Why was the Pay Commission's recommendation not accepted?
The Sixth Pay Commission had in fact shared Mr. Dev Kumar's agony. It had recommended that “henceforth, the Government offices should remain closed only on the 3 National holidays. No other closed holidays should be allowed. To enable the Government employees the freedom to celebrate their festivals and other occasions of special significance to them, the number of Restricted Holidays available to an employee shall be increased to 8 with the list of Restricted Holidays being suitably enlarged to include all the erstwhile Gazetted Holidays therein. The Commission is aware that on few occasions, it may not be possible to open the office due to local considerations like lack of availability of adequate transport facilities on that day or some other practical problem. Every Head of Department (HoD) should, therefore, be allowed the option of declaring the office closed for a maximum of two Restricted Holidays in a year based on local considerations. These days should be decided by the HoD at the beginning of the year in consultation with the Staff Side of the organization and be prominently displayed in the office premises. All employees of the office will be deemed to have availed Restricted Holiday on those two days. This will not only ensure that Government offices remain open for a larger number of days even though a few employees may be absent on certain specific occasions but will also allow sufficient leeway to the individual organizations to keep the office closed on upto 2 specific occasions in a year when it is not practical to run the office. The number of Casual Leave, Half Pay Leave and Earned Leave available to Government employees shall remain unchanged.”
While the government was quick to accept all the fiscal recommendations of the Pay commission, it failed to see wisdom in this recommendation.
It is sad to see government offices having a few working days thrown in between holidays! And it is a pleasure to see a government servant unhappy with so many holidays.