Constituted in June 2016, the Ashok Lavasa Committee was formed after the government implemented the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission report.
7th Pay Commission report on allowances: The wait for hike in allowances including the House Rent Allowance (HRA) and Dearness Allowance (DA) for government employees and pensioners may soon come to an end. The Ashok Lavasa-led Committee on allowances on April 27 submitted its report that will impact around 47 lakh government employees to Finance Minister Arun Jaitleytoday. The report submitted to the Finance Ministry is a part of the 7th Pay Commission report.
Constituted in June 2016, the Ashok Lavasa Committee was formed after the government implemented the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission report.
The report further stated that the committee panel had also recommended abolition of including allowances like acting, assisting cashier, cycle, condiment, flying squad, haircutting, raj bhasha, rajdhani, robe, shoe, shorthand, soap, spectacle, uniform, vigilance and washing.
Soon after submitting the report to Jaitley, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa said that the committee has submitted it final draft on the basis of various representations made by the stakeholders. The report will first be analysed by the empowered committee of secretaries and then it will be placed before the cabinet, he added.
PTI stated that the committee had recommended abolition of 52 out of 196 allowances and has also proposed to subsume 36 allowances into larger existing one. A hike in HRA in the range of somewhere between 8 to 24 per cent has also been recommended by the committee.
Looking into the future, if these recommendations on allowances are fully implemented, then as per estimates the cost to each exchequer will be Rs 29,300 cr. The Lavasa committee has also said that the government will take the final call on the date of payout of revised allowances to government employees.
In August 2016, Jaitley formed the Ashok Lavasa committee to take into account the demands of nearly 1 crore government employees and pensioners seeking provisions of a higher DA and HRA.
