Demand of Central Govt employees to increase the Fitment Factor recommended by 7th CPC
The demand to increase the 2.57 Fitment Factor along with the hike of 14.29 percent is growing among the Central Government employees
The 900-page long report of the 7th Pay Commission was submitted to the government on November 19. One of the most important recommendation on the report is the Fitment Factor. It is the most important factor deciding the hike of salaries of the Central Government employees.
Fitment Factor is used to calculate the revised basic pay of existing employees with effect from the implementation of 7th CPC. The new revised basic pay of a Central Government employee is calculated by multiplying his/her current (Pre-revised) basic pay with the Fitment Factor.
The 7th Pay Commission has recommended a uniform Fitment Factor of 2.57 for all. The actual raise/fitment recommended by the Commission is 14.29 percent only. The report says that the fitment includes a factor of 2.25 on account of DA neutralisation, assuming that the rate of D.A. would be 125 percent at the time of implementation of the new pay.
The 7th Pay Commission has evolved a new pay fitment table by merging the existing Grade Pay and Pay Bands for all group of Central Government employees, which is called as Pay Matrix Table. The Pay Matrix comprises two dimensions. It has a “horizontal range” in which each level corresponds to a ‘functional role in the hierarchy’ and has been assigned the numbers 1, 2, 3, and so on till 18. The “vertical range” for each level denotes ‘pay progression’ within that level. These indicate the steps of annual financial progression of three percent within each level. The starting point of the matrix is the minimum pay which has been arrived based on 15th Indian Labour Congress (ILC) norms or the Aykroyd formula.