The government has officially clarified in Parliament that central government civilian employees who retired between 2006 and 2008 under the 6th Central Pay Commission will not receive benefits of the Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) Scheme. According to reports from Zee News, Minister of State Jitendra Singh stated that since the MACP scheme was not in place during the period from 1 January 2006 to 31 August 2008, no central government civilian employees, whether in service or retired, will be granted the benefit of the MACP scheme for that period.
The clarification came in response to a query posed by Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh to Minister of State Jitendra Singh on July 23. As reported by Zee News, Singh had sought details on whether central government civilian employees who retired during this period were deprived of MACP benefits and if the government had issued any Office Memoranda for grant of MACP benefits, arrears and revised pensionary benefits to civilian employees retired during that period.
According to the government's response, the central government through resolution notified on 29 August 2008 had considered and accepted the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission for the introduction of a Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) Scheme with effect from 1 September 2008. The scheme provides three financial upgradations on completion of 10, 20 and 30 years of regular service counted from the direct entry grade or 10 years of service in the same grade pay. As reported by Zee News, the scheme is applicable to all central government civilian employees and is particularly important for Group C and Group D employees who have fewer opportunities for promotion.
The National Council of the Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM), the main central government employee body, has recommended raising the number of promotions under the MACP from three to five in its memorandum submitted to the 8th Pay Commission. According to Zee News, the All India Defence Employees' Federation, which represents civilian defence employees, has also made a similar demand in its memorandum. When employees receive MACP benefits, they move to the next consecutive pay level in the hierarchy of the pay matrix, increasing their salary and linked allowances such as dearness allowance and house rent allowance.
