Federal employees receive 45% increase in housing allowance

ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the federal government on Thursday announced raising house rent allowance to the tune of 45% for all employees working in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta. Adjustments are the steepest in the capital.

News about the imposition of new rental ceilings was received through a notification by the Ministry of Housing and Works. The new rental ceilings will be imposed on the federal ministries, divisions, attached departments, and the subordinate offices working in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, and Peshawar.
Under the revamped rates, the monthly rental ceiling for grade 22 employees in Islamabad is fixed at Rs142,743 compared to Rs98,444. In other cities, it stands at Rs125,989, compared to Rs89,230.

Grade 21: Islamabad goes up from Rs82,261 to Rs119,278. The rest of the country gets Rs71,107 to Rs98,378.
Grade 20: Islamabad will go up from Rs68,700 to Rs99,615 while others have a raising from Rs59,079 to Rs82,696
Grade 19 officers in Islamabad: Rs79,320 against Rs54,704
Others: Rs 65,542 against Rs46,816.

The rental ceilings for grades 17 and 18 have been raised to Rs41,147 to Rs49,808 for other cities and from Rs35,898 to Rs59,669 for the Islamabad city.
Employees in grades 14-16 will get a current salary of Rs45,073 in Islamabad and Rs37,665 in other cities, up from Rs31,085 and Rs27,134, respectively.

For grades 11-13, the “newly revised ceilings are at Rs35,878 in Islamabad and Rs30,815 in other cities, compared to Rs24,744 and Rs21,462. For grades 7 to 10, newly set rates are about Rs23,784 for Islamabad, while the rate for other cities is set at Rs20,112. The rates were Rs16,403 and Rs14,682.

While employees in grades 3 to 6 will get a hike in pay which is Rs15,921 in Islamabad and Rs13,230 in other cities, where it was Rs10,980 and Rs9,654, the minimum grade levels 1 and 2 employees will now get a permission of Rs10,192 in Islamabad and Rs9,590 in other cities which it was Rs7,029 and Rs6,591.

An official said the new rates were decided by conducting market surveys and due to appeals from some groups of government employees. The new ceilings on rental charges will apply to all new appointments and other scenarios where a government employee has to pay off the difference from his pocket. Under such circumstances, the rented may be hiked up to the owner’s demand or the new ceiling-whichever is lower.

In addition, the revised rates shall also be applied to tenancy contracts signed under the Accommodation Allocation Rules, 2002, or the decentralized house rent system that took effect on July 31, 2004, for lapsed leases. Lease agreements would become based on the existing rental evaluation, new cap of the occupant, or the owner’s demand of payment, whichever is lesser.