New Delhi, Mar 24: The Sixth Pay Commission headed by Justice B. N. Srikrishna today submitted its report to Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presumably recommending a 40 per cent hike in salary for the central government employees.

"I have recommended something for the good of the country. The Finance Minister will give the latest highlights," said Justice Srikrishna.

Over 4.5 million central government employees are expecting a bounty from the report which is likely to recommend major changes in salaries and terms of employment, including performance-linked pay and incentives.

"A senior secretary gets Rs 52,000 as monthly salary. I do not expect it to go up to more than Rs 60,000. Salaries of top officials will not be more than that of governors," a secretary-level official of the Central Government said.

The hike, which is with retrospective effect from January 2006, was necessitated by the fact that members of Parliament were drawing Rs 68,000, more than the Vice-President, who is the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

In his budget speech last month, Chidambaram had said the pay panel’s recommendations would meet the legitimate expectations of government employees. The railway budget for 2008-09 has kept aside Rs 50,000 million for implementing the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations for its 1.4 million employees.

According to budget estimates of GDP for 2008-09, the financial impact of the proposal has been estimated to be within 0.4 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which amounts to about Rs 2,10,000 million.

The Commission was constituted in October 2006 to recommend changes in salary structure of the government employees. (ANI)