When Will Karnataka Implement 7th Pay Commission? State Govt Employees Express Concern

7th Pay Commission: Karnataka government employees expressed concern as there is no clarity on how much pay hike will the commission finally recommend.

7th Pay Commission Latest News Today: During the Budget presentation on Friday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddarmaiah made no explicit mention of the implementation of the final recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, which has sparked concern among state government employees.

After massive protests across the state earlier this year, former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai implemented an interim relief (IR) of 17%, which costs the State exchequer around Rs 12,000 crore annually.

In the meantime, Chief Minister Siddarmaiah said the term of the commission led by the former Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao has been extended for another six months on the request of the commission.

As per a report by The Hindu, the final report of the commission is expected by November, as the extended tenure will end by then.

However, the state government employees expressed concern as there is no clarity on how much pay hike will the commission finally recommend.

Even as the final report of the commission will come mid-way through the fiscal year and there is no mention of it in the Budget speech, employees are worried about the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission.

What more concerned the state employees was when Siddaramaiah, while responding to a question on the issue in the Council, said that the decision to implement the 7th Pay Commission would be taken after considering the financial status of the exchequer.

As the state government is under pressure to implement the five guarantee schemes, many fear implementation of the pay commission may be postponed.

CS Shadakshari, president of the Karnataka State Employees’ Association, told The Hindu they hoped that the final report of the commission is implemented immediately after the final report is submitted, by taking a vote on account in the Assembly.

He further said whenever it is implemented, they want it to come into force retrospectively from April 1, 2023, from when the interim relief has been implemented.

On Thursday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said the decision to implement the final recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission for State government employees would be taken after considering the financial status of the exchequer. He then also clarified that the extension of six months given to the commission headed by the former Chief Secretary K. Sudhakar Rao was done based on the commission’s request.