7th Pay Commission contemplates to recommend the Compensatory City allowance again
Sources said that the 7th CPC may recommend the Compensatory City allowance in its report for Central Govt employees. Upto 5th Pay Commisson, CCA has been granted to all CG Employees and we all know that the 6th CPC has abolished. The NC JCM Staff Side strongly suggested in its memorandum to introduce again the CCA to submitted to 7th Pay Commission earlier. The unconfirmed sources said, the CCA will come with two criteria as granting in the 5th CPC.
The Compensatory City allowance has been granted to Central Government employees since the First Central Pay Commission. This allowance was sanctioned to compensate for the high cost of living in bigger cities classified as such for grant of house rent allowance. Upto 3rd CPC it used to
be certain percentage of pay for different pay ranges and different classified towns. The 4th and 5th CPC, however, recommended lump sum amounts as CCA. 5th CPC in para 106.10 (Pge 1582) of their report has commented that :
“We also do not support the demand for making CCA a percentage of basic pay because this amounts to admitting a firm and casual relationship between CCA and income.”
When it is admitted that CCA is essentially an allowance given to offset the imperfection in Dearness allowance as a measure of relative expensiveness of classified Cities, it really becomes an additional DA. When the DA is at a percentage of Pay, how can CCA not be fixed as a percentage of pay. The basis on which the lumpsum amount of CCA was recommended by the 4th and 5th CPCs had also not been disclosed and therefore, it appears to be an arbitrary decision.
The 6th CPC on the other hand recognised that the only two factors viz. accommodation and transportation contribute to high cost of living in classified towns. They, recommended the revised HRA and Transport allowance to adequately compensate for relative expensiveness of the classified cities. In view of that contention, they stated that the CCA stands subsumed in Transport allowance. We are unable to agree with the idea of subsuming CCA in Transport allowance as recommended by the 6th CPC on the consideration that the relative expensiveness in bigger cities is only on account of problems of accommodation and transportation. There are various other factors due to which the expensiveness of a particular city either increases or decreases. CCA was a component in determination of overtime allowance prior to the implementation of the 6th CPC recommendations. By allowing this to be subsumed in the transport allowance, it became difficult to factor the CCA component in the computation of over time allowance.
For these reasons, we propose the Commission to recommend the following rates of City Compensatory allowance
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The fact is that there is a higher demand to be posted in metros than in districts/rural areas. CCA/HRA/TA are accentuating this demand as pay is higher in metros and it offers better facilities and connectivity. Many Officials stagnate at a particular post by choice so as not to be transferred partly due to the fact that due to these components of Pay promotion becomes redundant in monetary terms if new posting is at Y or Z class cities. This situation creates a vacuum in some levels and locations.
The factors that accentuate relative cost to a Govt servant most is the distance of place of posting from the permanent residence. Govt servants posted at a particular station against their choice beyond a certain tenure should be compensated for the inconvenience, hardship and additional cost to him.
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