7th Pay Commission report placed before group of secretaries, says Venkaiah Naidu

MANGALURU: Acknowledging that the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission will be a drag on the union government’s finances, union minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu said the government is yet to form a final view on it. The commission headed by Justice A K Mathur submitted commission’s report to Arun Jaitley, union finance minister in New Delhi in December last.

Interacting with reporters on the sidelines of a talk organized by Citizen’s Council, Mangaluru chapter Naidu said the recommendations will be a drag on the government’s finances. “It is definitely. But we have to take care of welfare of employees also. It (the report) is being studied by a group of secretaries. They will study all the aspects,” he said adding that since the report is the recommendations from a commission, the government will consider it.

When pointed that the government employees form a minority compared to rest of the population, Naidu said, “I don’t want to say anything because it is referred to a group of secretaries and it (the report) has to be studied in all its aspects (including the above view brought to his attention).” The government will take a final view based on outcome of suggestions that the group gives. They will keep all aspects in mind before going ahead with final implementation of report, he said.

Trade bodies such as ASSOCHAM, recent Deutsche Bank report have pointed that implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations is likely to exert pressure on the government’s fiscal finances and take forward the inflation trajectory. The Deutsche Bank report pointed, “It will be difficult for the government to absorb the likely 0.5% of GDP worth incremental increase in wage bill and also attempt to bring fiscal deficit down to 3.5% of GDP in FY17.”