7th Pay Commission Dearness Allowance (DA Hike) Latest News: The Finance Ministry has issued the order to implement the 28% Dearness Allowance (DA) hike for Central Government Employees from 1st July 2021. According to the Finance Ministry, the 28% DA hike order would not apply to Railway personnel and Armed Forces personnel. Separate orders for them would be issued by respective ministries.
The Government has enhanced the DA payable to Central Government Employees from the current price of 17% to 28% with impact from 1st July 2021. The boost subsumed the further instalments arising on 01-01-2020, 01-07-2020 and 01-01-2021. While the price of DA from 1st July 2021 will be 28%, it will stay at 17% for the period from 01-01-2020 till 30-06-2021.
In an Office Memorandum dated 20th July 2021, the Department of Expenditure (DoE), Ministry of Finance, mentioned that the term ‘basic pay’ in the revised spend structure would imply the “pay drawn in the prescribed Level in the Pay Matrix as per 7th CPC recommendations accepted by the Government. But it does not include any other type of pay like special pay etc.
For Central Government Employees, the DoE further said that the DA would continue to be a “distinct element of remuneration and will not be treated as pay within the ambit of FT 9 (21).
In its latest order, the DoE has also clarified that the payment on account of DA involving fractions of 50 paise and above may be rounded off to the next higher rupee and the fractions of less than 50 paise may be ignored.
Separate DA hike orders for Armed Forces personnel, Railway employees
The DA hike order for Central Government Employees would also apply to civilian employees paid from the Defence Services Estimates.
However, for DA hike of Armed Forces personnel and Railway employees, separate orders will be issued by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Railways respectively.
“The orders shall 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. In respect of Armed Forces personnel and Railway employees, separate orders will be issued by the Ministry of Defence and Minstry of Railways, respectively,” mentioned DoE.