The Chandigarh visit is part of the Commission’s nationwide outreach exercise aimed at gathering views from Central government employees, pensioners, and their representative organisations before it finalises the recommendations.

The Commission has invited representations from Central government and Union Territory organisations and institutions, as well as associations, unions, individuals and pensioners associated with the Central government from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

Stakeholders who wished to make representations were asked to submit their memoranda by August 25, 2026, along with the Unique Memo ID generated after submission of their memorandum.

Major Consultation Exercise

A senior CPC official said the Chandigarh programme would be among the Commission’s major consultation exercises, given the large number of organisations and individuals expected to participate. “The Chandigarh leg of consultations and hearing will be one of the major outreach efforts by the Commission. The number of interested parties is expected to be maximum and therefore, three days have been allocated for the extensive exercise,” the official said.

Meanwhile, employees’ and pensioners’ organisations have been pressing for their long-pending demand for reducing the interval between pay and pension revisions from the existing 10 years to five years.

They have argued that a decade-long gap between revisions leads to a gradual erosion in the real value of salaries and pensions, despite periodic increases in Dearness Allowance (DA).

The demand has also been raised by the Bharat Pensioners Samaj (BPS), an umbrella organisation of pensioners, before the 8th CPC. The National Council-JCM Staff Side, in its memorandum to the Commission, has similarly called for periodic pay revision, preferably every five years, arguing that it is necessary to maintain the adequacy and relevance of pay.

Inflation Impact

The Railway Senior Citizens’ Welfare Society (RSCWS) has also highlighted the impact of inflation on pensioners and employees. In its memorandum, it said that while DA offers partial protection against inflation, the long gap between pay revisions and continuously rising living costs results in the erosion of real wages and pensions. It also pointed out that several allowances remain unchanged for prolonged periods and are revised only when a new Pay Commission is constituted.

The five-year revision cycle is not a new demand. It was also raised before the 7th CPC. The Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh had cited the earlier practice followed by public sector undertakings, where pay revisions were undertaken every five years before 1997. Subsequently, a 10-year cycle was introduced, with PSUs being allowed to opt for either a 10-year revision with full DA neutralisation or a five-year revision with graded neutralisation.