Allaying apprehensions among government servants over the Pay Commission recommendations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] on Monday said he favoured proper remuneration for the civil and defence services.

The Pay Commission has recently submitted its report and some apprehensions have been expressed by certain sections of the civil services on parts of the report, he said, addressing senior officers on the Civil Services Day in Delhi.

"I would like our civil and defence services to be properly rewarded. I also believe that the tax payers will not grudge anyone of us better remuneration as long as we are serving the best interests of our people, most efficiently," Dr Singh told them.

He said that the government has already set in motion a mechanism for hearing and redressing the grievances of the government servants.

In the wake of the criticism over the recommendations, the government last week announced the setting up of a high-level official committee headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar to process the report of the sixth Pay Commission.

Observing that improved conditions of work "must go hand-in-hand with improvement in work," Dr Singh said given government's deep commitment towards the welfare of all its employees equally, "I would also expect the highest standards of discipline and decorum from all civil servants."