7th CPC publishes questionnaire

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SEVENTH CENTRAL PAY COMMISSION
NEW DELHI-110001

Meena Agarwal 

Secretary 

 

 

New Delhi 110 001. 

 

D.O No. 7CPC/15/Questionnaire 9th April, 2014 

 

Dear ……….., 

 

As you may be aware the Seventh Central Pay Commissions has been constituted 

by the Government on 28 February 2014 with a view to go into various issues of 

emoluments’ structure, retirement benefits and other service conditions of Central 

Government employees and to make recommendations on the changes required. The 

terms of reference of the Seventh Central Pay Commission are available on the 

http://7cpc.india.gov.in . 

 

2. A Questionnaire seeking the considered views of all stakeholders is enclosed. The 

response of your Ministry to this Questionnaire is sought. I shall be grateful if the 

replies are furnished to the Commission on or before 10th May, 2014, so as to enable 

the Commission to take them into account as part of its examination of the issues that 

it is mandated to address. The reply may be sent to Post Box No. 4599, Hauz Khas P.O, 

New Delhi 110 016, and in the case of email to secy-7cpc@nic.in. 

 

Encl:- As above. 

 

With Regards, 

 

Yours sincerely, 

 

 

(Meena Agarwal) 

To all Secretaries to Govt of India 

  

 

 

 

7th CPC Questionnaire 

 

1. Salaries 

 

1.1 The considerations on which the minimum salary in case of the lowest Group ‘C’ 

functionary and the maximum salary in case of a S ecretary level officer may be 

determined and what should be the reasonable ratio between the two. 

 

1.2 What should be the considerations for determining salary for various levels of 

functions falling between the highest level and the lowest level functionaries? 

 

2. Comparisons 

 

2.1 Should there be any comparison/parity between pay scales and perquisites 

between Government and the private sector? If so, why? If not, why not? 

 

2.2 Should there at all be any comparison/parity between pay scales and perquisites 

between Government and the public sector? If so, why? If not, why not? 

 

2.3 The concept of variable pay has been introduced in Central Public Sector 

Enterprises by the Second Pay Revision Committee. In the case of the Government is 

there merit in introducing a variable component of pay? Can such variable pay be linked 

to performance? 

 

3. Attracting Talent 

 

3.1 Does the present compensation package attract suitable talent in the All India 

Services & Group A Services? What are your observations and suggestions in this 

regard? 

 

3.2 To what extent should government compensation be structured to attract special 

talent? 

 

4. Pay Scales 

 

4.1 The 6th Central Pay Commission introduced the system of Pay Bands and Grade 

Pay as against the system of specific pay scales attached to various posts. What has been 

the impact of running pay bands post implementation of 6th CPC recommendations? 

 

4.2 Is there any need to bring about any change? 

 

4.3 Did the pay bands recommended by the Sixth CPC help in arresting exodus and 

attract talent towards the Government? 

  

 

 

 

4.4 Successive Pay Commissions have reduced the number of pay scales by merging 

one or two pay scales together. Is there a case for the number of pay scales/ pay band to 

be rationalized and if so in what manner? 

 

4.5 Is the “grade pay” concept working? If not, what are your alternative 

suggestions? 

 

5. Increment 

 

5.1 Whether the present system of annual increment on 1 st

 July of every year 

uniformly in case of all employees has served its purpose or not? Whether any changes 

are required? 

 

5.2 What should be the reasonable quantum of annual increment? 

 

5.3 Whether there should be a provision of variable increments at a rate higher than 

the normal annual increment in case of high achievers? If so, what should be transparent 

and objective parameters to assess high achievement, which could be uniformly applied 

across Central Government? 

 

5.4 Under the MACP scheme three financial up-gradations are allowed on completion 

of 10, 20, 30 years of regular service, counted from the direct entry grade. What are the 

strengths and weaknesses of the scheme? Is there a p erception that a s cheme of this 

nature, in some Departments, actually incentivizes people who do not wish to take the 

more arduous route of qualifying departmental examinations/ or those obtaining 

professional degrees? 

 

6. Performance 

 

What kind of incentives would you suggest to recognize and reward good 

performance? 

 

7. Impact on other organizations 

 

Salary structures in the Central and State Governments are broadly similar. The 

recommendations of the Pay Commission are likely to lead to similar demands from 

employees of State Governments, municipal bodies, panchayati raj institutions & 

autonomous institutions. To what extent should their paying capacity be considered in 

devising a reasonable remuneration package for Central Govt. employees? 

 

8. Defence Forces 

 

8.1 What should be the considerations for fixing salary in case of Defence personnel 

and in what manner does the parity with civil services need to be evolved, keeping in 

view their respective job profiles? 

  

 

 

8.2 In what manner should the concessions and facilities, both in cash and kind, be 

taken into account for determining salary structure in case of Defence Forces personnel. 

 

8.3 As per the November 2008 orders of the Ministry of Defence, there are a total of 

45 types of allowances for Personnel Below Officer Rank and 39 types of allowances for 

Officers. Does a case exist for rationalization/ streamlining of the current variety of 

allowances? 

 

8.4 What are the options available for addressing the increasing expenditure on 

defence pensions? 

 

8.5 As a measure of special recognition, is there a case to review the present benefits 

provided to war widows? 

 

8.6 As a measure of special recognition, is there a case to review the present benefits 

provided to disabled soldiers, commensurate to the nature of their disability? 

 

9. Allowances 

 

9.1 Whether the existing allowances need to be retained or rationalized in such a 

manner as to ensure that salary structure takes care not only of the job profile but the 

situational factors as well, so that the number of allowances could be at a realistic level? 

 

9.2 What should be the principles to determine payment of House Rent Allowance? 

 

10. Pension 

 

10.1 The retirement benefits of all Central Government employees appointed on or 

after 1.1.2004 a re covered by the New Pension Scheme (NPS). What has been the 

experience of the NPS in the last decade? 

 

10.2 As far as pre-1.1.2004 appointees are concerned, what should be the principles 

that govern the structure of pension and other retirement benefits? 

 

11. Strengthening the public governance system 

 

11.1 The 6th CPC recommended upgrading the skills of the Group D employees and 

placing them in Group C over a period of time. What has been the experience in this 

regard? 

 

11.2 In what way can Central Government organizations functioning be improved to 

make them more efficient, accountable and responsible? Please give specific suggestions 

with respect to: 

 

 a) Rationalisation of staff strength and more productive deployment of available 

staff;  

 

 

 

b) Rationalisation of processes and reduction of paper work; and 

c) Economy in expenditure. 

 

12. Training/ building competence 

 

12.1 How would you interpret the concept of “competency based framework”? 

 

12.2 One of the terms of reference suggests that the Commission recommend 

appropriate training and capacity building through a competency based framework. 

 

a) Is the present level of training at various stages of a person's career considered 

adequate? Are there gaps that need to be filled, and if so, where? 

b) Should it be made compulsory that each civil service officer should in his career 

span acquire a professional qualification? If so, can the nature of the study, time 

intervals and the Institution(s) whose qualification are acceptable, all be 

stipulated? 

c) What other indicators can best measure training and capacity building for 

personnel in your organization? Please suggest ways through which capacity 

building can be further strengthened? 

 

13. Outsourcing 

 

13.1 What has been the experience of outsourcing at various levels of Government and 

is there a case for streamlining it? 

 

13.2 Is there a clear identification of jobs that can be outsourced? 

 

14. Regulatory Bodies 

 

14.1 Kindly list out the Regulators set up unde r Acts of Parliament, related to your 

Ministry/ Department. The total number of personnel on rolls (Chairperson and members 

+ support personnel) may be indicated. 

 

14.2 Regulators that may not qualify in terms of being set up under Acts of Parliament 

but perform regulatory functions may also be listed. The scale of pay for Chairperson 

/Members and other personnel of such bodies may be indicated. 

 

14.3 Across the Government there are a host of Regulatory bodies set up for various 

purposes. What are your suggestions regarding emoluments structure for Regulatory 

bodies? 

 

15. Payment of Bonus 

 

One of the terms of reference of the 7th Pay Commission is to examine the 

existing schemes of payment of bonus. What are your suggestions and observations in 

this regard?