In protest against the delay of the Fitment Committee’s report recommending hike in employees’ salary under the Centre’s 7th Pay Commission, the Odisha Government employees’ union has threatened to launch a State-wide strike if the Government further delays to implement the Pay Commission’s recommendations by June 15.
First deferring the period of hiking salary and then forming a Fitment Committee are dilatory tactics on the part of the State Government to increase the salary of the employees under different grades and classes under the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendation, said Odisha Karmachari Sangram Samiti general secretary Prabhat Mohanty here.
The State Government delayed implementation of the Pay Commission on the plea of panchayat elections. Then, the Fitment Committee headed by Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan did not submit its report by the deadline. The Government is intentionally depriving about five lakh employees and over three lakh pensioners of getting benefits, Mohanty said at a Press conference on Wednesday.
There was no Fitment Committee meeting held for resolving the issues relating to the 1999 5th Pay Commission and the 2008 6th Pay Commission recommendations. Not a single report has been published yet; rather the State Government has been harassing employees on several pretexts, said union secretary Mihir Narayan Jena.
Notably, the State Government constituted the six-member Fitment Committee on October 31 last year for determining modalities for implementation of recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission for its employees.
By appointing Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan as the head of the Fitment Committee and Home Secretary Asit Tripathy, Finance Secretary Tuhin Kant Pandey, Forest and Environment Secretary Suresh Mohapatra, Special Secretaries in the Department of Finance AK Meena and Aswini Mishra as its members, the Government had asked it to submit its report within four months.
The Fitment Committee apart from determining fitment of scales, ranks, allowances and pensions would also determine the burden and impact of the revision on the Government’s finances.
The Fitment Committee has taken opinions and representations from various service associations of the State Government employees.
It may be mentioned that the Central Government has implemented the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission with retrospective effect from January 1, 2016.