7th Pay Commission Latest News: The Finance Ministry’s Department of Expenditure updated the rules for central government employees’ house rent allowance (HRA). In accordance with the most recent update, central government employees will not always be eligible for HRA.
HRA is admissible with regard to the “place of duty” of government employees, per the HRA rules.
There are specific circumstances in which government employees will not receive HRA:
(i) He or she shares a government-provided room with another government employee; or (ii) he or she lives in a home that his or her parents, son, or daughter have been given by the central government, state government, an autonomous public undertaking, or semi-government organization like a municipality, port trust, nationalized banks, the Life Insurance Corporation of India, etc.; or (iii) the central government employees have been assigned housing at the same station by the central government, state government, autonomous public undertaking, or semi-government organization, regardless of whether they live there or rent their own housing.
“Government servants other than a government servant who is living in a house owned by him shall be eligible for HRA even if they share government accommodation allotted to other government servants…subject to the condition that they pay rent or contribute towards rent or house or property tax but without reference to the amount actually paid or contributed,” states the regulations.
Categories of HRA HRA is intended for salaried individuals who rent homes. It is divided into three categories: X, Y, and Z. (i) Areas with a population of 50 lakh or more fall under category “X.” HRA is set at 24% in accordance with the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.
ii) The letter “Y” refers to regions with a population of 5 to 50 million people. It is given at a rate of 16%.
(iii) Where the population is less than 5 lakh, “Z” is given. It is provided at 8%.
