New Delhi: The Union Government has issued an order hiking the dearness allowance (DA) Central Government employees with effect from July 1.
The Additional Secretary at the Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance, Annie George Mathew has issued the order on Tuesday.
“The President is pleased to decide that the Dearness Allowance (DA) payable to Central Government employees shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 17% to 28% of the basic pay with effect from 1st July, 2021,” the order said.
The increase subsumes the additional instalments arising on 01.01,2020, 01.07.2020 and 01.01,2021. The rate of DA for the period from 01,01.2020 till 30,06.2021 shall remain at 17%, it said
The term ‘basic pay’ in the revised pay structure means the pay drawn in the prescribed Level in the Pay Matrix as per 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) recommendations accepted by the Government, but does not include any other type of pay like special pay, etc, it said.
Similarly, the DA will continue to be a distinct element of remuneration and will not be treated as pay within the ambit of FR 9(21).
These orders shall also apply to the civilian employees paid from the Defence Services Estimates and the expenditure will be chargeable to the relevant head of the Defence Services Estimates.
In respect of Armed Forces personnel and Railway employees, separate orders will be issued by the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Railways, respectively.
In their application to the persons belonging to Indian Audit and Accounts Department, these orders are issued under Article 148(5) of the Constitution and after consultation with the Comptroller & Auditor General of India.
At least three DA instalments were due before the hike was approved by the Centre — two from last year and one from this year (01.01.2020, 01.07.2020 and 01.01.2021). An 11 per cent DA hike has been approved as part of the three pending instalments. The move is expected to cost the government approximately Rs 34,400 crore