7th Pay Commission Qualification Allowance
Existing Provisions: Granted to personnel of Indian Air Force for obtaining flying qualifications as under:
- Master Aviation Instructor: Rs. 750
- Senior Aviation Instructor Cl-I: Rs. 600
- Senior Aviation Instructor Cl-II: Rs. 420
- Aviators holding Master Green Card: Rs. 600
- Aviators holding Green Card: Rs. 420
- Cat ‘A’ ATC/FC/HELO Controllers/Direction officers: Rs. 2400
- Cat ‘B’ ATC/FC/HELO Controllers/Direction officers: Rs. 1800
Recommendations of 7th CPC: The 7th CPC has recommended that this allowance to be revised by a factor of 1.5. The amount will further rise by 25 percent each time DA rises by 50 percent. The allowance should be extended to personnel of Indian Coast Guard also.
Demand
Defence Forces: Qualification Allowance (wrongly mentioned as Qualification Pay) be granted to all categories through conduct of skill based and knowledge based special examinations conducted annually.
Analysis and Recommendations of the Committee
The Committee notes that the 7th CPC has already enhanced the rates of Qualification Allowance by a factor of 1.5. It is further observed that Technical Allowance is also granted for acquiring certain qualifications in Defence Forces. The demand for adding additional categories is outside the purview of this Committee. MoD has also not made any recommendations in this regard. Therefore, the recommendations of the 7th CPC on Qualification Allowance may be accepted without any change.
7th CPC Analysis and Recommendations
Since the allowance is already partially indexed to DA, it is recommended to raise it by a factor of 1.5. The amount will further rise by 25 percent each time DA rises by 50 percent. The allowance should be extended to personnel of Indian Coast Guard also. Other demands do not hold merit.
For Defence officers, there are two allowances that are granted upon obtaining higher qualifications, viz., Qualification Grant and Technical Allowance. Since the purpose of these two allowances is similar, they are being dealt with together.