ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: The government is considering a proposal to make major changes to the basic pay-scale structure under which approximately a 100 per cent increase in the salary of military and civilian bureaucracy is envisaged, documents available with Dawn show.

The new pay-scales may be implemented by the first week of December, sources said and added that draft proposals had been formulated.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in his budget speech as finance minister had promised to increase pay and pension. The proposals envisage only 12 scales, instead of the current 22 grades.

Under the proposed scales, employees in grade one to four would be in scale one; grade 5-7 in scale two; grade 8-10 in scale three; grade 11-12 in scale 4; grade 13-15 in scale 5, grade 16 in scale 6; grade 17 in scale 7; grade 18 in scale 8; grade 19 in scale 9; grade 20 in scale 10; grade 21 in scale 11 and grade 22 in scale 12.

Under the proposal, the staring salary for scale one will be Rs4,080. With annual increments of Rs170, the maximum salary for scale one employees would be Rs9,180 per month. Under the existing scale, the maximum salary of employees falling in the category is Rs4,590 per month.

For employees in scale two, the starting salary would be Rs4,440 per month. With an increment of Rs240 per annum, the maximum salary for scale two employees would be Rs11,640.

For employees in scale three, the starting salary would be Rs4,980 per month. After addition of increments of Rs320, the maximum salary for scale three employees would be Rs14,580 per month.

Employees in scale four would have a starting salary of Rs5,490 with the maximum being Rs17,190.

Officials in scale five would have a starting salary of Rs6,570. The maximum salary in this scale is proposed to be Rs22,470.

For employees in scale six, the starting salary would be Rs7,610 with a maximum being Rs25,310 per month.

As envisaged in the document, officers currently in grade-17 would be in the new scale seven with a starting salary of Rs12,420 and a maximum salary of Rs35,710 per month. The annual increment would be Rs1,165..

The document proposes a starting salary of Rs15,270 for officers in scale eight (current grade-18) and a maximum of Rs44,490 per month. An increment of Rs1,461 is proposed for scale eight employees.

For officers in the proposed scale nine (existing grade-19), the proposal suggests a starting salary of Rs24,800 and a maximum of Rs55,500 per month, with an increment of Rs1535.

For officers in new scale 10 (currently grade-20), the document proposes a starting salary of Rs29,420 and a maximum of Rs71,280, with an increment of Rs2,990.

Under the proposed salary structure, officers equivalent to the rank of Major-General in the armed forces and others in the proposed pay scale-11 would get a maximum salary of Rs76,990 per month. Under the existing pay structure, two-star generals and other grade-21 officers have a maximum salary of Rs31,285. The increment for scale-11 employees is set at Rs3,170. The new salary of the Lieutenant Generals, who are currently drawing a maximum salary of grade-22 officials, is yet to be worked out for the proposed salary structure. However, the sources said, the new salary for grade 22 officers would be in the range of Rs80,000 to Rs85,000.

According to the sources, it is still to be decided if the salary increase would have any impact on pension, gratuity and other perks and benefits enjoyed by government servants.

Economic adviser and director-general of the debt management cell Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, when contacted, said that although a pay and pension commission had been formed, no such proposal was under consideration of the finance ministry. He said that no proposal to increase the salary of government servants by 100 per cent was in his knowledge.

Finance Secretary Navid Ahsan could not be contacted for comments.