The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has advocated for revisions to the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the 8th Pay Commission. Employee associations are urging the inclusion of pension revisions for those who retired before January 1, 2026. Historically, previous pay commissionsтАФnamely the 7th, 6th, 5th, and 4thтАФhave had their Terms of Reference modified by the government to address various concerns, including extended coverage and scope.
In a letter to the Department of Expenditure, the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has referred the request for the 8th Pay CommissionтАЩs Terms of Reference (ToR) amendment sent by All India Defence EmployeesтАЩ Federation (AIDEF), Postal Pensioners Association, Mail Motor Staff (MMS) and Railway Mail Service (RMS).
These employee bodies had requested the 8th CPC to amend its ToR and include the pension revision of past pensioners who retired before January 1, 2026. Though the government has, on many occasions, given indications that it would cover approximately all 69 lakh central government pensioners, a large section of pensioners who retired before January 1, 2026, the date from when the 8th CPC is likely to be implemented, is worried over the absence of specific mention of their pension revision in the 8th CPC ToR. As a result, they want the pension revision clause to be included in the ToR. Many central government employee and pensioner bodies have written to the government about the inclusion on behalf of these pensioners. Now, the DoPT is also pushing their case.
However, at a time when a central government department is itself pushing the case of the 8th CPC ToR amendment, the big question is whether it is possible to amend it and whether it has been done in the past?
The report of a pay commission is an authentic source to know about the proceedings that took place during the preparation of its report. The report also includes whether there were amendments to the original terms of reference. Other than that, the central government also announces such amendments by issuing statements.
ET Wealth Online analysed the reports and government orders related to three pay commissions- 7th, 6th, 5th and 4th to gauge if their terms of reference were amended.
Looking at the past pay commission orders and reports available on the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, website, there have been various occasions when the terms of reference of a pay commission have been amended. Here are some of the examples from 7th to the 4th Pay Commissions-
The 7th CPCтАЩs ToR were notified on February 28, 2014, but the government amended these terms through a resolution dated September 8, 2015. In the amendment, the 7th Pay Commission was given a four-month extension to submit its report. After the amendment, the commission could submit its report till December 31, 2015.
The 6th Pay CommissionтАЩs ToR were first notified on October 5, 2006. But the central government made two amendments to that ToR. The first amendment was made on December 7, 2006, when Centre added a clause that the commission would also govern the structure of pay, allowances and other facilities of the тАШmembers of the regulatory bodies (excluding the Reserve Bank of India) set up under Acts of ParliamentтАЩ. The second amendment to the 6th CPC ToR was notified on August 8, 2007, where the government added a clause that the commission would also govern the salary structure of pay, allowances and other facilities of тАШofficers and employees of the Supreme Court of IndiaтАЩ.
Terms of reference in the 5th Pay Commission were amended not once but as many as four times. The ToR was first notified in April 1994 for the commission that was supposed to begin on January 1, 1996. The government made the first amendment in January 1995 when it issued interim relief to employees and merged 20% dearness allowance with basic pay for the calculation of gratuity. The second amendment was made in July 1996, when the central government provided another interim relief to its employees. In its third amendment in October 1996, the government excluded the members of the subordinate judiciary of union territories from the commissionтАЩs purview. The fourth final amendment came in November 1996, when the government sought the examination of different methodologies for the determination and payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB). In the fourth amendment, the government also sought the examination of the ad hoc bonus scheme in force in those departments where PLB schemes were not in operation.
In November 1985, the government amended the 4th Pay Commission terms of reference where it included to have a proper structure of pension and death-cum-retirement benefits of Public Sector Undertakings and state government employees. The amended clause was as follows: "To examine, with a view to having a proper pension structure far pensionersтАФ both past and futureтАФthe existing pension structure; including death-cum-retirement benefits, and make recommendations which may be desirable and feasible having regard, among other relevant factors, to the retirement benefits available to employees of the Public Sector Undertakings, State Governments etc., economic conditions in the country, the resources of the Central Government and the demands thereon such as those on account of developmental planning, defence and national security."
