The proposals on the new pay scale are unlikely to be placed before today’s scheduled cabinet meeting as there were still indecisions regarding whether to drop key provisions of time scale and selection grade.
Well-placed sources told the Dhaka Tribune that complications still existed regarding the National Pay and Services Commission’s recommended pay scale for university professors. They added that allowances under the new pay scale were also unclear, while the pay scale for court judges and armed forces personnel had not yet been completed.
“There are still complications regarding the new pay scale proposals; we will place the proposal before the cabinet only after overcoming the difficulties,” a Finance Division official involved with the process told the Dhaka Tribune on condition of anonymity.
Sources at the division’s implementation wing, however, said the already-prepared proposals were now awaiting directives from high-ups to be placed before the cabinet.
Last week, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said the new pay scale for government employees would be placed in Monday’s cabinet meeting.
According to recommendations by the pay commission, the new pay scale does away with time scales and selection grades, replacing these two provisions with annual cash increments instead.
But a Finance Division official said the government has been facing strong opposition regarding this move as a large number of public servants who benefited from the two provisions were unhappy with the proposed changes.
The finance minister, meanwhile, is scheduled to meet today with representatives from the Bangladesh Sarkari Karmachari Samannay Parishad for discussing the new pay scale.
According to the Finance Ministry’s estimate, an additional Tk12,212.29 crore – an increase of 59.5% - will be required to pay only the increased basic salaries of government employees.
On May 13, a secretary-level committee submitted its updated report to the finance minister on the government’s eighth pay revision.
The pay commission, headed by former Bangladesh Bank governor Mohammed Farashuddin, had originally proposed 16 grades under the new pay scale; but the secretary-level committee revised it to 20 grades.