All kinds of discussions and speculations have been going on among lakhs of central employees and pensioners across the country for quite some time regarding the 8th Central Pay Commission. In particular, there were continuous speculations regarding increase in fitment factor and possible increase in minimum wage. Now, for the first time, the Central Government has made its official stand clear on this very sensitive issue on the floor of Parliament.
While presenting its point, the government has made it clear that the 8th Pay Commission is carrying out its work as a completely independent body. Along with this, the Commission does not have any legal obligation to give any internal information about the internal proceedings, meetings or proposals under consideration to the government.
What did the government say on fitment factor and internal meetings?
In a written reply to a starred question asked by an MP in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the House that as per the provisions of the 'Terms of Reference' (ToR) of the 8th Pay Commission, the Commission is taking its decisions completely independently.
He further clarified that until the Commission fully prepares and submits its final report, there is no need for it to share any information about its meetings, necessary suggestions, mutual discussions or any proposal like fitment factor with the government. This simply means that at present even the Central Government does not have any official details of the internal discussions or possible recommendations of the Commission.
What was said on the major demands of employee organizations?
This question was asked to the government by Rajya Sabha MP Javed Ali whether the government is considering the ongoing demands of various employee organizations to increase the fitment factor and increase the scope of 'family unit' (family size) for calculating salaries?
On this, the government clearly refused to make any comment directly in favor or against any demand. The government's argument is that since the Commission is completely independent in the entire process of preparing its report, it would not be appropriate for the government to give any response to any raw proposal before its final recommendations are made.
How many meetings have been held so far and what is the deadline for the report?
While giving information in Parliament, the government also made it clear that they do not have any official data or record available as to how many meetings have been held by the Commission so far or with which employee organizations and other concerned stakeholders it has been discussed so far. The main reason given for this was that the Commission is working completely independently and it is not mandatory for it to make every such small and big information public.
It is noteworthy that the Central Government had officially constituted the 8th Central Pay Commission last year under its proposal issued on 3 November 2025. According to this proposal, the Commission has to submit its final recommendations to the government within the next 18 months from the date of its constitution. At present, no new announcement has been made by the government regarding any change or extension in this stipulated time limit.
Main demands of employees and further situation
Central employee organizations across the country have been demanding major changes in the fitment factor and salary structure for a long time. Their main demands include directly increasing the fitment factor of the 7th Pay Commission from 2.57 to 3.83. Apart from this, major demands like increasing the minimum basic salary from Rs 18,000 to Rs 69,000, increasing the size of family unit for calculating salary from 3 to 5 and including parents of employees in the official definition of family are being raised prominently.
However, any final approval on all these demands will be given only after the 8th Pay Commission report comes and after that it gets the approval of the Central Government. It has become very clear from this latest statement of the government that at present no final decision has been taken regarding fitment factor, minimum wage or any other salary revision. Therefore, ignoring the speculations going on on social media, employees should wait for the final report of the Commission and then the official decision of the government.
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