Why was 7th Pay Commission for Central Government Employees implemented in 2016 and not in 2014?

Even as the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) is yet to be officially set up and begin its work, Central Government employees' representatives have demanded that the recommendations of the new pay panel be implemented from January 1, 2026.

This is because the tenure of the 7th Pay Commission will end on December 31, 2025. Therefore the 8th CPC should come into effect from January 1, 2026.

Why the 7th CPC became effective in 2016

One of the demands from employees' before the 7th Pay Commission were to implement its recommendations from January 1, 2014.

"The various associations of the JCM-Staff Side have demanded that the recommendations of this Commission should be implemented w.e.f. 01.01.2014. Their argument is that there has been substantial erosion in the value of wages owing to non-merger of DA, which has crossed the 100 percent mark in January 2014," the 7th CPC noted in its report.

However, the 7th CPC didn't agree to this demand. "The Commission does not agree with the demand of early implementation of revised pay structure and recommends that the date of effect should be 01.01.2016," it said.

The 7th CPC report highlighted that it was set up in 2014, two years before the completion of 10 years of implementation of the 6th CPC recommendations.

The 6th CPC recommendations were made effective on January 1, 2006. "As a result, its recommendations would be available for consideration before the ten year period gets over on 01.01.2016," the 7th CPC noted.