7th Pay Commission HRA is under the spotlight after the government hiked dearness allowance (DA) of government employees to 50%. This will be effective from January 1, 2024. While that part is done and dusted, there is some uncertainty and confusion about 7th Pay Commission HRA. Notably, along with the hike in dearness allowance, house rent allowance (HRA) too gets a boost.
However, no separate order or notification has been issued by the government regarding any revision of 7th Pay Commission HRA. That begs the question: Is such a new order expected to be released or not? Is the government required to do that?
Also, a thing to be noted is that HRA will depend on the city that the employee resides in. These are divided into X,Y and Z, with the last getting the least hike. As per the rules under 7th Pay Commission, HRA rates are to be revised by 30%, 20% and 10% depending on the city.
As far as a separate 7th Pay Commission HRA notification by the government is concerned, the Economic Times quoted Sanjeev Kumar, Partner, Luthra & Luthra Law Offices India that as per a Ministry of Finance memorandum, there may not be any necessity for another government notification and that this “revision can be implemented direct”. That means there is actually no need for a separate one to be issued.
The best way to know whether the same has been paid by the government is for the central government employees to check the individual components of the salary slip. It would have been added there.
7th Pay Commission DA hike
The government had announced a hike in 7th Pay Commission DA and dearness relief to pensioners by 4% in the month of March. It moved the amount from 46% to 50%. The hike benefitted 49.18 lakh employees and 67.95 lakh pensioners and will cost Rs. 12,868.72 crore per annum to the government.
