Demand of Central Government Employees to increase the Fitment Factor recommended by 7th CPC
The demand to increase the 2.57 Fitment Factor along with the hike of
14.29 percent is growing among the Central Government Employees
The 900-page long report of the 7th Pay Commission was submitted to
the government on November 19. One of the most important recommendation
on the report is the Fitment Factor. It is the most important factor
deciding the hike of salaries of the Central Government employees.
Fitment Factor is used to calculate the revised basic pay of existing
employees with effect from the implementation of 7th CPC. The new
revised basic pay of a Central Government employee is calculated by
multiplying his/her current (Pre-revised) basic pay with the Fitment
Factor.
The 7th Pay Commission has recommended a uniform Fitment Factor of
2.57 for all. The actual raise/fitment recommended by the Commission is
14.29 percent only. The report says that the fitment includes a factor
of 2.25 on account of DA neutralisation, assuming that the rate of D.A.
would be 125 percent at the time of implementation of the new pay.
The 7th Pay Commission has evolved a new pay fitment table by merging
the existing Grade Pay and Pay Bands for all group of Central
Government employees, which is called as Pay Matrix Table. The Pay
Matrix comprises two dimensions. It has a “horizontal range” in which
each level corresponds to a ‘functional role in the hierarchy’ and has
been assigned the numbers 1, 2, 3, and so on till 18. The “vertical
range” for each level denotes ‘pay progression’ within that level. These
indicate the steps of annual financial progression of three percent
within each level. The starting point of the matrix is the minimum pay
which has been arrived based on 15th Indian Labour Congress (ILC) norms
or the Aykroyd formula.
On recruitment, an employee joins at a particular level and
progresses within the level as per the vertical range. The movement is
usually on an annual basis, based on annual increments till the time of
their next promotion. When the employee receives a promotion or a
non-functional financial upgrade, he/she progresses one level ahead on
the horizontal range.
The Pay Matrix chart has included a number of Fitment Factors. 6
types of Fitment Factor, including 2.57, 2.62, 2.67, 2.72, 2.78, and
2.81, have been listed. Under the heading of ‘Index,’ all the Central
Government employees have been divided into 18 categories. Since
different Fitment Factors have been used for all these categories, it
leads one to believe that the new factor will apply for the existing
employees too.
Criticism has come from all the circles over the addition of a mere
14.29%, leading to 2.57, while the employees were currently drawing a
dearness allowance of 125% of their basic pay. The minimum wages have
been decided on this criterion alone (the 6th Pay Commission had fixed
the minimum wages as Rs.7000. The 7th CPC minimum wages of 18,000 has
been arrived at by multiplying the previous number by 2.57).
One might remember that similar requests were presented at the time
of the 6th Pay Commission too. The commission had recommended the
Fitment Factor of 1.74, but, due to constant pressure from the NC JCM
Staff Side members, it was increased to 1.86. The demand to increase the
2.57 Fitment Factor along with the 14.29 percent hike is growing among
the Central Government employees.
Source:
7thpaycommissionnews.in
