Union finance minister P Chidambaram yesterday informed the United Front standing committee that the government would adopt the same methodology in implementing the fifth pay commission as it did in the case of the fourth pay commission.
Declaring this, United Front spokesman and information and broadcasting minister S Jaipal Reddy yesterday said that the methodology is that first the report would be discussed in the committee of secretaries, then it would be discussed in the joint committee of government employees, senior bureaucrats and government representatives, and finally in the Union cabinet.
What Jaipal Reddy did not say in the briefing was that there was a lot of opposition from the United Front Chief Ministers to the implementation of the fifth pay commission which, they said, would impose huge financial burden on the state government's treasury.
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The two hour meeting of the standing committee yesterday held a detailed discussion on the issue which even saw some heated exchange of words between the state representatives and that of the Union government.
Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad and Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu were present at the meeting. For the United Front which constituted of mainly regional parties who are ruling in various states the issue was a natural reflection of its character.
A UF source said that the states argued that the front being committed to federalism and greater autonomy to states should not impose huge financial burden on states by unilateral decisions like steep hike in pay and perks of government servants.
So intense was the opposition from the state governments, that the standing committee could hardly discuss any other issue except the pay commission.
The inter-state council, which was to have met beginning at 11 in the morning was postponed for a future date.