Govt okays pay hike for quasi-govt body staff

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 17

Employees working in over 430 semi government organisations under various central ministries and departments are expected to get the benefit of a pay revision similar to that received by regular employees following the implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission. Agreeing to the pay hike, the Ministry of Finance has, however, imposed some riders.

Orders issued by the Department of Expenditure on January 13 state that the revised pay scales as per the pay matrix as well the principle of pay fixation contained in Part-A of the Central Civil Services Rules notified on July 25, 2016, in respect of Centre Government employees will be extended to employees of quasi-government, autonomous and statutory bodies set up and funded or controlled by the Centre Government.

Employees working in such organisations, which add up to several lakh individuals in 33 different ministries, are not considered Centre Government employees and, therefore, benefits for central government employees are not directly applicable to such staff.

Since autonomous bodies are expected to be financially self-sufficient to manage their affairs in a manner that their dependence on the Centre Government for financial support is minimal, benefits applicable to them, including sharing of additional financial implications arising thereof, require specific approval of the Centre Government.

The orders also stipulate that the pay revision can be done only where the conditions of service of such employees are exactly similar to those of Centre Government employees. The revised pay structure shall be admissible only to those employees who opt for the same in accordance with extant rules and the deductions on account of provident fund and other mandatory schemes will be made on the basis of revised pay with effect from the date that the employee opts for the revised scales.

Pay scales contained in Part-B and Part-C of the CCS Rules shall not be automatically applicable to employees of autonomous bodies and the ministry concerned will have to consider whether these pay scales are justified for the staff based on functional considerations.