7th Pay Commission News: The Department of Expenditure (DoE) under the Ministry of Finance has updated the rules regarding House Rent Allowance (HRA) for central government employees. According to the updated rules, a government employee will not be eligible for HRA in some cases.
The conditions are:
(1.) If the employee shares government accommodation allotted to another government servant.
(2.) If he/she resides in a residence allotted to their parents/son/daughter by any of these: central/state government, autonomous public sector undertaking and semi-government organisations (municipality, port trust, nationalised banks, LIC etc.).
(3.) If the spouse of a government servant has been given a residence by any of the aforementioned entities in the same station as the government servant, and whether the employee stays in that accommodation, or separately on rent.
House Rent Allowance
This is for salaried individuals who live in rented houses, and is for expenses related to such an accommodation. It comes in three categories: X, Y and Z.
(1.) ‘X’ is for areas with a population of 50 lakh and more. As recommended by the 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC), HRA is given at 24%.
(2.) ‘Y’ is for regions with population between 5 lakh and 50 lakh. It is given at 16%.
(3.) ‘Z’ is given where the population is below 5 lakh. It is given at 8%.