Government forms six-minister committee to remove pay-scale anomalies

The government has taken an initiative to remove the anomalies that have arisen over the order of grades, promotions and higher grades in the new pay scale for government officials and employees. After reviewing these complaints, the government has formed a six-member cabinet committee to recommend rearranging pay grades, introducing new risk allowances and changing the rates of existing allowances.

The committee, convened by Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, is formally named the 'Committee to Review Matters of Determining and Revising the Pay Grades and Allowances of Employees'. The Cabinet Division issued a notification in this regard on 2 November.

The other members of the committee are Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed, Law Minister Md. Asaduzzaman, Education Minister A N M Ehsanul Hoque Milan, Health and Family Welfare Minister Sardar Md. Sakhawat Hossain, and State Minister for Public Administration and Food Md. Abdul Bari.

The committee will recommend raising or lowering the pay grades of certain posts, bringing consistency among different grades and introducing new allowances. According to the notification, the committee will examine complaints received from employees and give the necessary recommendations for their settlement.

Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister A B M Abdus Sattar, Finance Secretary Md. Khairuzzaman Majumder and Public Administration Secretary Md. Kamruzzaman Chowdhury will assist the committee. Secretaries of the relevant ministries and divisions will also assist. The Finance Division will provide secretarial support to the newly formed committee. The committee may include new members if needed.

However, no deadline has been set for giving the recommendations. Nor has the time for implementing the recommendations been announced. As a result, government officials and employees believe they will have to wait longer for the pay-scale anomalies to be removed.

There is discontent among employees of various posts and professions in government service over pay grades. Complaints include differences in pay grades despite similar responsibilities, mismatch between rank and grade, and reduced financial benefits after promotion. These anomalies have become clearer in implementing the new pay scale.

Employees of various offices, including the Finance Division, the Financial Institutions Division, the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, have raised questions on these matters. They recently applied to Finance Secretary Md. Khairuzzaman Majumder, pointing out anomalies in determining seniority, the order of grades, higher grades and house rent allowance.

The applications give examples of the anomalies. One anomaly in the new pay scale concerns the pay fixation of 11th and 12th grade employees. In the new structure, the starting basic pay of the 11th grade is 25,000 taka, while for the 12th grade it is 24,300 taka. Although the 11th grade is ahead in starting pay, the position reverses after adjusting the previous pay.

An official explained the matter with calculations. He said the basic pay of an 11th grade employee on 30 June last was 23,660 taka. Under the old structure, his pay had increased by 11,160 taka. Adding this increase to the starting pay of the new structure gives 36,160 taka. But as there is no such step in the new structure, his pay is being fixed at 37,000 taka in the next step.

The official further said that the basic pay of a 12th grade employee at the same time was 23,580 taka. Under the old structure, his pay had increased by 12,280 taka. Calculated under the new structure, it comes to 36,580 taka. But in the next step, his basic pay becomes 37,700 taka. That means a 12th grade employee is getting 700 taka more in basic pay than an 11th grade employee.

Another complaint of the employees is that after promotion, some people's total income may fall. According to their example, the basic pay of a 10th grade employee is 49,700 taka. After promotion to the 9th grade, his basic pay rises to 51,000 taka.

But as the house rent allowance rate in the new grade falls from 50 percent to 45 percent, the amount of the allowance decreases. Earlier, a 10th grade employee received 24,850 taka as house rent, which after promotion becomes 22,950 taka. As a result, combining basic pay and house rent allowance, his income will fall by 600 taka after promotion.

Employees are also dissatisfied over higher grades. The complaint is that, as higher grades are given on the basis of completing a specified period of service, in some cases the pay of senior and junior employees is becoming close. There may even be cases where a junior employee's pay exceeds that of a senior employee.

The terms of reference of the six-minister committee cover not only removing pay-grade anomalies but also upgrading or downgrading the grades of various posts and ensuring consistency among grades. The committee will also be able to recommend introducing new risk allowances and other allowances and raising or lowering the rates of existing allowances. In other words, the terms of reference create scope to review introducing a new allowance for government employees engaged in risky duties.

The gazette of the new pay scale was issued on 17 September last. Then, from 5 to 25 October, there was a window for government employees to fix their pay. Those who managed to fix their pay in those 20 days received increased pay from 1 November, calculated from July including arrears. The government financial management system iBAS++ was used for this. However, in fixing pay, besides technical complications, some provisions of the gazette also needed interpretation.

On condition of anonymity, an official of the Finance Division said, 'A similar committee was formed after the 2015 pay scale too. But that committee could not contribute to resolving the complications at that time. I hope this six-member ministers' committee will truly play an effective role in removing the anomalies.'