After a long wait, a positive sign has now emerged for central employees and pensioners. The stir regarding the 8th Pay Commission has intensified. About three months after the formation of the Commission, it has now got its permanent office in Delhi. With this it has become clear that the process of salary increase is no longer limited to just discussion, but is progressing at the ground level.
The Eighth Pay Commission has been allotted office space in Chandralok Building in Janpath area of New Delhi. After the office becomes fully operational, the work related to the Commission is expected to gain momentum. Central employees and retired pensioners can directly benefit from this, because important decisions related to salary, allowances and pension will be prepared from this platform.
Another big update has come out in this series. The Staff Side Drafting Committee of the National Council, representing central government employees and pensioners, is going to hold an important meeting in Delhi on 25 February 2026. This meeting will be held in the office located on Ferozeshah Road and employee organizations associated with different departments of the country will participate in it. Employees of many major departments including Railways, Defence, Postal Department, Income Tax will participate in the meeting. It is believed that this discussion may last not for one day but for about a week, so that all the issues can be considered in detail.
According to sources, important topics like salary structure of employees, dearness allowance, other allowances, promotion policy, pension and service conditions will be discussed in this meeting. All these suggestions will be prepared in the form of a draft, which will later be submitted to the Pay Commission. As soon as the office of the 8th Pay Commission becomes fully functional, this memorandum can be formally submitted on behalf of the employees. This is the reason why employee organizations have already started their preparations.
The Eighth Pay Commission will soon issue an official notification. Through this notification, suggestions will be sought from the Central Government, State Governments and other concerned institutions regarding salary and service conditions. All stakeholders will have to send their proposals to the Commission within the stipulated time limit. After this, the final draft prepared by NC-JCM will be placed before the Commission. However, it is not necessary that the Commission accept all the recommendations as they are.
If we look at past experience, at the time of the Seventh Pay Commission, employee organizations had demanded to increase the minimum basic salary to Rs 26,000, but the Commission had fixed it at Rs 18,000. That is, along with the suggestions, the Commission also applies its own conditions and calculations.
At present, it has become clear from the office allocation and the meeting to be held in February that the process of 8th Pay Commission has now moved out of paper and has entered the phase of real work. In the coming months, the foundation of major decisions regarding salary and pension of central employees will be laid here.
