The Himachal Pradesh government has withdrawn a key provision of the 2022 pay revision, leaving thousands of employees facing a possible reduction in their monthly salaries. The Finance Department has issued a fresh notification under the Himachal Pradesh Civil Services Revised Pay Second Amendment Rules 2025, which nullifies the earlier rule that allowed employees to receive higher pay grades after two years of service.
The new order states that Rule 7(a) of the 2022 rules will be deemed to have been omitted retrospectively from January 3, 2022. As a result, the pay of government employees will now be recalculated as if this rule was never introduced. However, the notification makes it clear that no recovery will be made of the salaries already paid under the earlier rule, providing some relief to employees.
The decision affects 89 categories of employees, including clerks, junior office assistants (IT), drivers, draftspersons, technicians, foremen, peons, chowkidars, safai karamcharis, gardeners, steno typists, auditors, statistical assistants, agriculture extension officers, trained midwives, veterinary pharmacists, nurses, teachers including JBTs, Shastris, PETs, lecturers, PGTs, drawing masters, and forest guards, among others. For many of these categories, salaries had gone up by Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month after the 2022 notification. The rollback now places them at risk of losing that increase.
The move has sparked strong reactions from government employees. Soon after the notification was issued, an emergency meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat Services Employees Organisation was convened under the chairmanship of President Sanjeev Sharma. He said that employees will suffer significant financial loss once their salaries are re-determined, and departments have already been directed to implement the changes.
Sanjeev Sharma further said that the employee body will meet the Chief Minister, the Chief Secretary, and the Principal Secretary Finance to press for the withdrawal of the latest notification. The organisation has warned that employees cannot be burdened with such cuts after having already adjusted their lives and responsibilities around the revised salaries.
The issue has created fresh tensions between the government and employees, with the possibility of wider protests if the order is not rolled back. All eyes are now on the scheduled meeting with the Chief Minister, which could decide the next course of action.
