Inclusion of IAS officer in 7th Pay Commission challenged in Delhi HC

The central goverment counsel Jatan Singh said there was no scope for bias since recommendations of the commission were a “collective decision,” of the three members.

The inclusion of a senior IAS officer in the three member 7th Pay Commission has been challenged in the Delhi High Court by a group of retired officials from various other central services, including a former defence officer

The retired officials, in their plea, challenged the notification to constitute the 7th Pay Commission alleging that there was an inherent bias in the recommendations of the commission towards IAS officers, who get a higher pay scale than their contemporaries in other services. The HC Tuesday issued a notice to the Centre on the plea and sought its response within six weeks.

According to the Finance Ministry’s notification issued in February, Vivek Rae, retired secretary-level officer in the IAS, was made a member of the panel along with a retired judge and the Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Rathin Roy.

The petitioners argued that an IAS officer could not be appointed as he would be “by necessary implication, directly interested in and affected by the recommendations of the pay commission.”

“No person who has ever been a member of any of the services, whose pay or pension is under fixation should be on the commission,” the plea said.

The central goverment counsel Jatan Singh said there was no scope for bias since recommendations of the commission were a “collective decision,” of the three members.