Karnataka Sixth Pay Commission recommends 30 per cent salary hike for govt employees

The Karnataka government on Wednesday recommended 30 per cent salary hike to the government employees and pensioners in its Sixth Pay Commission.

The move will benefit around 5.2 lakh government employees, about 5.3 lakh pensioners, and about 73,000 employees of government-aided educational institutions, local bodies and non-teaching staff of colleges and universities in the state.

The pay commission has recommended that the revision pay for the pensioners would affect those from July 1 2017 with the resulting financial benefits to be paid from April 1 2018.

The commission said if this is implemented, the allowances and pension is to cost the state government an estimated Rs 10,508 crore annually.

The commission, which is headed by retired IAS officer M.R Srinivas Murthy, submitted the first volume of their report to the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday. As per the revised scales, the minimum pay will be Rs 17,000 and the maximum will be Rs 1,50,600, including allowances.

After the revision, the minimum pay will go up to Rs 8,500 with the maximum pension fixed at Rs 75,300 per month, including the dearness allowance. The pension for the family will become Rs 45,180 per month with dearness allowance.

The report by the commission said that the revised salaries and pensions will increase the basic pay of each employee as on July 1 2017 by 30 per cent, while if the dearness allowance is added, the pay will go up by 42.25 per cent.

The maximum age for retiring is retained at 60 years but the minimum age for voluntary retirement will be reduced to 10 years, from the present 15 years, agreed the pay commission. The eligibility to receive the full pension will be reduced to 30 years, presently from 33 years.

The existing rates of house rent allowance, which is 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 10 per cent, will be revised to 24 per cent, 16 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.

The maximum limit of death-cum-retirement gratuity is proposed to be increased to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 10 lakh at present. Recommendation of additional pension to those above 80 years has also been proposed by the commission.

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Medical reimbursement benefit to retired employees and cashless treatment for family pensioners in listed hospitals has also been penned down in the commission’s recommendations.

Substantial increase in various allowances and subsidies in vehicles for differently-abled employees has also been recommended by the commission.

However, these recommendations will not be applicable to All India Services and judicial officers gaining NJPC pay scale and teaching staff getting UGC/AICTE pay scales.

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah said, “We have three months to think of the second volume of the report. We will come back to power after three months and it is only we who will implement the second set of recommendations.”

The recommendations put forward by the commission will be discussed in the next cabinet meeting, Siddaramaiah said.