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7th Central Pay Commission Recommendations on Allowances Related to Working on Holidays

Allowances Covered

1. Holiday Compensatory Allowance

2. Holiday Monetary Compensation

3. National Holiday Allowance

Employees, who are regularly required to work on holidays, are compensated in a variety of ways. Some, like the employees of Delhi Police and the CISF, are granted an extra month’s pay per year. Employees of other CAPFs are granted extra thirty days’ leave. Some other categories of staff are paid allowances, which are dealt with in this section. There are 3 such allowances.

1. Holiday Compensatory Allowance

It is a compensation for a non-gazetted staff of IB who are required to perform duties on holidays and weekends; granted at the rate of one day’s (Basic Pay + DA) for up to thirty days in a financial year. No demands have been received regarding this allowance.

Analysis and Recommendations

The Commission notes that employees in almost all ministries/departments are, sometimes, required to work on weekends. They are usually compensated by providing a “compensatory off.” Thus, a grant of an allowance for weekend working is not justified.

At the same time, the sensitive, and time-bound nature of work done by IB should also be kept in mind. Therefore, it is recommended that the non-gazetted staff of IB, presently covered under Holiday Compensatory Allowance, should, henceforth, be covered by National Holiday Allowance. They will be granted this allowance for up to twelve holidays in a year (including the three National Holidays) at the rates prescribed. Accordingly, Holiday Compensatory Allowance, as a separate allowance, should be abolished.

[Government Decision on Holiday Compensatory Allowance: Abolished as a separate allowance. Eligible employees to be governed by National Holiday Allowance. Not to be subsumed and retained as a separate allowance. Existing system to continue in Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)]

2. Holiday Monetary Compensation

This allowance is granted in Department of Posts and is payable to postmen and other departmental staff who are required to perform duty on second holiday if three consecutive holidays occur. The existing rates are:

Category

 Rate of Remuneration

Supervisor ₹85 per holiday for 4 hoursPostal Assistant ₹85 per holiday for 4 hoursPostmenSorting Postmen/₹85 per holidayMulti-tasking staff ₹60 per holiday for 4 hours

Demands have been received to increase the rate of this allowance to ₹600 per holiday.

Analysis and Recommendations

Since the allowance is not DA indexed, it is proposed to raise the amount to ₹200 per holiday for Supervisors, Postal Assistants and Postmen/Sorting Postmen; and ₹150 per holiday for Multi-tasking Staff. The rate of allowance will further increase by 25 percent each time DA increases by 50 percent.

[Government Decision on Holiday Monetary Compensation: Retained. Rationalized. Accepted ]

3. National Holiday Allowance

This allowance is paid to non-gazetted Railway employees who are rostered to work on a “National Holiday.” The existing rates are:

Pay in Pay Band + Grade Pay Rateup to ₹7260 ₹256 per day₹7261-₹9700 ₹318 per day₹9701 and above (limited to non-gazetted staff) ₹420 per day

There are demands to increase the amount of this allowance to 1.5 x (one day’s Basic Pay + DA)

Analysis and Recommendations

The Commission notes that although there are only three National Holidays, this allowance is granted for twelve days in a year due to operational constraints. Also, the allowance is already partially indexed to the DA. Hence, it is recommended that the amount should be increased by 50 percent to the following:

LevelRate of Allowance (per day)1 and 2₹3843 to 5 ₹4776 to 8 (limited to non-gazetted staff) ₹630

The rate of allowance will further increase by 25 percent each time DA rises by 50 percent.