Following the report of the Fifth Pay Commission, which has already been implemented by the Centre, the State Government had appointed a three member committee headed by former Chief Secretary D M Sukthankar, to suggest recommendations on revision of wages for its employees.

Apparently, while fixing the revised pay scales, the Sukthankar Committee has taken the report of the Fifth Pay Commission as its base as also the memorandum submitted by the Gazetted Officers' Association led by W M Kulmethe and Shailaja Gharat, unions representing zilla parishads, educational institutions and officers representingdepartments of Home, Revenue, Forest and Social Welfare.

The unions and associations submitted to the Sukthankar Committee that their wages should be brought on par with those offered by the Central Government as per the agreement reached in 1977. Till 1977, the convention was to appoint a separate commission for the State Government employees. However, in the same year, a policy decision was taken not to appoint an independent commission and instead, implement the revised pay scales of the Central Government employees for the State Government employees too.

The Committee, after considering a record number of 500 representations, has recommended that the minimum Basic salary of Rs 750 should be raised to Rs 2,550, while the maximum Basic salary of Rs 7,300 (for non-IAS secretaries) should be hiked to Rs 22,400.

For the Agriculture department, the committee has recommended that the Basic salary of Agriculture Assistant should be raised from Rs 1,200 to Rs 4,000, for Agriculture Supervisor (from Rs 1,400to Rs 5,000).

For a Police Constable drawing a Basic salary of Rs 950, the recommended revised Basic salary is Rs 3,050, for Police Naik the hike is from Rs 975 to Rs 3,200, for Head Constable from Rs 1,320 to Rs 4,000, for Assistant Sub Inspector from Rs 1,400 to Rs 4,500, for Police Sub Inspector from Rs 1,640 to Rs 5,500, for Assistant Police Inspector from Rs 1,640 to Rs 5,500 plus special allowances and for Police Inspector from Rs 2,000 to Rs 6,500.

For the Irrigation department officials, the committee has recommended that the Basic salary of a Junior Engineer should be hiked from Rs 1,600 to Rs 5,000 and for Chief Engineer hike will be from Rs 5,100 to Rs 16,400. The Committee has also made almost similar recommendations for other departments.

Another major recommendation of the Sukthankar Committee is on removal of disparities in pay scales of Central Government employees and their counterparts in the State Government.

At the moment, the lowest scale in the State Government is Rs 775-1,150,while at the Centre, there are two scales - Rs 775-1,025 and Rs 800-1,150. The Committee has recommended that the new scale for the category should be Rs 2,550-3,200. For the pay scale, Rs 2200-3700, which doesn't exist at the Centre, the committee has recommended a revised pay scale of Rs 7,450-11,500. Similarly, there are two scales - Rs 3,200-4,625 and Rs 3,200-4,700, while at the Centre, the corresponding scale is Rs 3,200-4,700. The committee recommended a revised scale of Rs 10650-15850 for both the scales.

The Committee submitted that following revision of scales, there is a possibility of getting lower scale after promotion. In such cases, the committee has recommended a formula for protection of wage structure.

As per the existing procedure, the report of the Sukthankar Committee will now be scrutinised by another high-level committee headed by Chief Secretary P Subramanian, whose recommendations will then be further scrutinised by a Cabinet sub-committee headed by Finance Minister MahadevraoShivankar.

"We hope to complete the entire exercise before August 31 since Chief Minister Manohar Joshi has assured the employees that the new pay scales will be implemented from September 1."

Replying to a question, the official said, if the report is implemented, it will result in additional burden of Rs 5,000 crore on the State exchequer and in addition, the government will have to shell out Rs 7,000 crore towards the arrears.