7th Pay Commission Latest Update On Salary Hike: Crucial Meeting For Arrears To Central Govt Employees, Pensioners!

Amid all the speculations of a salary hike, one thing that is almost certain is - from July 1, lakhs of central government employees and pensioners will start receiving benefits of the enhanced Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) approved under the 7th Pay Commission.

The Central government had announced that the stalled Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief would be restored from next month. However, a clear picture regarding arrears is yet to emerge as the central government employees have been waiting for the government's response. Most likely, they will get a better clarity on arrears on Saturday (June 26). What is so important about June 26? The central government employees have not received their DA for more than a year, as it was frozen by the government in view of the pandemic situation.

While DA restoration is all set to be implemented, a meeting regarding the pending dearness allowance arrears for central government employees is scheduled for June 26. The meeting will be held between the Finance Ministry, National Council of Joint Consultative Machinery (JCM), and the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT). It is being said that a final decision with regard to DA arrears would be taken in this meeting. Saturday's crucial meeting will probably decide how much hike the central government employees would get in their salary and whether they will be compensated for their pending Dearness Allowance.

As per reports, the government employees and pensioners have been demanding arrears for DA and DR due from January and July 2020, and January 1, 2021. Currently, the DA is 17%, which is expected to spike by another 11 per cent, courtesy the three pending instalments of DA. In another good news, the central government has reportedly increased the time-limit for submission of Travelling Allowance (TA) claims on retirement to 180 days. The time period was 60 days earlier and the new order has come into effect from June 15.

However, there has been no change in the time limit for submission of Travelling Allowance claims of training, transfer and tour, and it will continue to be 60 days as earlier.