West Bengal's Finance Department has issued a notification bringing the regular non-teaching employees of 25 state-aided universities and all employees of three state education boards and councils under the 7th Pay Commission, news agency IANS reported from Kolkata on Friday. The three boards are the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE), the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) and the West Bengal Board of Madrasah Education (WBBME).

Source: IANS

As per the notification issued by Prabhat Kumar Mishra, Additional Chief Secretary in the State Finance Department, the state government had constituted the 7th Pay Commission for state government employees and certain other categories and set its terms of reference, and Governor R. N. Ravi has now decided that the Commission will also examine the existing pay structure and conditions of service of the regular non-teaching employees in the state-aided universities and all employees in the three education boards and councils. "The Commission will make necessary recommendations as early as possible," the notification read.

The expansion was formalised through two Finance Department resolutions dated 5 November — Resolution No. 4078-F(P 1), covering the universities and the three boards, and Resolution No. 4079-F(P 1), which also added 14 development authorities, among them Burdwan, Tarapith Rampurhat, Gangasagar Bakkhali and Midnapore Kharagpur, and the West Bengal State Council of Technical and Vocational Education and Skill Development to the Commission's remit. Teachers and staff paid on UGC, AICTE or ICAR pay structures are not covered, and only regular employees are included — contract and casual staff are not.

The 7th Pay Commission itself was constituted by a Finance Department resolution dated 22 July 2026, which asked for its report preferably within six months — pointing to about late January 2027 unless the state gives it more time. Pay does not change until the state accepts the report and issues new pay rules.

The notification did not provide any information on the rate at which salaries will increase, when the new structure will take effect, or how arrears will be settled; a decision on those points can be taken only after the Commission's recommendations. After the new government took over, expectations had risen among state employees over the Pay Commission and dearness allowance at par with central government employees. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had earlier announced that the 7th Pay Commission would be formed to restructure the pay structure of state government employees, after which the government began the process of constituting it.