Summary of this article
The National Council (Staff Side) has flagged several gaps in the 8th CPC’s consultation process, in its recent letter to the 8th Pay Commission.
It pointed out that complex pay and pension issues cannot be addressed within the existing word and file-size limits, and urged to change the response format.
The Council has called for a longer deadline extended to May 31, 2026, and acceptance of responses beyond the prescribed online portal.
The National Council (Staff Side) of the Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM), an official body to facilitate communication between the government’s officials and the staff side, sent a letter to the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC) on April 1, 2026, urging extension of the response submission deadline by one month to May 31, 2026. In a letter addressed to Pankaj Jain, Member Secretary, 8th CPC, Shiva Gopal Sharma, Secretary, NC-JCM, reiterated the demands to make nine changes in the questionnaire and response format.
Here is the list of demands it made regarding the representation questionnaire format.
Increase Word Limit: It requested increasing the word limit from 3500 characters, which is approximately 500 words, to 1000 words to send a response on each of the nine themes in the questionnaire. As per the letter, the current limit is insufficient to present their views and justification on complex issues.
Attachment Size: It also asked to increase the attachment size from 2 MB to 10 MB, to enable stakeholders to submit detailed documents, reports, and data annexures.
Sub-Questions: The Council pointed out the unstructured format, where they aren’t permitted to respond to all sub-questions under the main theme. They asked for changing this format, enabling them to answer all the sub-questions as well.
Views On OPS, NPS, And UPS: They demand to include a provision regarding the option of choosing the old pension scheme (OPS). According to the letter, the government employees who are covered under the National Pension System (NPS) and have opted for the assured return Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) are facing issues. Employees demand a non-contributory pension under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 (now 2021), and want an option regarding this in the questionnaire.
Pensioner Issues Missing: The Council brought forward the concerns of pensioners, saying that a separate provision dedicated only to the pensioners’ issues should be introduced in the format, where they can respond to pension revisions, pension parity, restoration of the commuted pension, enhancement, and other retirement benefits.
Women Employees' Welfare Measures: It suggested including a separate section for women employees to address their issues separately, such as maternity benefits, menstrual leave, CCL issues, safety, and workplace equity, and other such provisions.
Department-Specific Issues: It would be better to provide space for different departments to put forward their challenges, operational issues, and cadre-specific issues, so that better policies can be formulated for all, the letter suggested.
Submission Through Email And Hard Copy: As of now, the Commission is accepting only online responses in the prescriber format. However, the Council requested the 8th Commission to accept responses on the email and hard copy as well, to improve accessibility and avoid technical barriers.
And, finally, it also asked the Commission to extend the last date to submit a response from April 30 to May 31, 2026.
