The central government has initiated consultations with key stakeholders including states, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Department of Personnel and Training for the constitution of the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC), the Finance Ministry informed Parliament on Monday.The Union Cabinet had approved the setting up of the 8th CPC in January to revise the pay structure of nearly 50 lakh central government employees and the allowances of about 65 lakh pensioners, PTI reported.In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said “Inputs have been sought from major stakeholders, including Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Personnel & Training and from states.”He added that the chairperson and members of the 8th CPC will be appointed once the commission is formally notified by the government.Responding to a query on the timeline for implementing the revised pay scales, Chaudhary stated, “The implementation would be taken up once the recommendations are made by the 8th CPC and are accepted by the government.”The central government typically sets up a pay commission every 10 years to review and revise the remuneration of its employees. The 7th CPC was constituted in February 2014, and its recommendations came into effect on January 1, 2016. The 8th CPC is scheduled to be implemented from January 1, 2026.To offset the impact of inflation on real income, the government pays dearness allowance (DA) to central employees, which is revised twice a year based on changes in the inflation index.
