8th pay commission: The government has deferred decision on pay upgrade after promotion as demanded by the National Council – Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) under the Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme to the 8th pay commission, the Financial Express reported.
Citing the minutes of the 49th meeting earlier this month, the report said a long pending demand for salary fixation after MACP is being officially handed off to the 8th pay commission.
Pay demands: What is the issue?
According to the report, unions have demanded clarity on fresh pay fixation for workers who receive financial upgrade under and are later promoted to a role with higher duties and responsibilities through the regular appraisal cycle.
Under usual circumstances, central government employees see their rise with a promotion as per the Fundamental Rule (FR) 22(1)(a)(1) which provides pay fixation advantage, as per the report. However, the bone of contention is that this policy is at present not extended to employees who have already received financial upgradation under the MACP Scheme, when they are promoted.
The argument is that promotion promises higher pay for higher responsibilities in a job, while MACP is meant to address career stagnation and denying one benefit for the other discourages employees from accepting higher posts, it added.
Unions noted that the gap has become more pronounced following implementation of the 7th CPC recommendations, as MACP beneficiaries did get some pay increase on promotions under 6th CPC, the report said. They said that replacing the Grade Pay system with the has affected financial benefits for many employee levels. This is because employees who receive MACP continue to remain at the same position on the Pay Matrix chart even with a promotion, which disqualifies them for a salary hike.
What steps has the Centre taken so far?
As per the report, the government has applied a two-pronged approach — first being case-by-case examination of exceptional hardship by the Chairperson indicated that the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). The second being change in policy to consider demand for automatic on promotion, regardless of MACP scheme benefit.
Thus, till such time that an official recommendation is made by the 8th CPC, there will be no immediate long-term policy related changes on the issue.
About the 8th pay commission
Pay commissions are constituted every 10 years to recommend revisions based on which the pay hikes, dearness allowance, , salary structure, and other benefits of central government and public sector employees and retired pensioners is updated.
The 8th pay commission, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year, is expected to make it final recommendations by mid-2027 for over 1 crore beneficiaries, comprising around 50 lakh central government employees and about 65 lakh , including defence and railways personnel and retirees.
Chaired by former Supreme Court Justice and comprising Professor Pulak Ghosh, tenured Professor of Finance, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, as a Member of the Commission and Pankaj Jain, former IAS, as Member-Secretary as members, the panel closed submission of suggestions on 15 June. It is seeking online submission of data till 30 June.
The panel has conducted multiple state visit with employee representative groups, unions and stakeholders in April, May, June and July, with plans for more meetings across states and union territories (UTs) in due course. As per the usual timeline, the commission is expected to announce its final recommendations within 18 months from formation, with most reports pegging the earliest announcements in Februray or April next year.
Notably, even once the commission’s recommendations are made, rollout takes at least another two to three years. This means that hikes announced in 2027 may be fully implemented by 2029 or 2030.