No new pay commission in future

No new commission would be formed for increasing salaries of government staff, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said yesterday.

"We are going to take a policy decision in this regard," Muhith told reporters at his secretariat office a day after the approval of the new pay scale by the cabinet.

He said the Awami League's electoral pledge was to not make any pay commission, rather the salaries of civil servants would automatically increase.

After the pay hikes for civil servants made this year, also in 2009, as well as the introduction of a new increment system, no pay commission would be required in future, according to Muhith.

Presenting an idea about an alternative arrangement, Muhith said there would be an officer who would submit a report to the cabinet every year.

He said the report would contain the conditions of the pay and service of the public servants in a particular year and mention whether any change to it was required. He said some changes regarding pay and allowance would be made considering inflation.

He said, "I think in future slight increase will be required after two or three years."

Muhith said pay-scale grade would change automatically and the details of this would be in the circular. He said when an employee reaches the last step of a grade by getting increments, his or her grade would automatically change.

The finance minister termed the existing time scale and selection grade a corrupt system. It is a system of discrimination; one gets the benefit and the other does not, he said.

Muhith said the pay scale given this year was an epoch-making step in the history of the country and that this would reduce corruption.

"We hope the reflection of this increase will also be seen in the private sector. It will further increase the number of satisfied people," he said.

"As a whole, there will be an impact on the corruption climate," Muhith claimed.

He said corruption in the country had reached an intolerable level and one of the reasons for corruption was inequality in salaries.

The finance minister said in this fiscal year's budget, no allocation had been made for beggars, even though money was set aside for them in the previous six years.

There were no beggars in the country and that those seen begging in Dhaka and Chittagong were habitual beggars, he claimed.

"They are sent to the villages but they return to the towns again," he said.

"So I have no sympathy for a single beggar in the country," the finance minister said.