Justice Mathur to head 7th Central Pay Commission

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved composition of the 7th Pay Commission, which will revise the salaries of over 50 lakh Central government employees. "The prime minister has approved the composition of the 7th Central Pay Commission," the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Former Supreme Court Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur has been appointed as chairman of the Commission, with Oil Secretary Vivek Rae as full time member. Rathin Roy (director, NIPFP) will be part-time Member and Meena Agarwal (OSD, department of expenditure) its secretary.

Earlier in September 2013, the prime minister had approved setting up of the 7th Pay commission.

The commission has been mandated to submit its report in two years time and its recommendations would be implemented from January 1, 2016.

The setting up of the commission, whose recommendations will benefit about 50 lakh central government employees, including those in defence and railways, and about 30 lakh pensioners, comes ahead of the general elections.

The government constitutes a Pay Commission almost every 10 years to revise the pay scales of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some modification.

The sixth Pay Commission was implemented with effect from January 1,2006, the fifth from January 1, 1996 and fourth from January 1, 1986.