Bhubaneswar: The implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations for the State Government employees was approved formally by the State Cabinet on Tuesday.
A meeting of the State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik approved the recommendations regarding salary hike following which the revised salary structure for various groups of employees will be in 17 different levels starting from level 1 with minimum pay of Rs 16,600.
"Pay and pension are to be fixed in the revised structure by multiplying a factor of 2.57," said Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi after the meeting.
He further informed that the prevailing career advancement scheme, Revised Assured Career Progression (RACP) scheme, was substituted by Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme in line with the Central Government rules.
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While the earlier gratuity was calculated on the basic pay only, dearness allowance will be included with emoluments for calculation of Death cum Retirement Gratuity (DCRG).
As per the revised rate the existing ceiling of Rs 7.5 lakh gratuity is enhanced to Rs 15 lakh and the minimum pension or family pension is calculated as Rs 8,300.
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Contractual employees under the State Government were also benefited from the Cabinet meeting as Odisha Government decided to enhance the remuneration of the contractual employees by about 25 per cent.
In a bid to enhance the remuneration of the contractual employees the Cabinet approved amendment of the Odisha Group-B Posts (contractual Appointment) Rules, 2013 and Odisha Group-C and Group-D Posts (Contractual appointment) Rule, 2013.
Talking to media persons, Padhi said, "The monthly consolidated remuneration of contractual employees will be increased by about 25 per cent at their initial appointment and 10 per cent increase every year till their regularisation as per rules."
The revised remuneration will come into effect from January, 2016. Annual increase in remuneration will be payable after a year from the next date an employee completes one year of continuous service, subject to satisfactory performance.
The increased remuneration will be paid from the month of September, 2017. While the minimum remuneration for the lowest category of contractual employee will be Rs 8,070 at the time of joining, the highest initial amount is fixed at Rs 16,880.
Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey informed that the contractual employees will also avail the arrears like the regular employees.
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After implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations the annual additional expenditure for the State would be about Rs 4500 crore.
However, some believe that the government will not face any financial issues with the implementation of the pay panel’s recommendations as it is supposed to get Rs 1500 crore, annually, from IOCL and Rs 17,000 crore as penalty from the illegal mining leaseholders in the State.