8th Pay Commission- The government has intensified preparations for the formation of the 8th Pay Commission. The Department of Expenditure of the Finance Ministry has started the process of filling 42 posts, which includes the appointment of the chairman and two other members. An official said that the names for the top posts, including the chairman, have almost been finalised and their official announcement may be made soon.
Preparation for recruitment on 42 posts and appointment of chairman
The Department of Expenditure has issued two separate circulars on April 21 ordering the appointment of 40 officers for the 8th Pay Commission. Most of these posts will be filled by officers from various government departments on deputation basis. Apart from this, the chairman and two other important members will be selected separately.
The officers who will be appointed will include two directors/deputy secretaries, three under secretaries and 37 other employees. All of them will be entrusted with the task of making necessary preparations after the Terms of Reference (ToR) is finalized.
8th Pay Commission will have fewer members than last time
If we look at the previous structure, the 7th Pay Commission had a total of 45 members, which included the chairman, 18 secretariat staff, 16 advisors and 7 other staff. The 7th Pay Commission was headed by Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur.
The 6th Pay Commission also had four members, but only 17 people were working in the secretariat. The 5th Pay Commission had only three members. In the initial phase, the first Pay Commission had nine members, the second had six and the third and fourth Pay Commissions had five members each.
Preparations from the side of the employees are also fast
Meanwhile, the staff side of the National Council (JCM) has also started preparing the memorandum to be submitted to the 8th Pay Commission. This decision was taken after the Standing Committee meeting on April 22. In this meeting, many important issues like minimum wages, pay scales, fitment factor, allowances, promotion policy and pension benefits were discussed.
A drafting committee has been formed which will prepare the memorandum by taking suggestions from all the major employee organizations. These organizations will send the names of their representatives by 30 April 2025. The final memorandum will be prepared by 20 May 2025 on the basis of suggestions from all the organizations.
Although the government has not yet made a formal announcement of the 8th Pay Commission or issued its terms of reference, the circulars being issued continuously and internal meetings indicate that the work is progressing rapidly. It is expected that the commission will start functioning in the next few months. Once the 8th Pay Commission becomes active, it will determine the direction of changes in the salary structure and service conditions of about 48 lakh central employees and 57 lakh pensioners.