Cabinet clears ToR for 8th Pay Commission to be headed by Justice Ranjana Desai

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Terms of Reference for the 8th Pay Commission, chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai. The panel’s recommendations are likely to benefit over 1.19 crore central employees and pensioners from January 2026

New Delhi: The Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the 8th Pay Commission, which will be headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai.

The panel’s award is likely to come into effect from January 1, 2026. The recommendations of the 8th Pay Commission will benefit about 50 lakh central government employees and 69 lakh pensioners, a government statement said after the meeting of the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

---

The Commission will examine and recommend changes in salaries and other benefits of central government employees. It will submit an interim report, followed by a final report that will be within 18 months from the date of its constitution.

Nine months after the in-principle nod to the 8th Pay Commission, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the panel. This also comes close on the heels of Bihar assembly elections between November 6-11.

As per the Cabinet decision, the 8th Pay Commission, under Desai, will have one part-time member — IIM (Bangalore) Professor Pulak Ghosh, while Petroleum Secretary Pankaj Jain will be the Member Secretary.

Desai is the chairman of the Press Council of India. She has headed major government panels in the past, including the Delimitation Commission for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and the expert committee on drafting of Uttarakhand’s Uniform Civil Code (UCC). This will be her fourth major assignment after retiring as a Supreme Court judge.

On the date of implementation of the pay panel award, I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “The specific date will be decided once the interim report comes in… But mostly it should be January 1, 2026.”

Usually, recommendations of the pay commissions are implemented after a gap of every 10 years. Going by this trend, the effect of the 8th Central Pay Commission recommendations would normally be expected from January 1, 2026, the government said in a statement.

The 7th Pay Commission was constituted in February 2014. Its recommendations were implemented on January 1, 2016. To compensate central government employees for erosion in the real value of their salaries on account of inflation, dearness allowance (DA) is paid to them, and the rate of DA is revised periodically every six months on the basis of the rate of inflation.