8th national pay scale approved, basic pay range Tk 8,250 - 78,000

The government has approved a new pay scale for its employees with a highest basic pay of Tk 78,000 and a minimum of Tk 8,250, allowing an across-the-grade hike ranging from 91 to 101 percent.

An officer who joins government service by clearing the BCS examinations will now get a basic pay of Tk 22,000, to which will be added house rent in accordance with the area of residence and medical reimbursements.

The earlier basic was Tk 11,000.

The basic pay for officers and other employees will take retroactive effect from July 1 this year, while the allowances will be paid from July 1, 2016.

A Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, endorsed the eighth national pay scale on Monday.

Cabinet Secretary Md Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said new pay scales had been recommended for the armed forces also.

He said the new structure had dropped the class categories, selection grade, and time scale. The annual increment will be a percentage of the basic pay.

The government employees will be given two festival bonuses as well as 20 percent of the basic as Bangla New Year allowance.

Although the recommended highest basic pay is Tk 78,000, the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister will get a basic of Tk 86,000, while senior secretaries will be entitled to Tk 82,000.

Their earlier pay was Tk 45,000 and Tk 42,000, respectively.

Officers of these grades have fixed salaries, which means they are not entitled to any annual increments.

The new pay scale will impose a burden of over Tk 159.04 billion on the government in the current financial year. Next year, it will be more than Tk 238.28 billion.

“Revenue inflow has risen compared with what it was last year. It is expected to increase further next year. So, it will not be difficult for the government to shoulder this additional burden,” said Bhuiyan.

The current pension rate, which is 80 percent of the basic, has been increased to 90 percent.

The Seventh Pay Scale, introduced on July 1, 2009, had awarded a highest basic of Tk 40,000 and a minimum of Tk 4,100.

In addition, government employees posted in cities have been getting 20 percent of their basic salary as dearness allowance. This sum will be withdrawn once the new scale comes into effect.

Mohammad Farasuddin, former governor of Bangladesh Bank, made the recommendations of the Eighth Pay Commission on Dec 21.

It had recommended a minimum scale of Tk 8,200 and a highest of Tk 80,000.

A secretaries’ committee reviewed the recommendations and revised the basics to a minimum of Tk 8,250 and a highest of Tk 75,000.

The recommendation of the secretaries was further reviewed by the finance ministry, with the final figures emerging as Tk 8,250 at the bottom and Tk 78,000 at the top.

The Pay Commission had recommended a 16-grade structure, but a 20-grade structure, recommended by the secretaries’ committee, was finally approved on Monday.

Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the Cabinet also approved unlimited financial help for scientific research that promised to break new grounds.

The Cabinet has ruled out suggestions for a permanent pay commission but a final decision is yet to be taken.

The 20 grades

According to the new scale, basic salaries would be raised as follows:

Grade	7th National Pay Scale	8th National Pay Scale
Grade 1	40,000	78,000
Grade 2	33,500	66,000
Grade 3	29,000	56,000
Grade 4	25,750	50,000
Grade 5	22,250	43,000
Grade 6	18,500	35,500
Grade 7	15,000	29,000
Grade 8	12,000	23,000
Grade 9	11,000	22,000
Grade 10	8,000	16,000
Grade 11	6,400	12,000
Grade 12	5,900	11,300
Grade 13	5,500	11,000
Grade 14	5,200	10,200
Grade 15	4,900	9,700
Grade 16	4,700	9,300
Grade 17	4,500	9,000
Grade 18	4,400	8,800
Grade 19	4,250	8,500
Grade 20	4,100	8,250

Time Scale-Selection Grade abolished

The government has decided to do away with the present Selection Grade and Time Scale for government employees. Henceforth, increments will be announced on July 1 every year, the Cabinet secretary said.

“Earlier, increments used to be in money terms; now it will be a percentage of the basic pay,” he said.

The annual increment rate would vary, he said, giving a bigger hike to those at the lower grades.

Those in Grades 20 to 6 will get increment at the rate of 5 percent. For Grade 5, the rate will be 4.5 percent while for Grades 3 and 4 it will be 4 percent, and for Grade 2 it will be 3.75 percent of the basic.

The Cabinet secretary said this system would yield greater hikes than the present time scale.

He said the Cabinet was happy with the scrapping of time-scale and selection-grade because of the anomalies they created.

Bhuiyan said the Finance Division would issue a notice regarding the new pay structure. Until then, those on time scale and selection grade would remain there.

Class abolished

The class categories for government employees have also been abolished.

“There will be no more classes. The Grade will be an employee’s identity, not class. People used to feel uncomfortable to say they were Class-III or Class-IV staff,” Bhuiyan said.

The regulations regarding officers and ordinary employees based on class categories would be revised.

Allowance

“The various allowances have been clearly spelt out in the new pay scale. Some might get more and some less allowances than before,” the cabinet secretary said.

The housing allowance would be determined according to the place of residence as before.

In the Seventh Pay Scale, government employees used to get Tk 700 as medical allowance every month.

They used to get a host of other extras such as festival, tiffin, laundry, travel, domestic, and hill allowances among others.

Same pay for chiefs of three services

The Cabinet secretary said the government approved a uniform pay scale for the chiefs of the three services and introduced a new pay scale for the armed forces.

The army chief’s pay has been defined all along but the air force and navy chief used to get the scale of a Lieutenant General.

The prime minister had said the ranks of the air and naval chief would be upgraded, said Bhuiyan. They will now get a basic salary of Tk 86,000.

In other words, their salary will match that of the Cabinet secretary and the prime minister’s principal secretary.

The basic pay of those of the rank of Lieutenant General would be Tk 82,000, which is the same as that of senior secretaries.

Those of the rank of Major Generals will have a basic of Tk 78,000, hiked from the current Tk 40,000.

Bhuiyan said the revision had been made to bring about parity between the salaries of civilian and defence staff.

The defence employees, too, had been getting a minimum basic of Tk 4,100 and a maximum of Tk 40,000 but they had bigger basket of allowances.

Defence employees who are not combatants will have a minimum basic of Tk 8,250, and combatants Tk 8,500.

A Second Lieutenant’s basic pay will now be Tk 22,000, up from Tk 11,000.

The other aspects of defence pay scales had been finalised by the defence ministry.

University teachers’ pay

The Cabinet discussed the university teachers’ demands ‘with much importance’, said Bhuiyan.

“The government is fully aware of their responsibilities, and their role and position in society.”

In the 7th Pay Scale, secretaries among the civil servants, Major Generals among the military officers, and selection-grade professors of public universities were in the highest grade, Grade 1.

Senior professors were in Grade 2 and professors in Grade 3.

The new pay scale retained the grades of professors and senior professors but did not separately mention the selection-grade professors, which is one of the issues the teachers have been pressing the government for.

The university teachers have been abstaining from work and holding demonstrations, alleging their status was downgraded in the recommended pay scale.

They have also demanded a separate pay scale for university teachers and review of the new pay scale.

The Federation of Bangladesh University Teachers' Associations (FBUTA) has also announced to work abstention on Tuesday to press for their four-point charter of demands.

The Cabinet secretary on Monday said, “Several demands of the university teachers were presented at the meeting. The Cabinet cannot immediately take a final decision on this.”

“That’s why the committee on resolving the salary discriminations has been tasked to review their demands and make recommendations.”

Bhuiyan said the teachers would get their salaries according to the new pay scale. “They will get paid as per the new scale of the grades they are currently on. Their current facilities won’t be downgraded. University teachers will not be afflicted in any way.”

He said the teachers’ demands were ‘important and basic issues’.

New scale for MPO teachers

The Cabinet secretary said the MPO teachers of private schools would also get paid according to a new pay scale with retroactive effect from July 1.

But the procedure to be followed for implementing the revised pay had not yet been finalised, he said.

“The Finance Division is working on the details.”

He said Cabinet endorsement would not be needed to revise the pay structure of MPO teachers.

“The Finance Division proposal will contain everything.”