7th pay commission: Good news for central government employees

7th pay commission: In what could be called as good news for central government employees, the Modi government has extended benefits of LTC scheme. The Department of Personnel and Training had announced said that the scheme will now allow government staff to travel by air to the North East Region, Jammu and Kashmir and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It further said that the scheme has been extended for a further period of 2 years with effect from September 26, 2018 to September 25, 2020.

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The employees get reimbursement of tickets for to and fro journey, besides paid leaves, when they avail LTC allowance. They are also allowed to travel in any private airline to these places, the order issued by the Personnel Ministry said.

The Centre had in September 2014 relaxed the LTC rules to allow government staff to travel by air to Northeast region, Jammu and Kashmir and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The relaxation is being extended time to time. It was last extended for two years in 2016. The scheme allowing government servants to travel by air to Northeast region, J-K and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is extended for a further period of two years, till September 25, 2018, the ministry said.

The facility of air journey to non-entitled government staff is also extended for the same period. There are about 48.41 lakh central government employees. The Personnel Ministry has also warned employees against misuse of LTC rules. “Efforts should be made by the government servants to book the air tickets at the cheapest fare possible. All the ministries or departments are advised to bring it to the notice of all their employees that any misuse of LTC will be viewed seriously and the employees will be liable for appropriate action under the rules,” it said.

In order to keep a check on any kind of misuse of LTC, all departments are advised to randomly get some air tickets, submitted by the officials, verified from the airlines concerned with regard to the actual cost of air travel vis-a-vis the cost indicated on the air tickets submitted by the officials, said the Personnel Ministry’s order, issued to secretaries of all central government departments.

Meanwhile, following the Modi government footsteps, many state governments have also implemented the seventh pay matrix so that their respective staff could also enjoy the benefits. 

Now, bringing good news to its employees, Madhya Pradesh government has decided to implemet the 7th pay commission. The 7th CPC in Madhya Pradesh will be implemented from January 1, 2016. Due to which, the state employees will get an increased salary for 32 months. Madhya Pradesh's Public Relation Minister Narottam Mishra has announced it on September 7 that the proffesors of every state-funded college in Madhya Pradesh will get the pay hike. 

The entire amount of arrears will be transferred to employees GPF account. Earlier, on September 5 Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath approved the implementation of the seventh pay scale. The decision was taken in the light of revision of pay scales of Central Government employees on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.

According to an official spokesman, the government will bear financial burden of Rs 921.54 crore for this hike and the state will bear 50 per cent of the burden. The new pay scale to the state and related cadre teachers will come into force from January 1, 2016.

It will cover 18 state varsities, which also includes one law university, one deemed and an open university. The spokesman said the registrar, financial officer, controller of examination, pro VC and VC will not be covered under this.