The 8th Central Pay Commission has opened its first formal round of stakeholder consultations in Delhi today, with sessions scheduled on April 28, 29, and 30, 2026, to hear central government employee unions and associations on salary structure, allowances, and pension reform.
The Commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, was constituted by gazette notification on November 3, 2025, and has an 18-month mandate to submit its recommendations. Its findings are expected to be implemented retrospectively from January 1, 2026, and will affect roughly 50 lakh central government employees and around 69 lakh pensioners. Professor Pulak Ghosh of IIM Bangalore serves as part-time Member, with Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, as Member-Secretary.
In a notice dated April 24, 2026, the Commission acknowledged it had received “a large number of requests” for participation during the three-day Delhi window and warned that not all requests could be accommodated in this round.
“The Commission is scheduling meeting with maximum number of Unions / Associations during these dates. However, due to compressed schedule, all requests for interaction during these dates may not be accepted,” the notice stated.
The only structured demand on record so far has come from the National Council–Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM), Staff Side, the principal forum representing central government employees. In its memorandum, the NC-JCM has proposed a minimum basic pay of ₹69,000, up from the existing ₹18,000 set under the 7th CPC, alongside a fitment factor of 3.83. The body has also pushed for allowances to be calculated on a five-member family basis, against the current three-member basis, and for a higher ceiling on gratuity.
The Commission has indicated that consultations will not be limited to Delhi. A team had earlier visited Dehradun on April 24 for an outreach session with Uttarakhand-based associations, and the panel has confirmed visits to Pune and other locations across states and union territories in the coming months. Stakeholders outside Delhi-NCR have been advised to wait for regional schedules to be published on the Commission’s website, 8cpc.gov.in.
