Grant of Dearness Allowance to Railway employees - Revised Rates effective from 01.01.2018

Dearness Allowance to Railway employees - Revised Rates effective from 01.01.2018

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA (BHARAT SARKAR)
Ministry of Railways (Rail Mantralaya)
(Railway Board)

PC-VII No.- 97

File No. PC-VII/2016/1/7/2/1

RBE No.: 39/2018
New Delhi, dated: 19.03.2018

The General Manager/CAOs(R),
All India Railways & Production Units, (As per mailing list)

Sub:  Grant of Dearness Allowance to Railway employees - Revised Rates effective from 01.01.2018.

The undersigned is directed to refer to this Ministry's letter RBE No 137/2017 dated 06.10.2017 (F. No. PC-VII/2016/I/7/2/1) on the subject mentioned above and to say that the President is pleased to decide that the Dearness Allowance payable to Railway employees shall be enhanced from the existing rate of 5% to 7% of the basic pay with effect from 1st January, 2018.

2. The term 'basic pay' in the revised pay structure means the pay drawn in the prescribed Level in the Pay Matrix as per 7th CPC recommendations accepted by the Government, but does not include any other type of pay like special pay, etc.

3. The Dearness Allowance will continue to be distinct element of remuneration and will not be treated as pay within the ambit of Rule 1303 (FR 9(21)), Indian Railway Establishment Code, Volume -II (Sixth Edition - 1987) - Second Reprint 2005.

4. The payment on account of Dearness Allowance involving fractions of 50 paise and above may be rounded to the next higher rupee and the fractions of less than 50 paise may be ignored.

5. The payment of arrears of Dearness Allowance shall not be made before the date of disbursement of salary of March, 2018.

6. This issues with the concurrence of Finance Directorate of Ministry of Railways.

S/d,
(Jaya Kumar G)
Deputy Director, Pay Commission-VII
Railway Board

Revision in cadre structure and staffing pattern due to merger of three categories of posts in the Commercial Department over Indian Railways – viz. Ticket Checking (TC), Commercial Clerk (CC), and Enquiry-cum-Reservation-Clerk (ECRC)

Revised Cadre Structure due to merger of posts: Commercial-cum-Ticket Clerk, Sr. Commercial-cum-Ticket Clerk, Chief Commercial-cum-Ticket Clerk, Commercial Superintendent - reg.

RBE No. 28/2018
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(RAILWAY BOARD)
No.E(NG)I-2016/PM1/12(pt)

New Delhi, dated: 22.02.2018

The General Manager (P)
All Indian railways & Pus
(as per standard list)

Sub: Revision in cadre structure and staffing pattern due to merger of three categories of posts in the Commercial Department over Indian Railways - viz. Ticket Checking (TC), Commercial Clerk (CC), and Enquiry-cum-Reservation-Clerk (ECRC). 

The 7th CPC's recommendations pertaining to the Commercial Department staff of the Railways are contained in Para 11.40.64 to 11.40.70 of their Report.

Upgradation of posts proposed from erstwhile GP 1900 to GP 2000, and from erstwhile GP 2400 to GP 2800 have already been notified for implementation vide Annexure-B of Railway Board’s communication No. PC-VII/2016/RSRP/2 dated 02.08.2016 (RBE No. 93/2016). Recommendations regarding the merger of posts in the three consultation with both recognized staff Federations (AIRF and NFIR) and with the concerned Directorates in the Railway Board, it has now been decided to implement the merger into a unified category of 'Commercial and Ticketing Staff' in a phased manner. Details of the cadre structure/AVC, staffing pattern and norms of appointment/selection for this unified category are tabulated in the Annexure to this letter.

2. The following modalities may be adopted while switching over to the unified cadre structure detailed in the accompanying Annexure:

2.1 Merger of the three categories will follow a graded approach. In first phase, the Ticket Checking category as a whole, with all its existing incumbents, will continue as a separate category with its existing cadre structure and staffing pattern, while the existing staff working in the categories of CC and ECRCs may be merged. The merged categories of CC and ECRC will accordingly have a four tier structure of posts and functional designation, as below:

i) Commercial-cum-Reservation-Clerk in Level-3 (entry level)
ii) Senior Commercial-cum-Reservation Clerk in Level-5 consisting of merged posts currently designated as Senior Commercial Clerk and Enquiry-cum-Reservation Clerk that are in Leve-5
iii) Chief Commercial-cum-Reservation Clerk in Level-6 consisting of merged posts currently designated as Head Commercial Clerk and Enquiry-cum-Reservation Supervisor that are in Level-6
iv) Commercial Superintendent in Level-7 consisting of merged posts currently designated as Chief Booking Supervisor and Chief Enquiry-cum-Reservation Supervisor that are in Level-7.

2.2 In the second phase of the merger, all future recruitments to the relevant category(ies) will be in the unified cadre structure merging Ticket Checking category also with the cadre of CC & ECRC. The final unified cadre structure with designation of posts, staffing pattern and norms for appointment will be as detailed in accompanying Annexure.

2.3 As merger progresses from the first phase (Para in 2.1 above) to the second phase (Para in 2.2 above), nomenclature(s) of posts will also change correspondingly.

3. 10 + 2 minimum entry qualification has been prescribed for entry into Level-3 of the Ticket Collectors/ Commercial Clerks categories, as may be seen in the accompanying Annexure. It is clarified that this stipulation (of 10 + 2 minimum qualification) will not apply to existing regular staff against promotional intake.

4. Usual rules/principles will apply while determining inter se seniority in the merged categories.
5. Received training modules necessitated due to the merger above will be prepared an notified separately by the concerned Directorate.

(P.M.Meena)
Dy. Director-II/Estt.(NG)I

ANNEXURE TO LETTER RAILWAY BOARD'S LETTER NO. E(NG)I/2016/PM1/12 DATED 22.02.2018 (RBE No. 28/2018)

S. No.	Name of post	Mode of appointment	Classi-fication	Level and Revised Pay Structure	Qualification/ Training/Age	Grade wise %age distribution of the total merged and unified Cadre
1	Commercial- cum-ticket Clerk (erstwhile PB-1 Rs.5200-20200, G.P. Rs.1900/2000) (The posts operate in erstwhile G.P. 2000 now, as post in G.P. Rs.1900 has been upgraded to G.P. Rs.2000).	50% by DR	Recruitment	Level-3 Rs.21700- 69100	DR qualification - 12th (+2 stage) or its equivalent examination with not less than 50% Marks in the aggregate. 50% is not to be insisted upon in case of SC/ST/Ex- Servicemen Proper training will have to be imparted to the employees as per present requirement. Age limit for DR 18-27 years	11%
		33-1/3% by General Selection (T&C Staff in erstwhile G.P.Rs.1800)	General Selection
		16-2/5% by LDCE	Selection
2	Sr. Commercial- cum-ticket Clerks (erstwhile PB-1, Rs.5200-20200, G.P. Rs.2800) (The posts operate in erstwhile GP 2800 now, as post in GP Rs.2400 has been upgraded to G.P. Rs.2800).	50% DR by	Recruitment	Level-5 Rs.29200- 92300	DR qualification— A University Degree or its equivalent Age limet for DR- 18-30 years Proper training will have to be imparted to the employees as per present requirement.	22%
		50% by Promotion.	Non- Selection
3	Chief Commercial- cum-ticket Clerk (erstwhile PB-2, Rs.9300-34800, G.P. Rs.4200)	Promotion	Selection	Level-6 Rs.35400- 112400	Proper training will have to be imparted to the employees as per present requirement.	47%
4	Commercial Superintendent (erstwhile PB-2, Rs.9300-54800, G.P. Rs.4600)	Promotion	Non- Selection	Level-7 Rs.44900- 142400	Proper training will have to be imparted to the employees as per present requirement.	20%

Source: www.indianrailways.gov.in

Compulsory Military Service - What says Parliamentary Standing Committee 40th Report?

Compulsory Military Service - What says Parliamentary Standing Committee 40th Report?

Compulsory Military Service to Government Servants - Matter is with DOPT

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has recommended five years Compulsory Military Service to Government Servants to be made mandatory and it was informed that the matter is now with DOPT

The Standing Committee on Defence, headed by Maj Gen B C Khanduri, AVSM (Retd) has submitted its 40th Report on ‘Demands for Grants (2018-19)’ to the Central Government this month.
The Committee, taking into the account of acute shortage of manpower in Officers Rank in Armed forces, has recommended five Years Compulsory Military Service should be Made mandatory for Government Officers on their initial appointment to address this issue. When the Committee asked the Ministry of Defence about the status of this recommendation, the Ministry has said that the matter has been taken up with DOPT and response of the Department is awaited

The Committee has taken serious view over the functioning of Bureaucrats in respect of addressing the issue of Shortage of Manpower in Armed Forces. The standing Committee is not satisfied with the Ministry's reply and made the following observations and recommendations in the Report.
The observation and Recommendation of the Committee as follows …

Shortage of manpower in the forces
"From the data furnished by the Ministry, the Committee note that there is a shortage of 7679 Officers and 20,185 JCOs/ORs in Army, 1434 Officers and 14,730 Sailors in Navy, 146 Officers and 15,357 Airmen in Air Force"

While examining the Demands for Grants 2017-18, the Committee pondered on this issue and recommended for providing five years of compulsory military service to such aspirants wanting to directly join Central and State Government Gazetted services. The Ministry, in its Action Taken Reply on the matter has stated that the recommendation regarding providing five years compulsory military service to such aspirants wanting to directly join Central and State Government services, with a view to overcome shortage of officers in Armed Forces, has been taken up with Department of Personnel and Training (DoP&T). The response of the Department is awaited.

Apparently, the Ministry of Defence has not taken up the matter with due seriousness with the DOP&T. The Committee, while recommending five years of compulsory military service to such aspirants wanting to directly join Central and State Government Gazetted services, have taken into account the fact that there is a perennial and alarming shortage of Officers and PBOR in the Armed Forces, which needs to be corrected. The Committee, once again express their desire that the issue of shortage of officers needs to be given priority for being addressed."

In the same report the Committee fired the Ministry of Defence on another issue with the following comments

"The Committee found the reply as bureaucratic in nature and not conveying anything about specific actions taken or proposed"

So it appears that the Standing Committee on Defence is very serious in addressing the issue of Shortage of Manpower in Armed Forces by enforcing Five Years Compulsory Military Service to such aspirants wanting to directly join Central and State Government Gazetted services .

As the matter is now with DOPT, it is believed that the Central Government may accepts this recommendation though it had earlier rejected the Proposals submitted in Parliament for implementation of Compulsory Military Training for Youths and Citizens.

Source: www.gservants.com