7th Pay Commission: Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said the 7th pay commission had been told to submit its recommendations in November.
7th Pay Commission: After the Centre and other states announced a 4% DA hike for the government employees, the Karnataka government is planning to implement 7th Pay Commission for the state employees from November 2023.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said the 7th Pay Commission, constituted in November 2022, was expected to submit its recommendations by next month and that the state government will take necessary decision on its implementation.
Pay Panel to Submit Report in November
Parameshwara also added that the 7th pay commission had been told to submit its recommendations in November. He also stated that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has already assured of taking a decision on the implementation of the pay commission report.
Home Minister Gives Assurance
“Government employees need not worry. It will be implemented,” Parameshwara said. In the meantime, state government employees association president C S Shadakshari urged the minister to implement the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission at the earliest. The association also urged the state government to increase the dearness allowance by 23 per cent.
Saying that the state is committed to scrap the new pension scheme (NPS) and implement the old pension scheme (OPS) as promised, he said a committee has been constituted on the same and based on the report, the state government will take necessary decision.
Talking about medical treatment in the state, the minister said the state government will soon launch the Karnataka Arogya Sanjeevini scheme to provide free medical treatment for the state government employees and their families.
“The state government will fill 2.5 lakh vacant government posts in the next five years,” the minister said.
DA Hiked by 4% For Central Govt Employees
On October 18, the Central government announced the hike in the dearness allowance for its employees by 4 percentage points to 46 per cent of the basic salary and pay 78 days of salaries as bonus for non-gazetted railway staff.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur said the increase in dearness allowance and dearness relief will benefit 48.67 lakh central government employees and 67.95 lakh pensioners, respectively.
He added that the release of the additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) will be applicable from July 1, 2023.
Why DA, DR Are Given to Employees?
DA and DR are given twice a year to compensate employees and pensioners, respectively, for price rise. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be Rs 12,857 crore per annum.
In March this year and September last year also, the increase in DA and DR was 4 percentage points. The DA and DR hikes are applicable from January 1 and July 1.