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The Himachal Pradesh government has placed a recently issued pay revision notification in abeyance, just two days after its promulgation. The move comes amid a growing wave of resentment among government employees who claimed the new rules would lead to a significant pay cut.
The controversy began with a notification issued by the Finance (Pay revision) Department on Saturday, September 6, 2025. Titled "The Himachal Pradesh Civil Services (Revised Pay) Second Amendment Rules, 2025," the order aimed to omit Rule 7A from the Himachal Pradesh Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2022, with retrospective effect from January 3, 2022. The notification stated that "The pay of the Govt. employees shall be re-fixed as if rule 7A was never inserted in the said rules" and "No recovery shall be made of any overpayment detected consequent upon re-fixation of pay". However, this decision was met with immediate opposition from employee unions. As per the Federation of Secretarial Employees Union President Sanjeev Sharma, the amendment would cause employees to lose between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 per month after their pay was re-fixed. Unions announced plans to meet with the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, and Principal Secretary (Finance) to plead for the notification to be withdrawn. Amid this growing resentment, the government issued a subsequent notification on Monday, September 8, 2025, quoting the order as: "The Governor, Himachal Pradesh, is pleased to order that the Notification issued vide No. Fin(PR)B(7)-1/2021-Loose, dated 6.9.2025 shall be held in abeyance on administrative grounds, till further orders." This action effectively revokes the new pay rules for the time being, with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's direction leading to the decision to put the contentious notification on hold. The pay issue is a significant concern for thousands of government employees, and this latest development is seen as a direct response to their protest and an attempt to address their grievances. Earlier in the day, delegations from the Non-Gazetted Employees Federation and the Secretariat Employees Federation met the Chief Minister, apprising him of the financial loss the notification would cause employees. The CM assured them that the matter would be considered and announced to revoke the withdrawal of the notification. (ANI)
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