7th CPC - Field Area Allowance In The Committee Report

Field Area Allowance (Para 8.10.18) Committee’s Recommendation – 7th CPC  

Existing Provisions: It is granted to Defence, CAPF and personnel of Indian Coast Guard while they are deployed in “Field Areas” which are further classified as Highly Active Field Areas, Field Areas and Modified Field Areas.

Recommendations of 7th CPC: The 7th CPC has recommended that Highly Active Field Area Allowance be paid as per Cell R1H2 of the Matrix @ ₹16,900 pm for level 9 and above and ₹9,700 pm for level 8 and below. For Field area allowance, it is to be paid as per R2H2 of the newly proposed Risk and Hardship Matrix @ ₹10,500/- pm for level 9 and above and @₹6,000/- pm upto level 8. Modified Field Area Allowance, which is currently at the level of 40 percent of Field Area Allowance, be paid at 60 percent of Field Area Allowance, or 60 percent of the rate of this cell. The amount of allowance will increase by 25% each time DA rises by 50%.

The 7th CPC has also recommended that a joint committee of Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Defence should revisit the present classification of places, and future categorizations should also be done as a joint exercise for places where CAPFs are posted.

Demand:

Ministry of Home Affairs: Since the challenges related to risk and hardship faced by CAPFs vary significantly compared to those faced by Defence Forces, Risk and Hardship Matrix Committee of MHA should be separate, which can take holistic view of the nature of deployment of CAPFs.

Analysis and Recommendations of the Committee:

The Committee notes that the 7th CPC, at para 8.10.72 of its report has mentioned that the CAPFs demanded that the classification of Field Areas which is presently done by Ministry of Defence should be done jointly by MoD and MHA for places where CAPFs are deployed. Taking note of the demand, the 7th CPC has already recommended a joint committee of MHA and MoD. The recommendations of the 7th CPC on Field Area Allowance may, therefore, be accepted without any change.