7th Pay Commission news: Central government employees are likely to receive a good news after Holi as Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is expected to revise the fitment factor in March. It is expected that the minimum salary would rise to Rs 26,000 from Rs 18,000 for central government employees after the increase in fitment factor.
Some reports claimed that the Centre is planning to revise the fitment factor and dearness allowance (DA) after Holi (March 8). The current common fitment factor is at 2.57 per cent. It means that if you are getting a basic pay of Rs 15,500 in 4200 Grade Pay, your total pay will be Rs 15,500×2.57 or Rs 39,835. The fitment ratio was recommended at 1.86 by 6th CPC.
The Central government employees are now demanding that the fitment factor should be raised to 3.68. If this happens then the minimum wage will increase from Rs 18,000 currently to Rs 26,000.
Earlier, it was reported that the under the 7th Pay Commission the Central government employees would receive a hike in their dearness allowance (DA) in March 2023, effective January 1, 2023. The Centre is also planning to increase dearness relief (DR) for pensioners. Some reports claimed that the Central government employees would also get the 18-month DA arrears.
It is to be noted that the DA and DR are revised twice a year, effective January 1 and July 1. The last hike was announced in September 2022 and it raised the DA by 4 per cent to 38 per cent.
In January, the house rent allowance (HRA) rules were updated by the finance ministry and the ministry had said that the Central government employees will not be entitled to HRA in cases where:
 (i) He/ she shares government accommodation allotted to another government servant; or
(ii) He/she resides in accommodation allotted to his/her parents/ son/ daughter by the central government, state government, an autonomous public undertaking or semi-government organisation such as a municipality, port trust, nationalised banks, Life Insurance Corporation of India, etc; or
(iii) His/ her spouse has been allotted accommodation at the same station by the central government/ state government/ autonomous public undertaking/ semi-government organisation such as municipality, port trust, etc., whether he/she resides in that accommodation or he/she resides separately in accommodation rented by him/her.
