The government has extended by four weeks the tenure of a secretarial committee, tasked with reviewing the recommendations put forward by the national pay commission.
The Cabinet Division issued a circular yesterday regarding the extension. Last week, the division took consent from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in this regard.
The secretarial review committee was supposed to submit a report to Finance Minister AMA Muhith on February 15, at the end of the six-weeks' time given to them to complete the task.
According to a Finance Division official associated with the committee, there are big differences between the National Pay and Services Commission’s (NPSC) recommendations and what the review committee has found.
“So, more time is needed to finalise the execution of the next pay scale for government employees, considering there are budget constraints in the wake of the ongoing blockade and hartals,” the official said.
Finance Ministry sources say if the government follows the NPSC’s salaries and allowances revision proposals, then expenditures in this head would rise by 63.7%, which means an additional Tk22,953 crore will be needed.
NPSC Chairman Mohamand Farashuddin had earlier said financing the additional amount would not be a problem, if only 1% revenue growth can be ensured.
From July to December – the first half of the ongoing 2014-15 fiscal year – the National Board of Revenue managed to mobilise only a little over Tk48,000 crore, or around 39% of the aggregate collection target of Tk149,000 crore.
Since the political turmoil erupted early last month, the target was slashed by around 16%.
The six-member secretarial committee, led by Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, was formed a month ago.
The five other members of the committee are the finance secretary, secretary to the prime minister, public administration secretary, defence secretary, and housing and public works secretary.
In addition to reviewing the pay hike proposals for government employees, the committee is also looking after the recommended pay hikes for the armed forces.
Sources said the secretarial committee is mainly dealing with controversial issues, such as deputations, contractual jobs, time scale and selection grades.
The NPSC submitted its proposals to the finance minister on December 21 last year, recommending doubling the salaries, plots for group housing, and introducing bank loans for single-digit interest rates for public servants.
The highest salary of Tk 1 lakh was recommended for the cabinet secretary and principal secretary to the prime minister; currently their basic monthly pay is Tk45,000.
The government plans to implement the hikes from July this year. The 8th National Pay and Services Commission was formed in November 2013.
Currently, there are over 832,000 government employees and around 500,000 pensioners in the country.