The secretarial committee currently analysing recommendations of the pay commission has reportedly reached a consensus on keeping the time scale benefit for government employees.
However, most members of the committee were against keeping the existing option of selection grade, said a member of the committee who attended its second meeting at the Cabinet Division yesterday. Seeking anonymity, the committee member said the secretarial body was against selection grade as it had created indiscipline and chaos, and had prompted the filing of many cases over the last few decades.
Earlier, the National Pay and Services Commission recommended scrapping the time scale and selection grade, under which public servants now get salary increments without being promoted, as there are possibilities of corruption in those systems. However, government servants have claimed that if the provisions were scrapped, two-thirds of public employees would lose out financially.
Last week, the third and fourth class employees of the secretariat submitted a report to the secretarial committee that pointed out that it was difficult to get promotions under the existing employment and appointment rules.
Meanwhile, a source at the meeting said the secretaries also discussed approving higher salaries than the pay commission recommended pays for employees of the newly proposed grade 13, 14 and 15.
The meeting also reportedly discussed approving new salaries for secretaries and mid-level employees that would be more rationalised than the pay commission’s proposal.
On December 21, the pay commission, led by its Chairman Mohammad Farashuddin, submitted its recommendations to Finance Minister AMA Muhith.
Their report suggested doubling the salary of public servants on an average, the full implementation of which would raise the government spending on salary and allowance by 63.7%.
At the start of January, the government formed a six-member secretarial committee, led by Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, and set them a six-week deadline to find out ways for implementing the pay commission’s recommendations.