New Delhi, February 5: In what is believed to be a sigh of relief for lower-paid central government employees, the government is believed to hike their salary beyond recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, a Finance Ministry official on condition of anonymity informed.  As per reports, the government is likely to increase the fitment factor to 3.00 times from 2.57 times, which was earlier approved by the Cabinet on the recommendation by 7th CPC.

According to a report by Sen Times, a top official informed that the government will consider the state of the economy before issuing the inflation-targeted pay hike in terms of which employees’ salaries will fix with fitment formula 3.00 times of basic pay of 6th pay commission to almost better than fitment formula 2.57 times of basic pay of 6th pay commission, which was given nod by the Cabinet on June 29, 2016. However, the Finance Ministry has not issued any official statement in this regard. The report further quoted the official saying that Finance Ministry made some inputs, including fitment formula and which employees to be covered under new pay hike for rising salaries.

Earlier, while speaking to Latestly, veteran union leader Shiv Gopal Mishra said that salaried class is unimpressed with the Budget 2018. Mishra, who negotiated the 7th Pay Commission recommendations with the Centre on behalf of the government employees said that the e-government has failed to safeguard the interest of the salaried class despite the spiralling inflation and rising commodity prices.  "The overall Budget has been a disappointment for the entire salaried class. There are no changes in the Income Tax slabs, no alterations have been made to increase tax reductions or rebates. All in all, no concrete step has been taken to raise our disposable income," he said.

If reports are to be believed, the Centre may increase the minimum pay from Rs 18,000 to Rs 21,000 as recommended by the 7th Pay Commission. However, the central government employees have been asking to raise minimum pay to Rs 26,000 and fitment factor 3.68 times from 2.57 times. In January, the government notified about 200 per cent salary hike for the judges of Supreme Court and 24 high courts. The increment comes in accordance with recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for officers of all-India services. The Gazette notification issued on January 27 raises the salary of Chief Justice of India from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.8 lakh.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 05, 2018 01:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).