7th pay commission, tn govt employees, salary hike for tn govt employees, palanisami tn chief minister, 7th cpc, central govt employees
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.Creative Commons

Tamil Nadu, which survived a political crisis only a few days ago, has appointed a panel to examine the possibility of a salary hike for about 18 lakh state government employees. The five-member committee appointed by Chief Minister E Palaniswami will study the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) and submit its report by June 30.

Read: 7th Pay Commission could give an unintended bonanza to private sector employees

On Wednesday, the Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association met Palaniswami to thank him for the decision to consider pay hike in accordance with the 7th CPC proposals.

The move comes just days after Palaniswami won a trust vote in the state Assembly after being sworn-in as the chief minister, ending days of uncertainty and speculation triggered by VK Sasikala's alleged usurpation of power by becoming the AIADMK general secretary and staking claim to head the state government.

Her conviction by the Supreme Court on February 14 in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate (DA) case ended her brief ambition, though the rival camp in the party headed by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam could not muster enough MLAs to outwit her.

The move to mull over salary hike for state government employees comes amid the backdrop of rival DMK upping the ante with protests against the manner in which the trust vote was passed and expectations of mid-term elections by June this year.

The DMK has 89 members in the 234-member TN Assembly. Palaniswami won the trust vote with 122 votes in favour and 11 against while the DMK and its allies walked out of the House in protest ahead of the vote.

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Tamil Nadu will be following the footsteps of many states such as Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Uttarakhand that have already implemented salary hike for their employees in accordance with the proposals of the 7th CPC.

Counting for elections held/being held in the five states (Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Manipur and Uttarakhand) will begin on March 11 and results will be declared on the same day. The stakes are high for the BJP and the SP-Congress combine in Uttar Pradesh.

The recommendations of the 7th CPC covers 47 lakh Central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners, of which 14 lakh employees and 18 lakh pensioners are from the defence forces.