8th Pay Commission: Major Concerns Flagged Over Implementation Date Of 8th CPC; Terms of Reference Lacks Explicit Mention Of...

The All India Defence Employees’ Federation (AIDEF) has flagged a concern over the government's failure to include the date of implementation of the 8th Pay Commission recommendation in the recently announced Terms of Reference (ToR). In a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the federation pointed out that the ToR makes no mention of the implementation date of the 8th pay panel.

The employees' federation said that in the ToR given to the 7th CPC there was a specific ToR to recommend the date of effect of its recommendation. However, in the ToR given to the 8th CPC no such reference has been made.

The employees' federation said that the above gives the impression that the government will unilaterally take a decision with regard to the date of implementation of the recommendation of the 8th CPC. 

The body said that it is now an established fact that wage revision and pension revision of the central government employees and pensioners will take place once in 10 years.

The employees' federation provided the date of implementation of the previous CPC’s recommendations which was: 4th CPC – 01.01.1986 5th CPC – 01.01.1996 6th CPC – 01.01.2006 7th CPC – 01.01.2016

The employees’ federation argues that the dates of implementation of recommendations from various pay panels must be taken into consideration when deciding the date of effect of the 8th CPC recommendation. The body said that the 8th CPC recommendations should also be implemented from January 1, 2026. The same may be included in the ToR of the 8th CPC.

The federation said that the ToR especially concerning the revision of emoluments of central government employees is totally different from the ToR given to the 7th CPC.

The employees' body pointed out that the expectations of the employees are missing in the ToR of the 8th CPC. It has requested that the ToR of 8th CPC may be redrafted at par with the 7th CPC.

Fresh on the heels of approval of the Terms of Reference (ToR) of 8th Central Pay Commission by Union Cabinet, the Finance Ministry this week notified Resolution on Constitution of the ToR. The 8th Central Pay Commission will be a temporary body. The Commission will comprise of one Chairperson --Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai; One Member (Part Time) Prof. Pulak Ghosh and one Member-Secretary --Pankaj Jain.  

The Commission will have its headquarters in Delhi. It will make its recommendations within 18 months of the date of its constitution. It may consider, if necessary, sending interim reports on any of the matters as and when the recommendations are finalized.