ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Housing and Works on Tuesday notified a 85pc increase in the rental ceiling for federal government employees.

The increase in the rental ceiling has been approved with effect from November 1, 2025.

However, the employees will continue receiving the ceiling amount through their departments. They had been demanding that the ceiling amount should be made part of their regular salary as getting it from their respective department was always a hectic task.

They said the delay in the release of the ceiling amount created problems for the employees. However, the employees appreciated the federal government for the 85pc increase and again demanded that it should be made part of their salaries.

“We are happy for this 85 increase, but we have been demanding for making the ceiling amount part of the regular salary. For getting the ceiling amount, we have to move several departments,” said Federal Government Heads (principals) Association President Fazal-i-Mola.

We are happy with decision, but making ceiling amount part of regular salary is our longstanding demand, says teachers’ representative

He said that there are three types of government employees: those who avail ceiling fund, those who live in government owned residences and those who get house rent in their salaries.

He said employees who don’t have government owned houses and get house rent in their salaries should be given the rent amount in accordance with the current basic salaries.

Meanwhile, Vice President of Joint Action Committee of Federal Directorate of Education Malik Ameer Khan said the government was paying house rent in accordance with the basic pay of year 2008, which was a great injustice and this rent should be increased in the light of current basic salaries.

“As far as ceiling fund is concerned, we have been demanding for years that this should be made part of salaries to ease out the process. Getting approval of hiring is a cumbersome process,” he said, adding the ceiling amount should be increased every year.

“The ministry of housing had to do lots of struggle for around 18 months for getting the 85pc increase approved from the federal government,” he said and appreciated efforts made by the housing minister and all those who were involved in the process.

He also highlighted another issue, saying the government deducts 5pc from the salaries of all employees, who live in official residences for repair and maintenance, but in return, the allottees of these houses have to face a lot of hardship for getting the repair work done from the departments concerned.

“Instead of making this 5pc deduction, the government should authorise the allottees to get the repair work done on their own,” he said.

Meanwhile, a press release issued by housing ministry stated that 85pc increase had been notified after four years as last revision was made in September 2021.

The ministry said hiring of residential accommodation is decentralised across six specified stations: Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar. Over time, private rental costs in these cities have escalated significantly due to inflation and the growing influx of population, making it increasingly difficult for government employees to secure reasonable accommodation at existing rates.

Federal Minister for Housing and Works Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada congratulated all the federal government employees on the landmark relief measure.

He stated that the revision will help reduce the workload on the Estate Office, especially in Islamabad, where there are almost 17,400 government residences and approximately 43,000 registered applicants for official accommodation.

According to the notification, employees from scale 1 to 2 now will get Rs13004 rental ceiling for Islamabad and Rs12193 for other stations; employees in scale 3-6 will get Rs20313 in Islamabad and Rs17860 for other stations; employees in scale 7-10 will get Rs30,346 for Islamabad and Rs27162 for other stations.

For scale 11-13, Rs45776 will be given for Islamabad and Rs39705 for other stations. Employees in scale 14 to 16 will now get Rs57507 for Islamabad and Rs50198 for other stations. For employees of grade 17-18, Rs76122 will be given for Islamabad and Rs66411 for other stations.

For grade 19 employees, Rs127095 will be given for Islamabad and Rs86610 for other stations and for grade 20, the amount will be Rs127095 for Islamabad and Rs109296 for other stations.

For grade 21, the ceiling amount will be Rs152183 for Islamabad and Rs131548 for other cities. For grade 22, the amount will be Rs182121 for Islamabad and Rs165076 for other stations.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2025