11th Pay Commission (Revision) for Kerala Government Employees
The Level of Pay:
As stated in the previous chapter, the Commission has decided to fix the minimum pay at ₹ 23000. The next task is to derive the Master Scale. The Commission has not attempted to change the basic structure of the existing Master Scale. For deriving the revised Master Scale, only two components need to be considered, which are the Basic Pay and the Dearness Allowance.
The existing scales of pay came into effect from 01.07.2014. The Commission proposes that the revised scales take effect from 01.07.2019. The DA applicable as of that date has to be merged with the Basic Pay for deriving the revised pay scales although the Government have not yet announced the two installments of Dearness Allowance which is to be taken for deriving revised scales. The Commission worked out the Dearness Allowance applicable as on 01.07.2019 by using the following formula provided in the G.O.(P) No.7/2016/Fin dated 20.01.2016, the last pay revision order.
DA = (Average AICPI for past 12 months − 239.92) x 100
239.92
The 12 months’ average AICPI to be taken for calculating DA as on 01.07.2019 is 306.1. By applying this factor in the above formula, the DA arrived will be 27.58%. The Commission has taken it as 28% for the purpose for the revision of new scales. 6.2. The next is the Fitment Benefit, which is a crucial component since it is a measure of the actual additional financial commitment to be borne by the Government on account of Pay Revision. It is also a measure of actual increase in pay of employees’ consequent to pay revision. The Commission is aware of the fact that the Fitment Benefit given in the last pay revision was 12% and the minimum benefit of ₹ 2000 was also assured.
The Commission is of the considered view that the financial position of the State is too weak in general owing to multiple factors leading to a lower rate of growth ever in 2019-20. The pandemic induced lockdown has further dented the exchequer due to the shortfall in revenue receipts and the additional expenditure necessitated for Corona care. The Government could not disburse two installments of DA, which are to be merged with pay in the new scales.
The State exchequer cannot afford a major hike in committed expenditure. However, the expectations of the employees cannot be fully repudiated. Considering all relevant factors, the Commission recommends 10% Fitment Benefit for deriving the new scales. The Commission, therefore, applied a multiplication factor of 1.38 for generating the new scales of pay.