Status of Cadre Review proposals processed in DoPT as on 31.10.2016

Status of Cadre Review proposals processed in DoPT from 1st January, 2011 to 31st October, 2016

A. Approved by Cabinet - 20

B. Pending Proposals - 17

1. With Concerned Ministry - CRC meeting held and Cabinet approval pending (5)
2. With Department of Personnel & Training (10)
3. With Department of Expenditure (1)
4. With Ministry concerned for clarification: (2)


A. Approved by Cabinet

S. No.	Name of the Service	CRC* Meeting	Cabinet Approval
1.	CPWD Central Engineering Service. Central Electrical & Mechanical Engineering Service and Central Architecture Service	27/06/2011	03/01/2012
2.	Military Engineering Services (Indian Defence Services of Engineers. Architect Cadre and Surveyor Cadre)	22/09/2011 and 23/01/2012	18/04/2013
3.	Indian Revenue Service	19/02/2013 and GoM** 29/04/2013	23/05/2013
4.	Indian Radio Regulatory Service	19/02/2013	03/07/2013
5.	Central Labour Service	19/02/2013	17/07/2013
6.	Indian Customs & Central Excise	27/08/2013	05/12/2013
7.	Indian Cost Accounts Service	29/10/2013	02/01/2014
8.	Central Power Engineering Service	11/12/2013	13/05/2014
9.	Indian Ordnance Factory Service	19/03/2014	29/10/2014
10.	Indian Civil Accounts Service	17/07/2013	16/01/2015
11.	Border Road Engineering Service	26/02/2015	07/04/2015
12.	Defence Aeronautical Quality Assurance Service	08/01/2015	06/05/2015
13.	Indian Trade Service	06/05/2014	01/07/2015
14.	Indian Statistical Service	24/06/2014	29/07/2015
15.	Indian Skill Development Service	10/04/2015	07/10/2015
16.	Indian Postal Service	28/12/2015	25/05/2016
17.	Central Reserve Police Force	15/12/2015	29/06/2016
18.	Indian Information Service	05/05/2016	24/08/2016
19.	Border Security Force	29/06/2016	12/09/2016
20.	Indian P & T Accounts and Finance Service	17/09/2015	27/10/2016

 *CRC - Cadre Review Committee ** GoM - Group of Ministers

 B. Pending Proposals

S.No.	Name of the Service	Status
1. With Concerned Ministry - CRC meeting held and Cabinet approval pending (5)
1.	Railway Protection Force	CRC meeting held on 29/07/2013. Decision with the approval of MoS (PP) and FM has been communicated to the Ministry of Railways on 09/10/2013 for taking Cabinet apporoval.
2.	Indian Naval Material Management Service	The CRC meeting held on 24/10/2013. Comments of DoPT on Cabinet Note have been provided to Ministry of Defence on 21/1/2015.
3.	Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)	CRC Meeting held on 28/12/2015. Approval of MoS (PP) and FM has been obtained. MSME has to take the approval of Cabinet.
4.	Indian Telecom Service	Recommendation of Group of Officers considered by CRC on 03/10/2016. Approval of MoS (PP) and FM has been obtained. DoT has to take the approval of Cabinet.
2. With Department of Personnel & Training (10)
5.	Central Engineering Service (Roads)	CRC Meeting held on 25/04/2016. Approval of Mos (PP) & FM has been obtained and proposal sent to MoRTH for approval of Cabinet. Comments of DoPT on revised Cabinet Note are under examination.
6.	Indian Petroleum and Explosive Safety Service (IPESS)	Approval of Secretary (P) and Secretary (Exp) has been obtained on the proposal and CRC Note is under examination.
7.	Indian Railways Personnel Service	Approval of Secretary (P) has been obtained and proposal sent to DOE for approval of Secretary (Expenditure). DoE has returned the proposal. Revised proposal awaited from Ministry of Railways
8.	Indian Railways Traffic Service	-do-
9.	Indian Railways Stores Services	-do-
10.	Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineers	-do-
11.	Indian Railways Accounts Service	-do-
12.	Indian Railways Service of Electrical Engineers	-do-
13.	Indian Railways Service of Engineers	-do-
14.	Indian Railways Service of Signal Engineers	-do-
3. With Department of Expenditure (1)
15.	Indian Defence Accounts	CRC meeting held on 09/09/2016. Approval of MoS(PP) has Service been taken and file has been sent to DoE for approval of FM on the recommendation of CRC on 07/10/2016
4. With Ministry concerned for clarification: (2)
16.	Indian P&T Building Works	Clarifications are awaited from DoT on the cadre strength
17.	SSB	Clarifications are awaited from MHA/SSB on the point emerged during the meeting held on 31/08/2016.

Source: http://ccis.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02adm/status02112016.pdf

One Rank One Pension demand by Armed Forces personnel

One Rank One Pension demand by Armed Forces personnel

One Rank One Pension (OROP) has been a constant demand by hard working Armed Forces personnel over the past 40 years, yet governments have come and gone but OROP is still to see the light of day. But what exactly is OROP?

According to OROP, Armed Forces personnel retiring at the same rank with the same length of service should be eligible for the same pension regardless of their date of retirement. OROP would ensure that any changes in rates of pension afforded to Armed Forces personnel retiring in recent times will be relevant to all other retired Armed Forces personnel having same rank and length of experience. Hence, One Rank One Pension irrespective of date of retirement.

Importance of OROP

Since Armed Forces personnel retire at younger ages, with some retiring between 35-37 years of age and others between 54-56 years of age, they do not have the opportunity for further pay hikes afforded to civilians and therefore are reliant on their pension only. The Armed Forces of the country needs a young work force, but less youths will be inclined to join if they are not sure of their future financial security.

Hurdles In Adopting OROP

The OROP concept was applicable till 1973 when the pensions for Armed Forces and civilian employees was equalised, due to bureaucracy issues. Since then, one of the key issues has been the initial investment cost to launch OROP since typically pension is cut from the salary of a working person, however, for the base line year used by OROP the difference in pension would come directly from the pocket of the government. In addition, every time the pay commission announces a salary increase the governments direct expense will also increase.

Current Status

However, the concept of OROP was accepted but then the point of contention rose of which year pay scales should be taken as base year. While government wanted to use the 2011 pay scales as base year, the veterans wanted 2014. The difference of 3 years would make a difference in not only salary and pensions levels but also regarding the number of personnel eligible for OROP resulting in an additional cost of nearly Rs 4,000-Rs 6,000 crore. Finally the government consented to the 2014 base year date.

The Narendra Modi government agreed to adopt OROP with an estimated expense of Rs 1,000 crore which they have stated will be given in instalments due to the large value.

Source : http://newsworldindia.in

Centre Approves 100% Hike in the Salaries of Member of Parliaments, Bill Likely in Winter Session

Centre Approves 100% Hike in the Salaries of Member of Parliaments, Bill Likely in Winter Session

Parliamentarians can soon expect a steep hike in salary as the Centre has decided to provide them with a basic salary of Rs 1 lakh per month, a 100% hike from the current Rs 50,000.

The salary hike for the MP’s has been in demands from a while when the Delhi government approved the huge hikes in Delhi MLA’s salaries. But Government was looking to avoid the hike in the salaries of the Member of Parliaments.

But Now it Looks like that the government had bowed to the increasing demand by the MP’s.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is learnt to have agreed to consider a recommendation made by the Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament, which is headed by BJP MP Yogi Adityanath.

The panel had also demanded a slew of benefits like more air tickets and soft loans for cars.
A bill is expected to be passed in the upcoming winter session of Parliament to hike the MPs’ salary and allowances .

Not Just the MP’s but also the Governors and President will be benefitted with the salary hike. The government is also mulling over increasing the President’s salary from current Rs 1.5 lakh per month to Rs five lakh and the Governor’s salary from current Rs. 1.10 lakh to Rs. 2.5 lakh.

Source: northbridgetimes.com

7th CPC Transport Allowance

7th CPC Transport Allowance

Transport Allowance (TPTA) is granted to cover the expenditure involved in commuting between place of residence and place of duty. The existing rates are as under:

Moreover, officers drawing GP 10000 and higher, who are entitled to the use of official car, have the option to avail themselves of the existing facility or to draw the TPTA at the rate of Rs.7,000+DA pm. Differently abled employees are granted this allowance at double the rate, subject to a minimum amount of Rs.1,000 plus DA.

Many representations have been received regarding Transport Allowance. Most of them advocate granting the allowance at the same rate to all employees, irrespective of their place of posting, on the grounds that fuel prices affect everybody equally.

Analysis and Recommendations : The Commission notes that TPTA is fully DA-indexed. The first issue to be considered is whether the rate of Transport Allowance should be the same for all places. There are arguments both for and against this view.

Proponents of the idea argue that petrol prices are almost same everywhere. Moreover, public transport system is better developed in many of the A1/A Class cities, thereby reducing the cost of commuting significantly. The argument, therefore, is that A1/A category places do not need to have a higher rate.
Opponents point out that the categorization of A1/A has been abolished for other purposes (like HRA, CCA) but retained for Transport Allowance. Incidentally, only 13 cities fall under this categorization: six in A1, viz., Hyderabad, Delhi, Bengaluru, Greater Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and seven in A, viz., Ahmedabad, Surat, Nagpur, Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow and Kanpur. Recently, six more cities, viz., Patna, Kochi, Kozhikode, Indore, Coimbatore and Ghaziabad have been added to A1/A categories, making it nineteen in all. (Incidentally, vide a recent notification No. 21(2)/2015-E.II(B) dated 06.08.2015, the use of term 'A1/A' has been dropped for these nineteen cities. Hence, the Commission will refer to these nineteen cities as Higher TPTA cities.). In all these places the commuting distances are far more than in other cities. Moreover, the public transport system is not as developed as it should be in all these places. Therefore, it is argued, the distinction should remain.

After considering both the viewpoints, the Commission is of the view that by and large the commuting distances and associated difficulties involved in Higher TPTA cities are much more compared to other places. Hence, the argument that the distinction should stay is a valid one.

The second issue is whether Transport Allowance should be the same for all personnel posted at the same place. Here the Commission feels that a question of status of employee is involved and hence, complete parity is not possible.

Regarding the optimal rate of Transport Allowance, the Commission notes that the allowance is already fully DA indexed. Therefore, since DA has already reached 119 percent and is likely to rise further before the implementation of our report, the following rates of Transport Allowance are recommended:

Officers in Pay Level 14 and higher, who are entitled to the use of official car, will ave the option to avail themselves of the existing facility or to draw the TPTA at the rate of Rs.15,750+DA pm. Differently abled employees will continue to be paid at double rate, subject to a minimum of Rs.2,250 plus DA.
JCM Staff Side suggestion on Transport Allowance : The 5th CPC had introduced transport allowance for employees working in classified towns on account of various factors like unprecedented growth of city limits, increase in volume of traffic and non availability of residential accommodation at reasonable rents near offices, which are usually located in the heart of cities. If these were the factors it appears that the 5th CPC did not take into account that it is usually a low paid employee who finds residence at a very long distance from his office whereas officers are offered residences very near to their offices. If, therefore, transport allowance was meant to defray the transportation charges from residence to office and back the higher rates should have been recommended for the low paid employees who were residing at a distant places. Since the 6th CPC?s recommendation in this regard was implemented, there had been several rounds of increase in the fuel charges making a cascading impact on the public transport fares.

Taking these factors into account, we suggest that the following rates of transport allowance may please be recommended.

At first glance, both transport allowance and travelling allowance might look the same. But, the two are very different for Central Government employees. Recent spate of orders issued by the DOPT and Finance Ministry on TRAVELLING ALLOWANCE was the inspiration behind this write-up.

Pay Range	X classified city	Y classified towns.
Pay upto Rs. 75,000	Rs. 7500 + DA	Rs. 3750 +DA
Above Rs. 75,000	Rs. 6500 +DA	Rs. 3500+ DA

Transport Allowance and Travelling Allowance Rules at a glance

In its order last week, the DOPT said that senior officers who have to travel by air for official purposes may not have to submit the boarding passes while settlement of TA claims. They will have to henceforth submit the passes only when required. The very next day, the Finance Ministry issued an order that made it mandatory for senior officials to submit boarding passes alongwith TA bills for air journey performed on Government account.

The concept of Transport Allowance was introduced by the 5th CPC to defray the cost of commuting between residence and office. The 6th CPC while recommending CCA to be subsumed in Transport Allowance. Transport Allowance is given to the Central Government employees for their everyday commute to and from the workplace. Based on their Grade Pay or Band Pay, this could be anything between Rs. 400 to Rs. 3200 per month. It also depends on the population of the city or town where the office is located. Transport allowance is twice the normal amount for physically challenged employees.
Travelling allowance is given to employees who have to travel out of station for official work. There are a number of rules, guidelines and restrictions that control travelling allowance. DOPT and the Ministry of Finance issues amendment orders related to travelling allowances from time to time.

Travelling allowance differs based on the employee's grade pay. The ‘Grade Pay’ for determining the TA/DA entitlement is as indicated in Central Civil Service(RP)Rules 2008. Depending on the grade pay, the employee has to opt for the appropriate class of accommodation while travelling via bus, train, ship or by aeroplane. The employee can refund only that amount that he is entitlement for. The Finance Ministry order published on 23.9.2008, OM explained the details of the Travelling allowance and entitlements for Government officials as per title given below:

Government officials on Tour : Travelling Allowance and Entitlements, Entitlement for journeys on tour and travel entitlements within the country, International Travel Entitlement, Mileage allowance for journeys by road, Daily Allowance, Travelling allowance on Transfer, Transfer Grant and Packing Allowance, Transportation of Personal Effects, Transportation of Conveyance, Travelling allowance Entitlement of Retiring employees, Lumpsum Transfer Grant and Packing Allowance

Daily Allowance : If the official tour on is of longer duration, then the employee is paid Daily Allowance to meet his boarding and lodging expenses. This too depends on the Grade pay of the employee. This is what is known as TA/DA. While seeking the TA/DA claims, the employee has to present receipts and bills.
In this regard, the notification, that senior officials are not required to submit the boarding passes while seeking settlement of TA claims of their air travel expenses, was confusing.

The order is not applicable to Group C employees. But some have misunderstood the order and have assumed that it was for the air travel facility that is available as part of the Leave Travel Concession.

GST Council likely to finalise tax rates shortly

GST Council likely to finalise tax rates shortly

New Delhi: The GST Council, which began 2-day deliberations here today, is likely to shortly finalise a 4-tier tax structure with some tinkering of the Centre's proposal.


The Centre has proposed 4-tier tax structure of 6, 12, 18 and 26 per cent, the peak rate being for FMCG and consumer durables.

According to sources, the Council comprising state finance ministers and headed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may opt for a lower rate of 5 per cent instead of the proposed 6 per cent.

The members may agree to raise the higher slab to 28 per cent rate from the proposed 26 per cent.

They may retain the 12 per cent and 18 per cent rate for certain categories under the Goods and Services Tax regime.

Sources also said that certain states are in favour of 40 per cent tax rate on tobacco.

The meeting will have to sort out the issues concerning tax rate to enable Parliament to approve the Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) legislations in the Winter Session beginning November 16 and pave the way for rollout of the new indirect tax regime from April 1 next year.

A state finance minister said "mood in the meeting is very good" and the Council is expected to seal the rate structure by evening.

On the issue of dual control or cross empowerment, another state minister said that there would be a generic line in the CGST Bill regarding jurisdiction of centre and states on taxes. The final touches would be given by GST Council.

As per the slab proposed the Centre, the items which are currently taxed between 3-9 per cent would fall in the 6 per cent bracket; those in 9-15 per cent range would come under 12 per cent rate.

Those products which are currently taxed between 15-21 per cent would attract 18 per cent levy while those above 21 per cent would be taxed at the peak rate of 26 per cent.

We Don't need a Pay Commission - We will Hike it Ourself - Parliamentarians to get 100% Hike

We Don't need a Pay Commission - We will Hike it Ourself - Parliamentarians to get 100% Hike

The Prime Minister's Office is learnt to have agreed to consider a recommendation made by the Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament, which is headed by BJP MP Yogi Adityanath. The PMO is believed to have agreed to revise not only Parliamentarians’ salary, but also their allowances.

The basic compensation for a lawmaker will climb from Rs 1,90,000 per month to Rs 2,80,000 per month (salary along with constituency and office staff allowances). The government had last revised MPs’ salary in 2010.

Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier was of the view to set up a separate commission for reviewing the salary, instead of MPs themselves, he abandoned it following pressure from the MPs, government sources aware of developments told DH.

The government has also taken a call to increase the President of India's salary from the existing Rs 1.5 lakh per month to Rs 5 lakh, and governor’s salary to Rs 2.5 lakh per month from existing Rs 1.10 lakh.

The government is planning to bring separate bills in the winter session of Parliament, which is starting from November 16, to give affect to salary hikes for President, governors and MPs. In the same session, the government will also seek Parliament nod to raise the salary of the vice-president, who is also chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

As per the accepted proposal, an MP's constituency allowance will go up to Rs 90,000 from existing Rs 45,000 every month, the secretarial assistance and office allowance will get a jump from Rs 45,000 to Rs 90,000 per month.

Annual furniture allowance for MP's official homes will double to Rs 1,50,000 a year and free broadband worth Rs 1,700 per month will be provided at parliamentarians official homes in their constituencies. The monthly pensions for former MPs will also go up from Rs 20,000 to Rs 35,000 per month. Even those who have served for more than five years would get an additional amount in pension - the number of years multiplied by Rs 2,000.

At present, the additional amount is the number of years multiplied by Rs 1,500.

Besides salary, the MPs are also entitled for government accommodation, air travel and train travel facilities, besides three landline telephone connections and two mobile phones. They also get a loan of Rs 4 lakh to buy a vehicle.

Source: DH