Pay commission for govt staff soon, says Basavaraj Bommai

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday announced that he will set up a commission that will look at revising the salaries of government employees on the lines of what their counterparts working for the Centre are paid.

“Soon, we will set up a commission to study other states in detail and make recommendations on achieving pay parity between employees of the state and Centre,” Bommai told the Assembly during his reply to the discussion on the 2022 Budget.

The salaries of central employees are based on recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, which have been adopted by 25 states.

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The proposed pay commission will cover the salary prospects of some six lakh employees.

Adopting the 7th Pay Commission recommendations is expected to increase the government’s expenditure on salaries by Rs 15,654 crore in 2023-24. The salary expenditure in 2022-23 is estimated to be Rs 41,288 crore, according to the Medium Term Fiscal Plan.

Vacancies

During his reply, Bommai said there are 2.58 lakh vacant positions in the government. “There are 91,043 people working on contractual basis of whom 77,000 are unskilled Group D workers,” he said. “In spite of these vacancies, our employees are doing their work,” he said.

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Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah cautioned Bommai on outsourcing government jobs more and more. “It’s a bad practice. Reservation can’t be given to those who are outsourced,” he said. Bommai concurred. “We have to discourage it. After some years, they’ll start demanding permanent posts.”

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