Back7th Pay Commission rejects parity demand in IAS, other civil services salaries
Report says IAS officers be allowed to retain the edge they have in salary over other civil services such as IPS and IRS
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New Delhi: The 7th Pay Commission, which presented its report to the government on Thursday, has effectively rejected a controversial demand for pay parity between officers of the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and other services such as the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian Forest Service (IFoS).
The report recommended that IAS officers be allowed to retain the edge they have in pay over other civil services, which demanded parity in the run-up to the release of the recommendations. “The edge, presently accorded to the IAS in the form of two additional increments at the rate of 3% over their basic pay at three promotion stages—promotion to the Senior Time Scale (STS), to the Junior Administrative Grade (JAG) and the NFSG (non-functional selection grade)—to continue in the proposed pay matrix," the commission said.
The fight between different civil services over pay had surfaced in the open with their representative associations fighting it out on social media platforms such as Twitter. (mintne.ws/1RmBx0Y)
A lack of consensus on the controversial issue meant that the commission decided to opt for status quo, although chairman Ashok Kumar Mathur was of the view that IPS and IFoS officers be put on par with their IAS counterparts.
“Having regard to the difficult demands placed on police officers by their jobs including long working hours, the risk of personal injury and death and the immense public responsibility they carry, the view of the chairman has recommended that this financial edge, as given to the IAS, be extended to the IPS as also to the third All India Service, the IFoS," the report said.
“In so far as the Indian Foreign Service is concerned, the existing dispensation shall continue," the report added.
But Vivek Rae, a member of Pay Commission, didn’t agree with Mathur’s view. Rae said IAS officers should be allowed to retain an advantage in pay over IPS and IFoS colleagues, saying the higher benefits they enjoyed are “fully justified".
Rathin Roy, another member of the commission, said the disparity in pay should be removed. If the superior position of IAS officers in the bureaucratic echelons has to be reflected by financial remuneration, they should be recruited separately, Roy said.
Mathur and Roy were also of the view that all AIS (All India Service) and Central Services Group A officers who have completed 17 years of service should be eligible for empanelment under the Central Staffing Scheme and the “two year edge" presently enjoyed by the IAS should be withdrawn.
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