7th Pay Commission: Allowances panel submits reports, seeks abolition of 52

A high-level committee headed by the Finance Secretary submitted on Thursday its report on allowances for 47 lakh government employees to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.The Ashok Lavasa Committee was constituted in June last year after the government implemented the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.The pay panel had recommended abolition of or subsuming of allowances like acting, assisting cashier, cycle, condiment, flying squad, haircutting, rajbhasha, rajdhani, robe, shoe, shorthand, soap, spectacle, uniform, vigilance and washing.[caption id="attachment_3376942" align="alignleft" width="380"] Representational image[/caption]After submitting the report to Jaitley, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa said the committee has taken into account representations made by various stakeholders.The report will now be examined by the empowered committee of secretaries and following that it will be placed before the Cabinet, he said.Out of total 196 allowances, it had recommended abolition of 52 and subsuming of another 36 into larger existing ones.The commission had recommended hiking the HRA in the range of 8-24 percent.If the pay commission recommendations on allowances are implemented fully, then as per estimates the cost to the exchequer will be Rs 29,300 crore.Lavasa said the government will take the final call on the date of payout of revised allowances to government employees.