No pay raise for police, judiciary and army
By Sajid Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD: A 50 percent increase in salaries announced in the budget for the year 2010-11 will not be applicable to the salaries of the armed forces, police, the judiciary and federal ministers.
However, the government would decide whether this increase would be applicable to the salaries of members of parliament.
The pay and pension package announced in the budget would cost the national exchequer an additional Rs 34 billion, with Rs 24 billion to be spent on the payment of the ad-hoc relief allowance, while Rs 10 billion would be used to pay the increase in pension.
In the post-budget media briefing, Finance Secretary Salman Siddique said the 50 percent ad-hoc relief allowance would be applicable to their running basic pay and not to their initial basic pay.
He said all employees, whether on contract or in the corporations, would benefit from the 50 percent ad-hoc relief allowance.
The cabinet had decided to cut the salaries of the federal ministers by 10 percent. He explained that corporations had separate pay scales and the increase would not be applicable to their employees. However, he said if they had employees to whom the national pay scales were applicable, they would be eligible for the allowance.
Contract employees in the federal government would benefit from the allowance if their pay scales were according to the national pay scales. However, in case they had different scales, they would not get the raise, the finance secretary said.
He said the armed forces, police and the judiciary had been given a 100 percent increase in the recent past, therefore, they would not be benefiting from the 50 percent ad-hoc relief allowance.
Similarly, the ad-hoc relief allowance would not be applicable to the salaries of the federal ministers, he said.
Asked whether the 50 percent ad-hoc relief allowance would be applicable to the salaries of the members of the National Assembly and the Senate, the finance secretary said their salaries were governed by a separate mechanism, adding that it was up to the government to decide weather they should benefit from the relief or not.
To a question, he said the government had accepted the recommendations of the Pay and Pension Commission on housing and transportation facilities and would implement them proposals in phases.
Source: Daily Times
Date:6/7/2010
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