“Forward ever, backward never: onwards with Breaking Through”

Will the HRA rise for Central government employees in July?

Will the HRA rise for Central government employees in July 2020?
The central government released the following Order On 23rd April 2020
Directed to say that in view of the crisis arising out of COVID-19, it has been decided that additional installment of Dearness Allowance payable to central government employees and Dearness relief to central government pensioners, due from 1st April 2020 shall not be paid. The additional installments of Dearness Allowance and dearness relief due from 1st July 2020 and 1st January 2021 shall also not be paid.
The impact of this order leads unhappy among Central government employees. Coming July, Government Employees are expecting two important things:
* Annual Increment
* Increase the rate of HRA

Chances to Increase in HRA rate?

Union Ministry released an order regarding House rent allowance on 7th July 2017. In that, they suggested 24%,16%,8% for X, Y, Z category of cities respectively. Therefore the Government decided that HRA shall not be less than Rs 5400, Rs 3600 and Rs 1800 for X, Y and Z category of cities respectively. In addition, the rates of HRA will be revised upwards to 27%, 18% and 9% for X, Y, Z category of cities respectively, when DA crosses 25% and further revised to 30%, 20% & 10% when DA crosses 50%.
The Dearness Allowance rate is 23.92 at present(April). If AICPIN for the month of MAY and JUNE increased by 3 points continuously, DA may also increase above 25%. In this regard, Central government employees believe that HRA will be revised upwards to 27%, 18% and 9% for X, Y, Z category of cities.

No.2/5/2017-E.II(B)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Expenditure
***
New Delhi,
Dated : 07.07. 2017.
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject:- Implementation of recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission relating to grant of House Rent Allowance (HRA) to Central Government employees.
                                                          ****      
Consequent upon the decision taken by the Government on the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission, the President is pleased to decide that, in modification of this Ministry’s O.M. No.2(37)-E.II(B)/64 dated 27.11.1965 as amended from time to time, O.M. No.2(13)/2008-E.II(B) dated 29.08.2008 and OM. No.2/5/2014-E.II(B) dated 21.07.2015, the admissibility of House Rent Allowance (HRA) shall be as under:
CLASSIFICATION OF CITIES/TOWNS
RATE OF HOUSE RENT ALLOWANCE PER MONTH AS A PERCENTAGE OF BASIC PAY ONLY
X
24%
Y
16%
Z
8%

2. The rates of HRA will not be less than Rs.5400/-, 3600/- & 1800/- at X, Y & Z class cities respectively.
3. The rates of HRA will be revised to 27% 18% & 9% for X, Y & Z class cities respectively when Dearness Allowance (DA) crosses 25% and further revised to 30%, 20% & 10% when DA crosses 50%.
4. The term “basic pay” in the revised pay structure means the pay drawn in the prescribed pay levels in the Pay Matrix and does not include Non-Practising Allowance (NPA), Military Service Pay (MSP) etc. or any other type of pay like special pay, etc.
5. The list of cities classified as ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ vide DoE’s O.M. No.2/5/2014-E.II(B) dated 21.07.2015, for the purpose of grant of House Rent Allowance is enclosed as Annexure to these orders.
6. Special orders on continuance of HRA at Delhi (“X” class city) rates to Central Government employees posted at Faridabad, Ghaziabad, NOIDA and Gurgaon, at Jalandhar {“Y” class city) rates to Jalandhar Cantt., at “Y” class city rates to Shillong, Goa & Port Blair and HRA at par with Chandigarh (“Y” class city) to Panchkula, S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali) which have been allowed to continue vide Para ‘4′ of this Ministry’s O.M. No.2/5/2014-E.II(B) dated 21.07.2015 and OM.No.2/2/2016-E.II(B) dated 03.02.2017 shall continue till further orders.
7. All other conditions governing grant of HRA under existing orders, shall continue to apply.
8. These orders shall be effective from 1st July, 2017.
9. The orders will apply to all civilian. employees of the Central Government. The Orders will also be applicable to the civilian employees paid from the Defence Services Estimates. In respect of Armed Forces personnel and Railway employees, Separate orders will be issued by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Railways, respectively.
10. In so far as the persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department are concerned, these orders issue in consultation with the Comptroller & Auditor General of India.
Hindi version is attached.
(Annie George Mathew)
Joint Secretary to the Government of India

ANNEXURE
To O.M. No.2/5/2017-E.II(B) dated 07.07.2017.
LIST OF CITIES/TOWNS CLASSIFIED FOR GRANT OF
HOUSE RENT ALLOWANCE TO CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
S.NO
STATES/ UNION TERRITORIES
CITIES CLASSIFIED AS “X”
CITIES CLASSIFIED AS “Y”
1
ANDAMAN & NICOBAR ISLAND
2
ANDHRA PRADESH  / TELANGANA
Hyderabad (UA)
Vijayawada (UA), Warangal (UA), Greater Visakhapatnam (M.Corpn.), Guntur (UA), Nellore (UA)
3
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
4
ASSAM
Guwahati (UA)
5
BIHAR
Patna (UA)
6
CHANDIGARH
Chandigarh (UA)
7
CHHATTISGARH
Durg-Bhilai Nagar (UA), Raipur (UA)
8
DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI
9
DAMAN & DIU
10
DELHI
Delhi (UA)
11
GOA
12
GUJARAT
Ahmadabad (UA)
Rajkot (UA), Jamnagar (UA), Bhavnagar (UA), Vadodara (UA), Surat (UA)
13
HARYANA
Faridabad* (M.Corpn.), Guraon* (UA)
14
HIMACHAL PRADESH
15
JAMMU & KASHMIR
Srinagar (UA), Jammu (UA)
16
JHARKHAND
Jamshedpur (UA), Dhanbad (UA), Ranchl (UA), Bokaro Steel City (UA)
17
KARNATAKA
Bengalore/Bengaluru(UA)
Belgaum (UA), Hubli-Dharwad (M.Corpn.), Mangalore (UA), Mysore UA), Gulbarga (UA)
18
KERALA
Kozhikode (UA), Kochi (UA), Thlruvanathapuram (UA), Thrlssur (UA), Malappuram(UA), Kannur (UA), Kollam (UA)
19
LAKSHADWEEP
20
MADHYA PRADESH
Gwalior (UA), Indore (UA), Bhopal (UA), Jabalpur (UA), Ujjain (M. Corpn)
21
MAHARASHTRA
Greater Mumbai(UA), Pune (UA)
Amravati (M.Corpn.), Nagpur(UA), Aurangabad (UA), Nashik(UA), Bhiwandi (UA), Solapur (M.Corpn.), Koihapur (UA), Vasai-Virar City (M. Corpn.), Malegaon (UA), Nanded-Waghala (M. Corpn.), Sangli (UA)
22
MANIPUR
23
MEGHALAYA
24
MIZORAM
25
NAGALAND
26
ODISHA
Cuttack (UA), Bhubaneswar(UA), Raurkela UA)
27
PUDUCHERRY(PONDICHERRY)
Puducherry/Pondicherry (UA)
28
PUNJAB
Amritsar (UA), Jalandhar (UA), Ludhiana (M. Corpn.)
29
RAJASTHAN
Bikaner(M.Corpn.), Jaipur (M.Corpn.), Jodhpur(UA), Kota(M.Corpn.),Ajmer( UA)
30
SIKKIM
31
TAMIL NADU
Chennai (UA)
Salem (UA), Tiruppur (UA), Coimbatore (UA), Tiruchirappalli(UA), Madurai UA), Erode UA
32
TRIPURA
33
UTTAR PRADESH
Moradabad (M.Corpn.), Meerut (UA), Ghaziabad*(UA), Aligarh(UA), Agra (UA), Bareilly(UA), Lucknow (UA), Kanpur (UA), Allahabad (UA), Gorakhpur (UA), Varanasi (UA), Saharanpur (M.Corpn.), Noida (CT), Firozabad (NPP), Jhansi(UA)
34
UTTARAKHAND
Dehradun (UA)
35
WEST BENGAL
Kolkata (UA)
Asansol (UA), Siliguri (UA), Durgapur (UA)
*Only for the purpose of extending HRA on the basis of dependency.
NOTE
The remaining cities/towns in various States/UTs which are not covered by classification as “X” or ‘Y”, are classified as “Z” for the purpose of HRA.