7th Pay Commission Latest News: Ahead of Diwali, the Dearness Allowance (DA) rate has been revised again for Central Government Employees. This would put more cash in hands of Central Government Employees and other beneficiaries of the revised DA rate.
The Government has increased the DA rate payable to Central Government Employees from 28% to 31%. The new rate will be in effect from 1st of July 2021.
The Department of Expenditure (DoE), Ministry of Finance, said in an Office Memorandum dated 25th October 2021 that “the President is pleased to decide that the Dearness Allowance payable to Central Government employees shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 28% to 31% of the Basic Pay with effect from 1st July, 2021.”
The Basic Pay for calculation of DA as per the new rate would include the pay drawn as per the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission. It would not include any other type of pay.
“The ‘Basic Pay’ in the revised pay structure means the pay drawn in the prescribed Level in the Pay Matrix as per 7th Pay Commission recommendations accepted by the Government, but does not include any other type of pay like special pay, etc,” the DoE say.
The DoE further said that the Dearness Allowance will continue to be a distinct element of remuneration and will not be treated as pay within the ambit of FR 9(21).
Calculation of fractions
According to the office memorandum, the payment on account of Dearness Allowance involving fractions of 50 paise and above may be rounded to the next higher rupee and the fractions of less than 50 paise may be ignored.
Who will benefit?
Apart from Central Government Employees, the revised DA rate will also apply to the civilian employees paid from the Defence Services Estimates and the expenditure will be chargeable to the relevant head of the Defence Services Estimates.
The DoE said that separate orders will be issued by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Railways for Armed Forces personnel and Railway employees respectively.