Employee Associations Push for DA-Basic Pay Merger in 8th Pay Commission Review.

Government Employees Push for Interim Relief Ahead of 8th Central Pay Commission Report

The Central government has provided 18 months for the 8th Central Pay Commission to examine and recommend changes in basic pay, allowances, benefits, and service conditions for more than 4.5 million employees and 6 million pensioners across the country. Employee associations continue to push for interim relief ahead of the implementation of the 8th CPC, citing concerns that the government's arrears burden will increase significantly by the time the commission submits its report within the 18-month window set by the terms of reference (June-July 2027).

Employee unions argue that merging dearness allowance (DA) with basic pay will greatly ease the burden of arrears. They demand that these pre-pay commission benefits be given as 'interim relief' before the commission submits its recommendation to the Centre in 18 months. The Eighth Central Pay Commission officially started from January 1, 2026, and it has already been close to seven months since the government approved the terms of reference for the 8th CPC.

According to Dr. Manjeet Singh Patel, the National President of the All India NPS Employees Federation, if the final fitment factor is fixed at 2.0 (hypothetically), the government could first provide a 1.5-times revision by merging DA into basic salary and later pay only the remaining (0.5) portion as arrears after the commission's recommendations. This would both reduce the government's arrears burden and provide immediate financial relief to employees facing rising living costs driven by inflation, fuel prices, transport expenses, and essential commodities.

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The government's arrears burden is expected to increase significantly due to the implementation of the 8th pay CPC. Pankaj Chaudhary, minister of state in the Ministry of Finance, has stated that there are no plans to merge DA with basic pay. However, employee associations continue to push for interim relief, arguing that it would ease the burden of arrears and provide immediate financial relief to employees.

The Impact of Pay Scales and Pension Arrears on Arrear Bills

The implementation of the 8th pay CPC will raise the arrears burden as the pay scales will become applicable from January 1, 2026. Since the commission will reset salaries and merge past DAs, the government's burden will be substantial. The implementation of the 7th CPC recommendations in 2016–17 led to an additional financial burden of Rs 1.02 lakh crore, along with Rs 12,133 crore in pay and pension arrears for two months of 2015–16.

Here is a breakdown of the arrears bill payable to central government employees:

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Employee associations believe that providing interim relief now would ease the government's arrear burden and provide immediate financial relief to employees. However, the government has yet to respond to these demands, and it remains to be seen how the 8th CPC will impact the arrears bill payable to central government employees.