Confederation – Request for Constitution of 8th CPC for Central Government employees and pensioners

CONFEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVT. EMPLOYEES & WORKERS
1st Floor, North Avenue PO Building, New Delhi – 110001

Ref: Confed./2024/8th CPC/

Dated – 11.12.2024

To,

The Hon’ble Prime Minister,
Office of Prime Minister,
South Block Raisina Hill,
New Delhi -110011

Sub: Request for Constitution of 8th Central Pay commission for Central Government employees and pensioners – regarding.

Respected Sir,

The Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, represents about 7 lakhs Central Government employees working in various Central Government Departments like Postal, Income tax, AG’s, Audit Departments, Survey Departments, Census, GSI, CPWD, CGHS etc. numbering about 130 Associations & Federations which are affiliates of Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers.

The Central Government employees’ wages were last revised w.e.f. 01.01.2016, as on 01.07.2024, the percentage of DA entitlement crossed over 53%. During the past nine years the erosion of the real value of wages has become enormous especially after the Pandemic COVID-19. The depreciation of money value has come down very much.

The pay structure of the Central Government employees should be sound enough to attract the best talent of our Country, it should be revised every five years. The best talented employees would be instrumental in providing good leadership and good governance.

The Government of India is a model employer and it should take care of its employees to provide a comfortable living so that they work more effectively for implementation of the programmes and policies of the Central Government. The wage revision of Central Government employees is due from 01.01.2026, as it is in practice after every ten years.

The earlier Central Pay Commissions have all along been taking about 2 years for submitting their reports and another six months or more Government to consider it and to implement the same. A detailed note is enclosed along with the letter for perusal and necessary positive actions.

Hence, the Confederation requests that it is high time that the 8th  Central Pay Commission is constituted without any further delay, necessitated due to higher inflation levels and depreciation in money value, so that the Central Government employees and pensioners could lead a decent life and work more effectively to implement the programmes and policies of the Central Government, so that its benefits reaches the common man.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-
(S. B. Yadav)
Secretary General

CONFEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVT. EMPLOYEES & WORKERS
1st Floor, North Avenue PO Building, New Delhi – 110001

Detailed Note:

The Central Government employees are the backbone of the Government, as they implement the programmes and policies of the Central Government and ensure that the benefits of it reaches the common man at the last mile of the country.

The Government of India is a model employer and it should take care of its employees to provide a comfortable living so that they work more effectively to implement the programmes and policies of the Central Government.

The Central Government wages were last revised as on 1/1/2016. After the pandemic situation (COVID) the prices of essential commodities and also the non-essential commodities have increased manifold including manufacturing industries, construction, health, service sector etc. The higher interest rates are also adversely affecting employees/Pensioners, the inflation is in the range of 4 % to 7% on an average is about 5.5 %. Due to higher inflation rates the real money value has gone down considerably in the past 9 years especially after the covid situation.

The Central Government employees should have a decent standard of living for which a decent living wage should be provided. As on 1.7.2024, the percentage of DA entitlement crossed over 53%. During the past 9 years the erosion of the value of wages has become enormous.

The residency period of any wage structure must not exceed 5 years, especially in the background that the pay revision in most of the PSUs takes place at the interval of 5 years. Similarly, the Bank employees wage revision takes place every 5 years.

Per capita Monthly Household Consumption Expenditure has more than doubled during 2011-12 to 2022-23, the data was published by NSSO, a government Department. This shows our expenditure has also doubled due to high inflation, but our wages have not increased accordingly, since last decade.

The Indian economy is steadily improving. The Indian economy, according to IMF estimates, will emerge as the world’s third largest economy by 2027, hopping over Japan and Germany, as its GDP crosses USSS trillion dollars. Hence the Central Government has good paying capacity.

The profit and loss of the Central Government departments should not be taken into account as the social responsibility of the Union Government is to provide social services like defence, posts, roads, railways, water, food, health, survey departments etc.

7th Central Pay commission recommendations:

To keep the salary structure of the employees viable, it has become necessary to improve the pay structure of their employees so that better, more competent and talented people could be attracted to governance.

The framework should be linked with the need to attract the most suitable talented candidate to the government service and promote efficiency, accountability and responsibility in the work culture.

The key expectation of employees at all levels is that there should be a significant increase in their pay and improvement in other facilities.

The pay structure should also need to address any significant deterioration in real value of emoluments as a consequence of inflation. One should get proper and adequate compensation for his merit. The increase in pay structure cannot keep pace with the market forces, at the same time it should not be so unattractive that talent is not attracted to government service.

7th CPC para number 1.29: As we have mentioned above, government service is not a contract. It is a status. The employees expect fair treatment from the government. The States should play a role model for the services. In this connection, it will be useful to quote the observations in the case of Bhupendra Nath Hazarika and another vs. State of Assam and others (reported in 2013(2) Sec 516) wherein the Apex Court has observed as follows: “……… It should always be borne in mind that legitimate aspirations of the employees are not guillotined and a situation is not created where hopes end in despair. Hope for everyone is gloriously precious and that a model employer should not convert it to be deceitful and treacherous by playing a game of chess with their seniority.

A sense of calm sensibility and concerned sincerity should be reflected in every step. An atmosphere of trust has to prevail and when the employees are absolutely sure that their trust shall not be betrayed and they shall be treated with dignified fairness then only the concept of good governance can be concretized. We say no more. The pay scales of Central Government employees should be revised every five years as done in banking services, the inflation levels are rising and the ten years present revision is not favourable for employees and pensioners.

(S. B. Yadav)
Secretary General