The Pay and Services Commission will recommend a hike in salaries and other benefits of 1.3 million public servants in such a way that they would not feel the urge to fall for illegal income to maintain their lifestyle, Commission Chairman Dr Mohammed Farashuddin has said.
But the Commission is unlikely to submit its recommendation within a year, Farashuddin told reporters at the Pay and Services Commission office on Sunday after its maiden meeting.“The previous pay commissions had taken 15 months to submit their reports. I think we, too, won’t be able to report within 10-12 months,” he added.
On November 24, 2013, the government formed the 17-member body, headed by former Governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Mohammed Farashuddin, to review public servants’ salaries and other benefits and recommend a new pay scale.
The commission, effective from December 17, 2013, was asked to submit its report within six months.
It hopes to draw up a salary structure in keeping with the times, fixed under the State-Owned Manufacturing Industries Workers (Terms and Conditions of Service) Ordnance, 1985.
It will also recommend a suitable method to consolidate the salaries of public servants to keep up with inflation.
About the meeting’s outcome, Farashuddin told reporters that the Commission has formulated an action plan about what it would do in the next 6-9 months.
He said the panel was working to formulate a pay structure of the public servants, keeping inflation in mind so that their lifestyle remained stable.
“Efficiency, productivity and transparency of government officials and employees would be enhanced if their salaries and other benefits are increased. It would also help curb dishonesty among them,” he added.
The seventh pay commission was formed in 2007 during the caretaker government regime and the previous government raised the salaries of its employees on July 1, 2009 as per the Commission’s suggestion.
The Ministry of Finance on October 7, 2013 published a gazette notification giving government officials 20 percent dearness allowance with retrospective effect from July 1.
The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s declaration that the government had decided to provide public servants with 20 percent dearness allowance (DA) apart from forming a permanent pay commission.
Pay commissions were formed at irregular intervals, ranging from four years to 12 years since 1972. – bdnews24.com
