: Central government employees TA - Will it increase from July 1?

7th Pay Commission TA news: Central government employees have been a happy lot since the announcement regarding restoration of Dearness allowance (DA) was made by the Narendra Modi Government. They had a reason to be happy as not just the DA of three months, but it was expected that their TA will also increase. However, as per a Mint report this may not be the case for central government employees. TA increases in sync with DA, however, there is also a limit comes into play when Travelling Allowance rises in proportion with DA hike. This DA limit has to be 25 per cent, but currently central government employees DA is only 17 percent.  

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"TA won't rise in sync with the DA hike as the current DA is not 25 per cent or above. As per the 7th CPC pay matrix calculation rule, TA hike won't be applicable in 7th pay commission pay matrix from July 2021 as existing DA of central government employees is 17 per cent only," said Live Mint report.

However, no official announcement has been made so far.

So, this may come as a setback to over 50 lakh central government employees and more than 65 lakh central government pensioners, who were expecting increase in TA along with their DA and DR.  

Earlier, the government had frozen central government employees DA last year in order to mitigate challenges posed by Covid 19 pandemic. Presently, they get DA at 17 per cent. It is expected that final DA that central government employees will get is 28 % (17% + 11%). As per AICPI data, a 3% increase in DA from January to June 2020, a 4% hike for July-December 2020, and a 4% increase from January-June 2021, are expected. This makes for 11 % hike and final DA turns out to be 28 per cent.    

Meanwhile in good news, night duty allowance for a section of central government employees is also expected to come into effect from July. Earlier, as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, the Department of Personal and Training (DoPT) had issued guidelines in the first half of the last financial year regarding night duty allowance. Though, all sorts of allowances are put on hold in the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected that the news on hike in DA and DR in July will also bring clarity on hike in night duty allowances.