7th Pay Commission: Three pending DA instalments to be restored from July

The Finance Ministry on Tuesday finally cleared the air around the three pending instalments of Dearness Allowance (DA) for central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) for pensioners.

Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Anurag Thakur assured that the pending DA and DR instalments ((January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021)) will come into effect from July 2021. They were earlier put on hold in view of the Covid-19 pandemic situation last year.

“Three pending instalment of Dearness Allowances of central government employees and Dearness Relief for pensioners to be restored prospectively. The rates will be subsumed in the cumulative revised rates of DA,” Anurag Thakur said.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur stated that the government saved more than ₹35,430.08 crore from freezing these three hikes of DA. This had helped in dealing with Covid-19 disruptions in the country in 2020.

In March 2020, the Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur announced a hike/revision of 4% in the Dearness Allowance received by central govt employees and pensioners, under the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, which was to come under effect from January 1, 2021.

This meant over 50 lakh central government employees and 61 lakh pensioners would receive a hiked DA of 21% from 17%, starting Jan 1, 2021.

The Finance Minister had earlier said that in view of the crisis arising out of Covid-19, it has been decided that the additional instalment of dearness allowance (DA) payable to central government employees and dearness relief (DR) to central government pensioners, due from 1st January, 2020 shall not be paid. It had also said that the additional instalments of DA & DR from 1 July 2020 & 1 Jan 2021 shall also not be paid.