The final report of the much-awaited Pay Revision Commission on fixing the pay packages for employees is likely to take more time.
After the completion of their interactions with employees, their unions and heads of departments to understand their aspirations, PRC members have now embarked upon studying the salary, pension and other payments that are being made to employees in different categories in other States. The Commission, the first after the formation of Telangana State, is studying the administrative reforms put in place in different States as well as the Central government establishments for an in-depth understanding of the situation.
The Commission has formed three teams which toured several States to get first hand information about issues like pay and recommendations made by the PRCs constituted in different States. The teams are reported to have interacted with officials of Meghalaya, Asom, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh so far.
This is in addition to studying the patterns in the southern states as well as states like Maharashtra and Bihar where the PRC recommendations are available online. The Commission, according to senior officials, is examining the recommendations made by the VII Pay Commission to get an in-depth understanding about the process that had been adopted in fixing the pay scales.
The PRC members are of the view that the employees were working in an ecosystem and decisions relating to them could not be taken in isolation.
“We should know how we are placed vis-à-vis the other States before making the recommendations,” a Commission member told The Hindu.
The Commission had accordingly obtained data from different states and was making a thorough examination of the information for finalising its report. Efforts are being made to address the complaints from the employees regarding the anomalies in the pay packages for the same cadre of employees working in different departments.
The Commission, officials said, is waiting for the full-fledged budget likely to be tabled in the legislature next month. The presentation of the full budget would enable the Commission to ascertain the allocation that would be made towards the cost of the employees, a major issue that needs to be factored in while finalising the recommendations.