The 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) has formally begun its consultation process with a key meeting held on April 28 in New Delhi, where the Standing Committee of the Staff Side (NC-JCM) presented a wide-ranging charter of demands covering salaries, pensions, and service conditions of central government employees.

The meeting, chaired by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, included Commission member Professor Pulak Ghosh, Member Secretary Pankaj Jain, senior officials, and stakeholder representatives. The staff delegation was led by Shiva Gopal Mishra.

This interaction marks the first structured engagement between the Commission and employee representatives, setting the tone for what is expected to be an extensive review of compensation frameworks and welfare measures. The Commission has indicated that this is only the beginning, with further consultations, stakeholder discussions, and field visits planned across the country to ensure broader participation and a more comprehensive assessment of demands.

10-point Charter of Demands

During the meeting, the Staff Side placed a detailed memorandum outlining key expectations from the 8th Pay Commission. The demands reflect long-standing concerns around career progression, income adequacy, social security, and post-retirement benefits.

A major demand relates to career progression, with employees seeking five time-bound promotions over a 30-year service period under the ACP/MACP framework. On pay fixation, the Staff Side has proposed granting two additional increments upon promotion along with improved fixation benefits.

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In terms of allowances, employees have called for a threefold increase in House Rent Allowance (HRA), Children Education Allowance (CEA), and risk allowance, with a mechanism to link these revisions to Dearness Allowance (DA). The restoration of financial advances, including festival and calamity advances, alongside the introduction of a vehicle advance and waiver of recovery in case of death in service, has also been sought.

The memorandum places strong emphasis on leave reforms, proposing an increase in earned leave encashment to 600 days and expansion of leave categories to include childcare, paternity, menstrual, medical, and disability-related leave. On the social security front, there is a demand to enhance CGEGIS insurance coverage with revised contribution levels.

A significant proposal is the provision of ₹2 crore ex-gratia compensation in case of accidental death during service. Additionally, the Staff Side has called for the removal of the 5% cap on compassionate appointments, seeking 100% coverage for eligible dependents.

Further, employees have demanded reforms in the bonus structure, including the removal of ceilings and calculation based on Basic Pay plus DA. On pensions, the memorandum reiterates a strong push for the withdrawal of NPS/UPS and restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), along with pension revision, OROP for civilian employees, enhanced gratuity, family pension benefits, and a provision for revision every five years.

Due to time constraints during the meeting, the Staff Side has sought permission to submit a supplementary memorandum, which the Commission has agreed to consider in subsequent rounds.

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Deadline extended

In a parallel development, the 8th Pay Commission has extended the deadline for submission of memoranda, representations, and suggestions to May 31, 2026, from the earlier April 30 deadline. The extension follows requests from employee unions and stakeholders, as well as technical issues that temporarily affected the Commission’s official website.

All submissions must be made through the designated online portal (https://innovateindia.mygov.in/8cpc-memorandum-submission/), with the Commission mandating a fully digital submission process. It has clarified that no hard copies, PDFs, or email submissions will be accepted, ensuring standardisation and streamlined processing of inputs.

The Commission has opened the consultation process to a wide pool of stakeholders, including central government employees (industrial and non-industrial), All India Services officers, defence personnel, Union Territory employees, and staff of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department. Employees of statutory and regulatory bodies (excluding the RBI), as well as judicial officers linked to Union Territories, are also eligible to participate.

Typically, such memoranda include demands related to pay revision, fitment factors, allowances, pensions, and working conditions. The NC-JCM has already proposed a fitment factor of 3.83 and a minimum basic pay of ₹69,000, though individual unions and organisations are free to submit their own recommendations.