8th Pay Commission: On July 23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not mention the 8th Pay Commission in the Union Budget for the financial year 2024-25. Crores of government employees and pensioners were waiting for the announcement regarding the formation of the pay panel.
8th Pay Commission: On July 23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not mention the 8th Pay Commission in the Union Budget for the financial year 2024-25. Crores of government employees and pensioners were waiting for the announcement regarding the formation of the pay panel, which would recommend the fitment factor and other guidelines for the revision of their basic salary and allowances.
8th Pay Commission
Generally, a pay commission is constituted once in 10 years regarding the salary of government employees. The last such panel i.e. 7th Pay Commission was constituted in February 2014 and its recommendations were implemented from January 1, 2016. In view of this, employees and pensioners were hoping that the government would announce the 8th Pay Commission with the budget for the financial year 2024-25, which would start the process of revision of their salary by January 1, 2026.
The government had received proposals
A day before the presentation of the budget, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha that no proposal to set up the 8th Pay Commission is currently under consideration. However, two requests have been received for the formation of a pay panel in June 2024. The National Council (Employee Side), Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) was one of the recognized bodies of central government employees and pensioners, which wrote a letter to the government in June demanding an early announcement regarding the formation of the 8th Pay Commission.
The government can still constitute the 8th Pay Commission
According to NC-JCM Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra, the government has not said anything about salary hike or 8th Pay Commission in the budget. According to him, the pay matrix is still eligible for revision. According to Mishra, the pay matrix of central government employees, which determines their basic salary, can be revised even before the announcement of the 8th Pay Commission. Usually the pay matrix is revised based on the fitment factor suggested by the pay commissions which are constituted once in 10 years. However, the 7th Pay Commission had recommended the introduction of Dearness Allowance in the pay matrix of employees when the dearness allowance reaches 50% of the basic pay.
