8th Pay Commission : The central government issued a notification for the Eighth Central Pay Commission earlier this month. The government also formed a three-member panel, headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi Desai (Ranjana Prakash Desai).
After a long wait of nearly 10 months, the government has finally released the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the 8th Pay Commission, based on which the panel will prepare the salary and pension structure for the country’s more than 10 million central employees and pensioners.
Employee unions termed the ToR as one-sided.
As soon as the notification was issued, several employee unions have raised objections to the ToR. First, the All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF) wrote to the government alleging omissions and inconsistencies in the ToR on several key points. Now, another major union, the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers (CCGEW), has also reiterated the same concerns. The CCGEW represents around 8 lakh central employees, including those from departments like Post, Income Tax, Audit, Survey, CGHS, CPWD, Census, BSI, GSI, ISRO, etc.
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Important demands raised in a letter to the Prime Minister
The CCGEW has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that certain key aspects of the ToR need to be amended to protect the interests of employees and pensioners. The union stated clearly, “We demand necessary amendments to the Terms of Reference of the 8th Pay Commission.”
Serious questions on pension related issues
The union says that no clear direction has been given in the ToR on the issues of 69 lakh pensioners and family pensioners.
The main points sought in the letter-
– Pension and other pensionary benefits under various pension schemes should be revised.
– The words “unpaid cost of non-contributory pension schemes” should be removed from the ToR.
– There is no clear policy in the ToR on pension revision, pension parity, restoration of commutation etc. for around 69 lakh pensioners of Old Pension Scheme (OPS), Unified Pension Scheme and NPS.
The union said this position was extremely vague and could adversely impact the interests of pensioners.
Demand for a comprehensive review
The Confederation also demanded that the 8th Pay Commission make concrete recommendations on the following points:
– Restoration of commuted pension amount after 11 years, as suggested by several committees.
– Additional pension to be given to higher age group pensioners every 5 years (as per the recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee).
– Better health services should be ensured for pensioners.
– Complete review and improvement of CGEGIS (Central Government Employees Insurance Scheme).
The absence of an ‘effective date’ is the focal point.
Earlier, in a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, AIDEF had pointed out a major shortcoming in the ToR: there was no mention of when the 8th Pay Commission’s recommendations would be implemented. It should be noted that the 7th Pay Commission’s ToR clearly stated that the recommendations would be implemented on January 1, 2016. However, this crucial point is completely missing from the 8th Pay Commission’s ToR, causing dissatisfaction among employees.
Objection to ToR regarding 69 lakh pensioners
AIDEF claimed that the current ToR ignores the interests of 6.9 million pensioners, as it does not provide any clear provisions on pension revision or pension parity. The federation termed this as “unfortunate and unfair.”
