• The NCOA has said that the revised rates announced by the DPE are that of April 2021
• The NCOA has said that the DPE order has also created a disparity between PSU executives and non-executives, as DA was not frozen for non-executives

New Delhi: The National Confederation of Officers' Association (NCOA) has claimed that there has been a mistake in the calculation of the increase in Dearness Allowance (DA) for PSU employees by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) in its recently released order. The NCOA said on Wednesday that the increased DA rates announced by the DPE are not only the revised rates for April 2021, but have also created a disparity between PSU executives and non-executives.

In an order released on August 2, the DPE increased DA for PSU executives and non-unionised supervisors to 23.2 percent (2017 pay scale), 170.5 percent (2007 pay scale) and 356.7 percent (1997 pay scale).

Increase in DA: 'DPE seems to have missed few basic facts'

Speaking to PSU Watch, Alok Roy, NCOA president, said, "It looks like the DPE has missed a few important basic facts while issuing the order of DA restoration. The IDA is automatically calculated based on ACPI index as per Pay Revision which was implemented with the approval of the Cabinet. Any ministry or DPE can't go against the Cabinet decision. The CDA is being revised by the Cabinet approval w.e.f. July 1, 2021. Further as IDA has already been implemented in all CPSEs, organisation can't work on two different methodologies for calculating DA. Hence DPE is not left with any other option, but to go for corrective action."

Revised DA rates for PSU employees are April revised DA rates

The NCOA has said that the revised rates announced by the DPE are that of April 2021 —23.2 percent, 170.5 percent and 356.7 percent for 2017 pay scale, 2007 pay scale and 1997 pay scale, respectively. "Actual rate effective from 01-07-2021 for 2017 pay scale is 24.6 percent, for 2007 pay scale it is 173.6 percent and 361.9 percent for 1997 pay scale," said NCOA in a letter dated August 4 to DPE Joint Secretary Sanjay Kumar Jain.

Since the DA freeze was implemented in the case of PSU executives later than the Central government employees, DA for PSU employees was frozen at a lesser rate in comparison to the latter, said NCOA. At the end of the June quarter, the DA rates for PSU employees were 18.7 percent (2017 pay scale), 160.7 percent (2007 pay scale) and 340.2 percent (1997 pay scale).  "Whereas during the next quarter, it got reduced to 18.4 percent, 159.9 percent and 338.7 percent and ended up in freezing at this lower rate," said NCOA in the letter.

DPE order creates disparity between PSU executives, non-executives

The NCOA has said that the DPE order has also created a disparity between PSU executives and non-executives, as DA was not frozen for non-executives. "Since DA for non-executives was not frozen, the same has already implemented at 24.6 percent for 2017 pay scale, 173.6 percent for 2007 pay scale and 361.9 percent for 1997 pay scale of workmen. Hence the disparity in DA between executives and non-executives will create anomaly even during non-freeze period of DA as well," said the NCOA in the letter. It urged the DPE to rectify the mistake and issue fresh circulars. 

Queries sent to DPE remained unanswered at the time of publishing this story. The story will be updated when a response is received. 

(PSU Watch– India's Business News center that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)