8th Pay Commission update: The Centre has finally hinted at when it will announce the appointment of the chairman and members of the new pay panel. It’s been more than six months now since the Modi government on January 16 announced the 8th Pay Commission, which was supposed to start its term from January 1, 2026, once the 7th Pay Commission completes its 10-year term on December 31, 2025.
However, the progress in terms of the appointment of members and chairman, as well as finalising Terms of Reference (ToR), has not been as expected. Over 1 crore serving employees and pensioners are keenly waiting for the government to notify the ToR, which will pave the way for recommendations to revise salaries and pensions for the staff. The National Joint Consultative Mechanism (Staff Side) – NC JCM, representing central government employees and pensioners, submitted its suggestions for the ToR to the Union Cabinet Secretary after the government in January sought recommendations.
The NC-JCM is a platform for dialogue between the government and its employees, specifically concerning matters of common interest and employee welfare.
Meanwhile, the government was asked by a member, Sagarika Ghose, in the Rajya Sabha about the date of issuance of the official notification approving the constitution of the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC).
In a written reply, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, said that the government has received inputs from various stakeholders and will issue the official notification “in due course”.
When will govt appoint chairperson, members of 8th pay panel?
The member also asked the government whether it has finalised the names of the panel members and the chairman. A query was also raised about the likely timeline for these appointments. To this, Chaudhary replied “the chairperson and members of the 8th CPC would be appointed once the 8th CPC is notified by the government”.
The Rajya Sabha member also enquired about the ToR progress and whether the ministry has set a specific timeline for the commission to submit its recommendations.
Replying to the query, the minister said that inputs have been sought from major stakeholders, including the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Department of Personnel & Training, and from states.
The 8th Pay Commission, Chaudhary said, will make its recommendations within the timeline that will be provided in the ToR.
No realistic chance of 8th Pay Commission submitting recommendations in 2026
A Pay Commission is set up every 10 years to review the salary, allowances, pension, and other benefits of government employees. The pay panel comes out with its report usually in 18-24 months and based on this report, the Centre decides the new salary structure to be implemented for central employees and pensioners.
This time also, once the ToR is finalised and members are appointed, the panel is expected to take at least 18 months to submit its report. Based on the 8th Pay Commission recommendations, the government will decide the hike in salaries and pensions as well as other welfare measures. Even the recommendations of the last pay panel got delayed but were implemented retrospectively for January 1, 2016.
