7th Pay Commission latest news: Big Holi gift for these 7th CPC Government Employees; to get double HRA from 1st March 2020

7th Pay Commission latest news: The Central Government has given big gift to the Government Employees based in Mathura and Vrindavan ahead of the Holi festival. The Central Government has decided to double the House Rent Allowance (HRA) of its employees posted in Mathura and Vrindavan. The government had to do that as the category of Mathura and Vrindavan has been upgraded from Z category to Y category.

As per the Central Government order, the Uttar Pradesh Government has added Mathura and Vrindavan municipal corporation. This led to a rise in the population of the city. Due to the rise in population, now Mathura and Vrindavan will fall under the Y category cities instead of its existing Z category city. This HRA norm will be applicable to the armed forces and para-military force employees also.

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Speaking on the rise in HRA to the tune of 100 per cent Harishankar Tiwari, Assistant Secretary at All India Audit and Accounts Association said, "After the implementation of 7th Pay Commission, the HRA was also revised. Under 7th CPC, HRA is given on the basis of the category of the city a Central Government employee is posted at." Tiwari said that there are three categories for HRA — X, Y and Z. If the city population is 50 lakh or above then the Central Government Employee will get HRA benefits of the X category city.

Central Government Employees posted in X category city gets the maximum HRA of 24 per cent of their basic. Similarly, Y category government employees get 16 per cent HRA of their basic while Z category city employees will get 8 per cent HRA of their basic salary. Since Mathura and Vrindavan were in Z category, central government employees posted there were getting 8 per cent HRA of their basic salary which has now gone to 16 per cent, which is double the early HRA benefit they were getting. Harishankar Tiwari went on to add that a city having a population up to 5 lakh will fall in Z category city while a city having a population above 5 lakh but below 50 lakh will fall in Y category city.