7th Pay Commission latest news: The house rent allowance (HRA) rules for central government employees has been updated by the Department of Expenditure, under the finance ministry. As per the new update, the central government employees will not be entitled to HRA in some cases.
As per the HRA rules, HRA is admissible with reference to the ‘place of duty’ of the government employees.
Specific cases when a govt employee will not receive HRA:
(i) He/ she shares accommodation provided by government to another government servant; or
(ii) He/she resides in accommodation allotted to his/her parents/ son/ daughter by the central government, state government, an autonomous public undertaking or semi-government organisation such as a municipality, port trust, nationalised banks, Life Insurance Corporation of India, etc; or
(iii) The central government employees has been allotted accommodation at the same station by the central government/ state government/ autonomous public undertaking/ semi-government organisation, whether he/she resides in that accommodation or he/she resides separately in accommodation rented by him/her.
As per the rules, “Government servants other than a government servant who is living in a house owned by him shall be eligible for HRA even if they share government accommodation allotted to other government servants…subject to the condition that they pay rent or contribute towards rent or house or property tax but without reference to the amount actually paid or contributed."
HRA Categories
HRA is meant for salaried individuals who live in rented houses. It is divided in three categories — X, Y and Z.
(i) ‘X’ is for areas with a population of 50 lakh and above. As per 7th Pay Commission recommendations, HRA is given at 24 per cent.
(ii) ‘Y’ is for regions with population between 5 lakh and 50 lakh. It is given at 16 per cent.
(iii) ‘Z’ is given where the population is below 5 lakh. It is given at 8 per cent.
