Central Government employees unions ‘defer’ indefinite strike on 7th pay commission

New Delhi: Central government employees' unions today deferred by four months their proposed indefinite strike from July 11 against 7th pay panel's recommendations after government agreed to set up a high-level committee to look into their grievances.

"We have decided to defer our indefinite strike by four months against pay commission's recommendations as government today assured us it would resolve the issues raised by us and refer them to a high-level committee," the convenor NJCA Shiv Gopal Mishra told PTI.

"We have decided to defer our indefinite strike by four months against pay commission's recommendations as government today assured us it would resolve the issues raised by us and refer them to a high-level committee," the convenor of National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) of central government employees' unions Shiv Gopal Mishra told PTI.

The government decided to set up a high-level committee after the representatives of the unions met Home Minister Rajnath Singh earlier in the day.

The committee will look into issues raised by various unions of central government employees involving pay scales and other recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.

The NJCA is an umbrella organisation of various Central Government employees' unions, including Railways, post and telegraph and defence.

Mishra said, "We have been assured by the government that it will resolve the issues shortly. In view of the assurance, we have decided to defer the strike for four months."

"A new high-level committee will soon be set up to look into the grievances raised by the employee unions," a top government official told PTI.

Expressing dissatisfaction over various recommendations of the Pay Commission, various central government employees' unions had threatened to go on an indeifinite strike from July 11.

PTI

Cabinet clears pay hike for 1 Cr government employees, pensioners

New Delhi: In a bonanza for over 1 crore government employees and pensioners, the Cabinet today approved implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, which had recommended an overall hike of 23.5 per cent.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

"Congratulations to central government officers, employees & pensioners on a historic rise in their salary & allowances through the 7th CPC (Central Pay Commission)," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tweeted shortly after the meeting of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It wasn't however know immediately if the Cabinet had bettered the hike recommended in salary and allowances of nearly 50 lakh government employees and 58 lakh pensioners.

An official said the Cabinet has approved implementation of the recommendations from January 1, 2016.

The pay panel had in November last year recommended 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay at junior levels, the lowest in 70 years. The previous 6th Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.

After considering the increase proposed in allowances, the hike in remunerations comes to 23.55 per cent.

The 23.55 per cent overall hike in salaries, allowances and pension would entail an additional burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore or nearly 0.7 per cent of the GDP, to the exchequer.

The entry level pay has been recommended to be raised to Rs 18,000 per month from current Rs 7,000 while the maximum pay, drawn by the Cabinet Secretary, has been fixed at Rs 2.5 lakh per month from current Rs 90,000.

The secretaries' panel may have recommended raising minimum entry level pay at Rs 23,500 a month and maximum salary of Rs 3.25 lakh.

While the Budget for 2016-17 fiscal did not provide an explicit provision for implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, the government had said the once-in-a-decade pay hike for government employees has been built in as interim allocation for different ministries.

Around Rs 70,000 crore has been provisioned for it, the official said.

PTI

Publicise all govt vacancies: Centre tells ministries

New Delhi: All central government vacancies must be publicised countrywide through local employment exchanges and 'Employment News' newspaper among others, the Centre said today.

DoPT Secretary Sanjay Kothari

The decision assumes significance as over two lakh posts are estimated to be created by the central government in its various departments by 2017.

Citing the instructions it had issue earlier, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said all vacancies to be filled on regular basis, except those which fall within the purview of Union Public Service Commission and Staff Selection Commission, are to be notified in the local employment exchange or central employment exchange.

"In addition to the reporting of the vacancies to the local employment exchange or central employment exchange, it has been stipulated that the vacancies should be given wide publicity on an all India basis," it said.

In this regard, it was advised that the advertisement should be placed in the Employment News or 'Rozgar Samachar' published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Such recruitment notices are also to be displayed on the office notice board.

It has been decided that an advertisement of vacancies may also be put at the National Career Service (NCS) portal of Ministry of Labour and Employment, which has been developed primarily to connect the opportunities with the aspiration of the youth, DoPT said in an order issued to all the secretaries of the central government's ministries.

The central government has projected in the budget estimates for 2016-17 an increase of about 2.18 lakh in the existing workforce of 33.05 lakh (as in 2015) by 2017.

The Centre has been striving to create more jobs in the country. It had recently decided that all proposals seeking approval of appraisal bodies like Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and Core Group on Disinvestment need to mandatorily mention "employment generation potential".

PTI