KARNATAKA STATE PAY COMMISSION REPORT : PAY STRUCTURE RECOMMENDATIONS
PAY STRUCTURE
7.1 Government of Karnataka has been evolving its own pay structure for employees, based on the recommendations of the State Pay Commissions and Committees in the past. The general recommendation has been to continue with this basic system, while effecting improvements from time to time. In particular, adoption of Central Pay Scales has not been favoured because of fundamental differences in the conditions of service, designations, eligibility criteria, mode of recruitment, duties and jurisdictions.
7.2 The popular impression that more and more states have adopted the 'Central Scales' does not appear to be true on closer scrutiny of the pay scales and allowances. Most of the states which appear to have adopted the Government of India pay structure have not given parity in case of a large number of posts. For example, the categories like Second Division Assistant, Primary School Teachers, Secondary School Teachers, Assistant Engineers have not been given the same pay and grade pay as in the case of Government of India. While Group-D posts have been abolished in Government of India, States have retained these posts.
7.3 In the matter of allowances also, there are variations. While some states like Maharashtra and Punjab have given HRA/Transport Allowance at the Central rates, Gujarat has adopted a different rate of Transport Allowance. As per the HRA slabs in Tamil Nadu, for example, employees of Group-D and Group-A are eligible for Rs. 560 p.m and Rs. 2,600 p.m. respectively only in Chennai whereas it is 25% of Basic in Bangalore. Kerala has also adopted a different HRA pattern.
7.4 Another important factor to be noted is the index level which a particular State or Central Government takes as base for revising scales and merger of DA. The States of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala which have been revising pay scales of employees once in five years have adopted their own pay structure at different index levels. State and Central Governments have got different frequencies of pay-revision. The Government of India, for example, has appointed five Pay Commissions in the last five decades, whereas the Government of Karnataka during the same period has appointed five Pay Commissions and four Pay Committees. Thus the apparent difference in pay scales at any given point of time needs to be seen in the perspective of differing frequencies of pay-revision.
7.5 Economic conditions of a State, the need of resources for development of infrastructure and building human capital, and finally, the fiscal capacity have to guide decision-making on the matters of pay-revision. The previous Pay Commissions and Committees have also gone into this fundamental issue of 'the capacity to pay'. The Terms of Reference of the present Official Pay Committee also clearly prescribe that the recommendations should be made keeping in view the resources of the State Government and Government commitments for various development programmes and other statutory and regulatory functions within the overall mandate of the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2002.
7.6 The current structure of pay scales and allowances are based on the recommendations of the Fifth State Pay Commission with effect from 1.7.2005. The pay scales had then been revised linking with the cost of living index as represented by the average of 524 points in the AIACPI numbers for industrial workers (General Base 1982=100). There are at present 25 scales of pay with a Master Scale.
7.7 After taking into account the relevant facts and financial implications, the Committee recommends as follows.
CABINET APPROVES 8% HIKE IN DEARNESS ALLOWANCE FOR CG EMPLOYEES
