7th Pay Commission: Why central government employees are still denied fitment factor, pay hike

7th Pay Commission latest news today: For lakhs of Central Government Employees across the country, the wait for a hike in fitment factor and pay revision beyond the 7th Pay Commission recommendation has become longer than expected. That too, when the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is believed to have already agreed on the proposal for fitment factor and pay scale revision. 

Recently, finance ministry sources told Zeebiz.com that the Central government has already finalised the fitment factor and pay hike plan. The hike is expected to be in line with the demand of central government employees. However, the government is yet to make a formal announcement. This may be baffling to scores of these employees waiting for the good news. 

As things stand now, the central government employees may not get pay and fitment factor hike news this year. And there is a reason for this: Assembly elections are to be held in three states in the next two months. The government is bound not to make any announcement that may be seen as a bid to attract voters when the Model Code of Conduct is in force. Any such attempt would not just stir a political controversy but also invite the censure of the Election Commission. 

However, the central government employees can expect good news early next year. Sources claim the announcement may be made on January 26 next year. The Lok Sabha elections are likely to be held in May 2019. 

Around 48.41 lakh central government employees and 62.03 lakh pensioners expecting fitment factor and salary hike announcement from the government. 

As per the 7th Pay Commission recommendation, the central government employees got their pay hike as per the fitment factor of 2.57 times. This made Rs 18,000 as their minimum salary. The employees want the fitment factor to be raised to 3.68 times. This will raise the minimum salary to Rs 26,000. 

Recently, the Centre hiked the General Provident Fund interest rates and related funds to 8 per cent for the October-December quarter from 7.6 per cent in the July-September quarter. The hike means, the central government employees will now higher interest on their deposits in the GPF.