The cabinet approved last month the long-awaited eighth unified national pay scales for the employees of the government, semi-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous organisations, and institutions. The pay scales of the judges of the judicial service remained outside the purview of the new pay scales. The pay scales, recommended for the officials of the judicial service by a separate commission, is under consideration of the government.
The cabinet has decided to retain the existing 20 grades and scales of pay, bypassing the Farashuddin Commission recommendation for reducing them to 16. From my experience of working as the chief of the Implementation and Regulation wing of the Finance Division of the Ministry of Finance in the mid-90s, I can say that the decision has saved the government from unnecessary troubles.
Of the declared 20 grades, pay in the highest grade (grade-1) meant for secretaries to the government and officers holding equivalent rank in the defence services, is Tk78,000 (fixed), which was Tk40,000 (fixed) in the immediate past seventh national pay scale. The rate of increase is 95%.
The pay scale for the grade-2 officials, that include additional secretaries and others holding equivalent rank, is Tk66,000-Tk76,490, which was Tk33,500-Tk39,500 in the seventh pay scale. The rate of increase is 97%. The pay scale for the 10th grade is Tk16,000-Tk38,640, which was Tk8,000-Tk16,540 in the seventh pay scale. The rate of increase is 100%. The pay scale in the lowest grade (grade-20) is Tk8,250-Tk20,010 which was Tk4,100-Tk7,740 in the seventh pay scale. The rate of increase is 101%.
The ratio of pay between the highest declared grade (grade-1) and the lowest grade (grade -20) in the eighth pay scale is 1:9.45, which was 1:9.75 in the seventh pay scale. But if we take into account the pay of the two undeclared grades, the scenario becomes different. If we compare the pay (Tk82,000, fixed) of the senior secretaries/officers holding equivalent rank with that of the lowest grade holders, the ratio stands at 1:9.93.
Again, a comparison between the pay (Tk86,000, fixed) of the cabinet secretary/officers holding equivalent rank and the lowest grade-holders shows the ratio at 1:10.42.
Some new features of the eighth pay scales are: Scrapping the prevailing time scale and selection grade, granting public servants certain percentage of their basic pay as annual increments on the first of July every year irrespective of their date of joining or promotion, abolishing the age-old class system of the public servants and identifying them according to their grade, and introducing a new allowance for Bangla New Year.
This is the second time that the pay of the public servants has been significantly raised. The rate of increase is between 91% and 101%. Earlier, the 1985 pay scale (third pay scale) raised the pay of the public servants between 100% and 136%. For instance, the pay of the highest grade (grade-1) was increased to Tk6,000 (fixed) from Tk3,000 (fixed), which meant an increase of 100%. In grade 10, the increase in pay was 116%. In grade 17, the increase was 136%, while in the lowest grade (grade-20) it was 122%.
The scrapping of the four-decade-old time scale and selection grade has made the employees in grades 11-20 unhappy. This is because of the fact that they used to get three higher scales, commonly known as time scale, on completion of eight, 12 and 15 years of satisfactory service in the same or mutually transferable posts, if they could not be promoted to the next higher posts due to shortage of such posts.
This saved them from financial loss, even if they failed to get promoted due to shortage of higher posts. Similarly, selection grade was granted to a certain percentage of posts the incumbents of which could not be promoted, due to shortage of higher posts or to those who held blocked posts and therefore, had no scope for promotion.
This loss could be compensated to some extent by granting them slightly higher scales of pay so that the ratio of pay between the highest and the lowest grades could stand at 1:7.5 or 1:8. In that case, the initial pay in the lowest grade would have stood at Tk10,000 or Tk9,750. It may be mentioned that the low paid employees have been demanding for a long time that the pay ratio between the highest and the lowest grades should be fixed at 1:5. They have also demanded that Tk10,000 should be the minimum pay in the new pay scale.
The government has set up a cabinet committee headed by Finance Minister AMA Muhith to remove the anomalies in the newly declared pay scales as well as to discuss the demand of the teachers of the public universities for a separate pay scale for them. This is a welcome step. All concerned must co-operate with the committee to find out solutions acceptable to all sides.
The recent increase in gas and electricity charges has already led to upward revision of fares in the transport sector. There is no doubt that it will adversely affect the other sectors also. According to the media reports, the business community will have to spend additional Tk2,500cr due to recent hike in gas and electricity rates. The pay hike of the public servants is likely to contribute to inflationary pressure.
The government will have to ensure that the increase in pay and allowances of a few hundred thousand public servants do not lead to a price hike of daily necessities of life to cause further sufferings to the common people, particularly the poor and the underprivileged.
