7th Pay Commission: 18 Months DA Arrears to Come Soon; Here’s What Finance Ministry Said

The Union Ministry of Finance has made a big announcement regarding 18-month DA arrears and stated that it was not deemed appropriate to release arrears of dearness allowance to central government employees and dearness relief to pensioners on the 7th pay commission recommendations due to financial implications.

This comes as lakhs of Central government employees wait for the announcement from the Centre on salary hikes. The Finance Ministry stated told the Rajya Sabha that the 18-month overdue DA Arrear will not be paid to pensioners at this time.

The Finance Ministry also explained the situation of the central employees' 18-month arrears. The Finance Ministry also stated that the three installments’ worth of funding will not be given.

Many employees will undoubtedly be upset by the Finance Ministry's declaration because they had hoped the central government would pay the 18-month-old DA arrears due this month.

Due to the COVID pandemic, three installments of DA arrears from July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021, were suspended until January 1, 2022. The administration will bring back Dearness Allowance in July 2021. The three payments that had gone unpaid over the previous 18 months were not mentioned, either.

On the advice of the 7th Pay Commission, the Centre raised the Dearness Allowance by 11% beginning July 1, 2021. After that, beginning in July 2021, the dearness allowance increased from 17 to 28 percent. On the recommendations of the 7th pay commission, however, the DA now stands at 38%.

According to media sources, the DA arrears owed to government employees would likely be paid in three installments. According to sources, Level-3 employees' DA arrears will be between Rs. 11,880 and Rs. 37,554, while Level-13 or Level-14 employees' arrears will be between Rs. 1,44,200 and Rs. 2,18,200.

Prior to Diwali, the Center increased the DA for all Central government employees by 4%, from 34% to 38%, in accordance with the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. Employees of the central government will get a lump sum payment at an increase of 11% if the government chooses to pay for the 18-month period.