7th Pay Commission news: More perks for Central government employees before DA hike - Details inside

7th Pay Commission news: Even as lakhs of Central employees are waiting for their Dearness Allowance (DA)  and are hopeful that July will bring good tidings for them, the central employees of Navodaya Vidyalaya School (NVS) have already got an early treat. The government has announced that NVS employees will get increased medical reimbursement, along with DA.

In the circular issued by the Ministry of Education, the limit of the medical claim of NVS principals has been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000. This allowance will be available when the employees get treatment in any government hospital or any hospital owned by the central government. 

Their entire family will also get the benefit of this. According to the circular, the existing limit of Rs 5,000 for NVS principal has now been increased to Rs 25,000, if treated in a government or CGHS recognised hospital. 

The employee can take advantage of the increased medical reimbursement for himself or his family. However, their name should be there on the CGHS card. The rest of the conditions related to allowance will remain the same.  

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre also decided to extend the time limit for submission of claims for Travelling Allowance (TA) on retirement from 60 days to 180 days following the date of completion of the travel. The Centre, however, announced that the time limit for submission of TA claim on tour, transfer and training will remain 60 days. The announcement was made by the Department of Expenditure at the Ministry of Finance.

It is to be noted that TA, DA, and other allowances are given to Central Government employees as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. 

Earlier, the Department of Expenditure had said in a letter on March 13, 2018 had changed the time limit for submission of claims for TA on Tour/Transfer/Training/ Journey on retirement to 60 days from one year.

However, the department decide to bring changes in time limit after it received several requests from different government departments regarding the extension of time-limit for submission of TA claims against journeys performed by retired employees and their families for going to home town/place of settlement after retirement as retired Central government employees often face trouble in claiming reimbursement of TA on retirement within a period of sixty days of completion of their journey.

The new notification issued by the department of expenditure said that it has considered the matter and it has been decided that the time limit for submission of claims for TA on Retirement is modified from 60 days to 180 days (six months), succeeding the date of completion of the journey.

The notification also mentioned that the new orders for claiming TA on retirement will be effective from the date of issue of the order that is June 15, 2021.

On June 26, a meeting of the officials of the National Council of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the Ministry of Finance will be held. It is expected that the decision will be taken in this meeting. 

The agenda of the meeting is to pay DA dues to the 7th Pay Commission to the central employees and DR to the pensioners. The Central Government has lifted the ban on giving Dearness Allowance (DA) to its staff with effect from July 1, 2021. Now just waiting for the decisions to be taken in the meeting. From this, it will be known how long the DA will be paid. 

S0, when the money of three DA installments will come in their account simultaneously, this will be inclusive with the DA surge to 28 per cent. Currently, 17 per cent is being paid.