The committee, tasked with reviewing the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, was given four months to submit its report. Later, the deadline was extended to February 22, 2017.

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The Central government employees’ wait for allowances is likely to get longer as the Committee on Allowances has not yet submitted its report to the government.

In a written reply to a question on Seventh Pay Commission in Lok Sabha on March 10, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said the Committee, under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa, is yet to submit its report. The minister said that the deliberations of the committee are in the final stages.

The Committee on Allowances was formed in July 2016 following protests by government employees over recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission on allowances.

 The committee, tasked with reviewing the recommendations, was given four months’ time to submit its report. Later, the deadline was extended to February 22, 2017.
HERE IS ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE COMMITTEE ON ALLOWANCES:
  1. The Seventh Pay Commission recommended axing 53 of the 196 allowances for government employees and merging some others. Employees–already disgruntled with the lowest hike in basic pay in 70 years at 14.27 per cent–protested against the recommendations.
  2. In July, the Narendra Modi government constituted a committee under Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa to review the recommendations. The committee was given four months’ time to submit the report to Finance Ministry. In October, Ashok Lavasa was quoted by some agencies as saying that he was ready with the report.
  3. Later, the government extended the deadline for report submission to February 22, 2017. Now, going by Minister of State for Finance’s reply, it seems government employees will have to wait longer before they can hear some news on hike in allowances.
  4. According to some reports, the Ashok Lavasa committee has decided against reducing the house rent allowance (HRA) for government employees. The Seventh Pay Commission suggested bringing down the HRA to 24 per cent, 16 per cent and 8 per cent respectively depending on type of cities.
  5. If reports are to be believed, the Committee on Allowances has suggested that the HRA be kept as it was under the Sixth Pay Commission–at 10 per cent, 20 per cent, and 30 per cent respectively.
  6. The transport allowance is likely to remain constant as certain reports said the Committee on Allowances agreed with Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendation, which had already factored in the Dearness Allowance at 125 per cent assuming the date of implementation to be January 1 next year.

Source:- India Today