Central Government Employees Likely To Get 30-Day Bonus in Festive Season

Central Government Employees Likely To Get 30-Day Bonus in Festive Season

New Delhi: Ahead of the festival season, the government is likely to give an ad-hoc bonus of up to Rs 3,500 to Group C central government employees and personnel of the armed and para military forces.

The government may sanction grant of non-productivity linked bonus (ad-hoc bonus) equivalent to 30 days emoluments for the accounting year 2015-16 to the central government employees (Group C) and the notification in this regad will be issued next week, a senior official of Finance Ministry said.




“Since the election code of conduct for Bihar Assembly polls is in force, but announcement of bonus a routine administrative matter for which permission of the Election Commission not required to go ahead with,” he added.

“The limit for bonus is Rs 3,500,and the bonus will also be given to all non-gazetted employees in Group B, who are not covered by any productivity- linked bonus scheme,” he also told us.

The payment will also be admissible to the central Police and para-military personnel and personnel of armed forces.

Employees of the Union Territory Administration, which follows the central government pattern of emoluments and not covered by any other bonus or ex-gratia scheme would also be eligible for this ad-hoc bonus.

The expenditure incurred on this account will be debitable to the respective heads to which the pay and allowances of these employees are debited, the Finance Ministry official said.

TST

Train Enquiry Mobile Application on iOS platform – IT Enabled Passenger Services Launched by Indian Railways

Train Enquiry Mobile Application on iOS platform – IT Enabled Passenger Services Launched by Indian Railways

Paperless Unreserved Tickets, Season tickets, Platforms tickets, CoTVM, Train Enquiry Mobile App

IT Enabled Passenger Services Launched by Indian Railways

Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu Launched these Services Through Video Conferencing from New Delhi. The Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu launched following IT enabled passenger services through video conferencing from New Delhi:

1. Paperless Unreserved Ticketing through Mobile Phones on suburban stations over Central Railway

2. Paperless Platforms tickets at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Dadar Central, Panvel, Thane and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Andheri, Mumbai Central, Borivali, Dadar Western, Dadar Central, Vasai Road, Bandra, New Delhi and Nizamudding stations on Northern Railway, Western Railway and Central Railway

3. Paperless Season tickets on suburban sections of Western Railway, Central Railway and New Delhi-Palwal Section of Northern Railway.

4. Currency, Coin – cum – Card operated Automatic Ticket Vending Machines at various suburban stations on Central Railway and Western Railway.

5. Train Enquiry Mobile Application on iOS platform.

On this occasion ,Chairman Railway Board, Shri AK Mital and other Board Members, Additional Member(C&IS) Shri Mohd. Jamshed, MD CRIS Ms Vandana Nanda were among those present at the programme.

Speaking on the occasion , Minister Of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu said ­“Moving ahead in the direction of making Digital India, today, I am happy to inaugurate the System for Paperless Unreserved Tickets, Paperless Season Tickets and Paperless Platform Tickets through Mobile Phones, in the Mumbai Suburban system of WR and CR and Delhi – Palwal section of Northern Railway from today.

About 50 Currency-cum-coin-cum-card Ticket Vending Machines (CoTVMs) are now functional over various stations.

I am also happy to inaugurate the Currency and Coin Operated Ticket Vending Machines (CoTVMs), being installed at various stations of Central and Western Railway. All these initiatives were promised in my Budget Speech this year.

Another initiative that is being launched today is the Train Enquiry Mobile App on the iOS that is Apple platform. This app has been working very well on the Android and Windows based mobile phones and now will give good facilities for Apple phone users also.

The paperless Unreserved Ticketing System is a boon for passengers traveling in suburban areas, since it will drastically reduce the time a passenger takes at the station, waiting in queue to buy a ticket. It will enable “Mission 5 minutes” (not more than 5 minutes to buy a ticket) to become a reality. Railways will also benefit from this innovation because they will be able to cope with higher ticket sales with lower investments.

The Paperless Ticketing service is already running in some sections of Mumbai Western Railway and Delhi. With the latest launch, this service will be available across all of Mumbai’s suburban sections on both Central and Western Railways. This system is based on the “UTS on Mobile” app, which has a “Railway Wallet” feature. While this system has been introduced to increase passenger convenience, a few safeguards have been built-in to prevent misuse of the tickets. Firstly, the tickets cannot be forwarded from one phone to another. Second, one cannot buy the ticket after starting one’s journey. A system of distinct daily colour codes, embedded QR codes, and sync feature has been devised to ease the work of the ticket examiners, while providing unparalleled convenience to the users.

A very useful feature added today is that of buying Paperless Season Tickets and Paperless Platform Tickets through the Mobile App. The Paperless Season Ticket feature will be particularly useful for the suburban passengers, large numbers of whom travel on Season Tickets.

Another innovative system being introduced for Mumbai suburban section of Western Railway and Central Railway is the Cash/Smart Card operated Ticket Vending Machine (CoTVM), which is a self-service kiosk for passengers to buy their own unreserved tickets. It has a user-friendly graphical interface that can be used by all passengers. The machine takes currency notes and coins in addition to smart cards for payment. This will save the passengers’ precious time, and will ease the pressure on the Railway administration as well, enabling them to give better service to the passengers. Again, security features”


Procedure for booking of Paperless Unreserved Journey tickets, Season tickets and Platform tickets

Download the Mobile application from Google Play Store or Windows Store.

• Register by providing Mobile Number, Name, City, Train Type, Class, Ticket Type, Number of Passengers and Frequently travel routes.
• Payment has to be made using R-Wallet. Upon successful registration, R-Wallet will be opened with Zero Balance.
• Value can be topped up in R-Wallet by tendering cash across the nominated counter and also online on website “utsonmobile.indianrail.gov.in”.
• Passenger can book single Journey ticket, Platform ticket as well as season tickets by choosing appropriate option in the App.
• The Smart Phone should be GPS enabled to book single journey ticket and Platform ticket.

Functioning Of CoTVM

Cash/Smart card operated ticket vending machine (CoTVM) is a self-operated kiosk, which can be used by passengers to buy unreserved tickets through currency/coins/smart cards and to recharge smart cards. These kiosks have easy graphical interface for ticket transaction so that the user can operate these machines themselves. The kiosk accepts currency/coin of all glued/taped/coloured notes and accepts currency notes of Gandhi series. CoTVMs will reduce queue lengths at existing ticket counters by providing an alternate unmanned ticketing solution and mode of payment.

CoTVMs have the following functions

1. Issue of non-concessional second class journey tickets for non-suburban section and second/first class journey/return tickets for suburban section.
2. Issue of platform tickets.
3. Renewal of non-concessional season tickets.
4. Recharge of smart cards in denominations of Rs. 20/-, Rs. 50/-, Rs. 100/- and Rs. 500/-.

CoTVM consists of:
1. Thin Client
2. Thermal Printer
3. Touch screen
4. RFID reader
5. Cash Validator with 15 notes escrow
6. Coin Validator with 10 coins escrow
7. The cash box has the capacity to hold 25,000 notes and 3,000 coins.

The basic difference between automatic ticket vending machine (ATVM) installed upto now and CoTVM is that ATVM can issue tickets through smart cards only whereas CoTVM can issue tickets using cash (notes & coins) and smart cards. It can also be used for recharging these smart cards.

Security of CoTVM
The machine has two access doors, both at the front side of the machine and is equipped with mechanical & electronic locks. One door is used for maintenance activity by the service engineer. The second door is for accessing the cash box and is integrated with an alarm system. The alarm will go off whenever the door is opened by any unauthorized person. The machine has a cash box with electro mechanical lock at the bottom. Whenever the authorized supervisor wants to open the cash box to takeout shift cash, he/she will gain access to the machine by using a supervisory smart card and his password. After entering the password, machine will print the Daily Trains Cash-cum-Summary Book (DTC) for accountal of the collected cash.

Commissioning of CoTVM
On 01.09.2015, 6 CoTVMs were inaugurated at New Delhi of Northern Railway and 08 CoTVMs at Sealdah & Howrah stations of Eastern Railway. So far, total 48 CoTVMs have been commissioned over Northern Railway and Eastern Railway.

Train Enquiry Mobile Application on iOS platform
Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS), the IT arm of Indian Railways, has enhanced the train enquiry system by developing mobile apps. Mobile app for Windows 8 and Android were launched earlier and are widely used by rail passengers. Now one more step ahead, mobile app for iOS platform has also been developed and ready for launch. It has now become easier for the rail passengers to track information on expected arrival and departure timings of a particular train and other information.

National Train Enquiry System (NTES) is the base system which provides information to public about train running on near real time through various interfaces like nationwide unique rail enquiry number 139, website (www.trainenquiry.com), mobile interfaces, Touch Screens, Face to Face enquiry and Display Boards at stations.

One of the best features of the app is ‘spot your train’ which provides information such as its current position, expected time of arrival and departure at a particular station. Other features are ‘train schedule’, ‘train between station’, ‘live station’, ‘information on cancelled, rescheduled & diverted trains’. ‘Live Station’ query provides list of trains expected to arrive at/depart from any station in next 2 or 4 hours.
Thus, CRIS has made available train enquiry app for three most commonly used mobile platforms viz. Windows, Android and iOS.

The NTES app is available as a free download from App store.

Source: PIB News

Ministry of Home Affairs wants check on content on Portal for Retiring Employees

Ministry of Home Affairs wants check on content on Portal for Retiring Employees

Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi

New Delhi: Home Ministry has sought a mechanism to check sharing of any objectionable content by retiring employees, who might be privy to sensitive internal security matters, on an online public platform launched for them by government in March to share their experience.

A suggestion in this regard was made by MHA officials during a recent meeting called by Personnel Ministry with representatives of some of other departments to encourage submission of write-ups on Anubhav–a portal for the retiring central government employees to showcase commendable work done by them during their service.

“Ministry of Home Affairs suggested that facility to edit the write-ups at the level of Head of Office and Head of Department may be given so that the objectionable paragraph in the write-up could be deleted and the entire write-up is not rejected,” according to the minutes of the meeting held late last month.

It was explained that this facility has not been allowed with the intention that the employees submission should not be modified, it said.

Earlier, Central Reserve Police Force has objected to sharing of operational experience by retiring personnel of armed forces on a Anubhav saying it will be a “risk” to national security.

MHA also suggested that there should be a facility to upload the write-ups in Hindi. It was assured that this facility would be provided shortly, it said.

Representatives of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting were requested to provide material which would motivate the retiring employees to contribute in Anubhav.

The problems being faced by the ministries or departments in increasing the number of write-ups were also discussed during the meeting.

“Representative of Ministry of Earth Science wanted guidelines on the format and content of write-ups that could be of help to motivate the retiring employees.

He was informed that there are guidelines on what not to write. There can be no guidelines for write-up which mainly is a experience sharing instrument,” according to the minutes of the deliberation.
Senior officials who are part of the programme emphasised upon the need to increase the number of published write-ups in Anubhav and that rejections be avoided as far as possible.

It was said that paramilitary forces, posts, railways, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) are being expected to add maximum number as they have huge number of employees.

About 793 write-ups have already been published on the Anubhav website. 227 others are yet to be released and 31 write-ups have been rejected, according to a latest data.

As part of the Anubhav initiative, central government employees retiring within next six months are expected to share experiences and good work done by them during their tenure.

PTI

Grand Success of Income Tax Employees Strike held on 8.10.2015 – JCA Circular

Grand Success of Income Tax Employees Strike held on 8.10.2015 – JCA Circular

JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION
INCOME TAX EMPLOYEES FEDERATION & INCOME TAX GAZETTED OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION
A-2/95, Manishinath Bhawan, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi-110 027

Joint Convenors :
Rupak Sarkar
08902198000
itefcentral@gmail.com
Bhaskar Bhattacharya
089-021-98888
secgenitgoachq@gmail.com
No. N-1/2015-16

Dated: 09th October, 2015

To,
The Presidents/General Secretaries,
Of all the Units of ITGOA and ITEF.

Dear Comrades,

Sub: The call for Agitation

A Red Salute to all the members of JCA for making the Strike on 08-10-2015 a grand success in the entire Tax-India. The reports of the whole-hearted participation of members of ITGOA and ITEF from all regions across the country are very encouraging. The agony and frustration of our members were expressed against the indifferent and partisan attitude of the CBDT towards the just demands of 97% of officers/officials of the Department in a very disciplined and organised manner making virtual closures of the Income Tax Offices in the entire country. The Joint Council of Action felt that the agitation programmes and strike action are in the national interest in as much as early resolution to the problems by the intervention of the political authority will bring about a conducive climate to concentrate on tax collection and other statutory duties of the Department and this fact was properly been taken into the notice of the print & electronic media all over the country.

We, on behalf of the Central JCA, once again congratulate the leaders of all the Units/Circles of ITGOA/ITEF for their herculean efforts that has ensured such a grand success to the said strike.
With fraternal greetings,

Yours comradely,

(Bhaskar Bhattacharya) (Rupak Sarkar)
Joint Convenors

Source: www.itgoa.org

Chhattisgarh government employees to furnish 5 year assets details for promotion

Chhattisgarh government employees to furnish 5 year assets details for promotion

Raipur: Chhattisgarh government employees will now have to furnish their Annual Information Report (AIR) carrying five year’s description of their immovable assets for seeking departmental promotion.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh

A decision in this regard was taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Raman Singh last evening at his official residence, an official spokesperson said here today.

As per directives issued by General Administration Department (GAD) in 2012, employees had to submit their annual report of immovable property during their departmental promotion but now the cabinet has decided that officials now have to furnish their five year’s description of immovable property to Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC), he said.

The cabinet also took the decision to relax the ceiling of 10 per cent on compassionate appointment in Grade-3 posts for a year, the spokesperson said.

The officials in the meeting informed that a similar decision to exempt ceiling of 10 per on compassionate appointment in Grade-3 posts was taken on June 16, 2013 whose limit expired on June 13, 2014, resulting in pending cases piling up pertaining to compassionate appointment.

Therefore, the same decision has been taken again, he added.

The Cabinet on the occasion also expressed pleasure over the state’s performance in implementing the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.

Under the scheme, a special drive was conducted from September 25-October 2, during which about 54,109 beneficiaries were sanctioned loan to the tune of Rs 251 crore against the target of 54,000 beneficiaries, he said.

Around 38,000 beneficiaries have been disbursed loan of Rs 168 crore.

Measures taken for the relief of farmers in drought-hit areas of the state were also discussed in the meeting.

PTI

Bonus Ceiling : Revision of eligibility and calculation ceilings are expected after Bihar Elections

Bonus Ceiling : Revision of eligibility and calculation ceilings are expected after Bihar Elections

Enhancement of the ceiling of bonus

NC JCM Staff Side Secretary said in the letter regarding the issue of bonus ceilings, the letter reproduced and given below…

Shiva Gopal Mishra
Secretary

Ph.: 23382286
National Council (Staff Side) Joint Consultative Machinery
Central Government Employees
13-C, Ferozshah Road, New Delhi – 110001
E Mail : nc.jcm.np@gmail.com

No.NC/JCM/2015

Dated: October 9, 2015

All Constituent Organizations of National Council(JCM)(Staff Side)

Dear Comrades,

Sub: Enhancement of the ceiling of bonus

Ministry of Labour(Government of India) has sent a proposal to the Cabinet for enhancement of ceiling of bonus from Rs.3500 to Rs.7000 with a cap of maximum payment of Rs.20,000.
Though the Election Commissioner has cleared it, but it has not been included in the Cabinet Agenda for the reasons best known to government, but we are hopeful that, it may be finalized after Bihar elections.

Yours faithfully,
sd/-
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)
General Secretary

Source: NC JCM Staff Side

Confederation of Central Government Gazetted Officers Organisations delegation with DOP&T Secretary on 13.10.2015

Confederation of Central Government Gazetted Officers Organisations delegation with DOP&T Secretary on 13.10.2015

A meeting of Confederation of Central Government Gazetted Officers Organisations (CCGGOO) delegation with DOP&T Secretary is scheduled to be held on 13th October 2015 (Tuesday) at 10.30Hrs in North Block, New Delhi.

A meeting of the National Council (JCM) Staff side with Joint Secretary, DOP&T, Joint Secretary (Pers.) Department of Expenditure and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour is scheduled to be held on Friday, the 9th October 2015 at 1500 hours in Room No.190, Conference Room, North Block, New Delhi, to discuss the issues raised in the Charter of Demands of 02/09/15 All India Strike which includes

CHARTER OF DEMANDS

• Effect wage revision of the Central Government Employees from 01.01.2014 accepting memorandum of the staff side JCM; ensure 5-year wage revision in future; grant interim relief and merger of 100% of DA; Include Gramin Dak Sevaks within the ambit of 7th CPC. Settle all anomalies of 6th CPC.
• Removal of all ceilings on payment and eligibility of bonus, provident fund; increase the quantum of gratuity.
• Remove the ceiling on payment on bonus
• Urgent measures for containing price-rise through universalisation of public distribution system and banning speculative trade in commodity market.
• Containing unemployment through concrete measures for employment generation. No ban on creation of new posts. Fill up all vacant posts.
• Strict enforcement of all basic labour laws without any exception or exemption and stringent punitive measure for violation for labour laws. Against Labour Law Amendments
• No labour reforms which are inimical to the interest of the workers.
• Universal social security cover for all
• Scrap PFRDA Act and re-introduce the defined benefit statutory pension scheme. Assured enhanced pension not less than Rs. 3000/- P.M. for the entire working population.
• Fix minimum wage with provisions of indexation.
• Stoppage of disinvestment in Central/State PSUs. Stoppage of contractorisation in permanent perennial work and payment of same wage and benefits for contract workers as regular workers for same and similar work.
• No outsourcing, contractorisation, privatization of governmental functions; withdraw the proposed move to close down the printing presses, the publications, form stores and stationery departments and medical stores Depots; regularize the existing daily-rated/casual and contract workers and absorption of trained apprentices.
• Compulsory registration of Trade unions within a period of 45 days from the date of submitting applications; and immediate ratification of ILO Convention C 87 and C 98.
• Revive the JCM functioning at all level as an effective negotiating forum for settlement of the demands of the Central Government Employees.
• Against FDI in Railways, Insurance and Defence.
• No Privatisation, PPP or FDI in Railways, Defence Establishment and no corporatization of Postal services.
• Remove arbitrary ceiling on compassionate appointment.

Source: CCGGOO

Dopt issued guidelines for giving information to the applicants under RTI Act

Dopt issued guidelines for giving information to the applicants under RTI Act

Format for giving information to the applicants under RTI Act- issue of guidelines regarding.

G.I., Dept. of Per. & Trg., O.M.No.10/1/2013-IR, dated 6.10.2015

Subject: Format for giving information to the applicants under RTI Act- issue of guidelines regarding.

It has been observed that different public authorities provide information to RTI applicants in different formats. Though there cannot be a standard format for providing information, the reply should however essentially contain the following information:

(i) RTI application number, date and date of its receipt in the public authority.

(ii) The name, designation, official telephone number and email ID of the CPIO.

(iii) In case the information requested for is denied, detailed reasons for denial quoting the relevant sections of the RTI Act should be clearly mentioned.

(iv) In case the information pertains to other public authority and the application is transferred under section 6(3) of the RTI Act, details of the public authority to whom the application is transferred should be given.

(v) In the concluding para of the reply, it should be clearly mentioned that the First Appeal, if any, against the reply of the CPIO may be made to the First Appellate Authority within 30 days of receipt of reply of CPIO.

(vi) The name, designation, address, official telephone number and e-mail ID of the First Appellate Authority should also be clearly mentioned.

2. In addition, wherever the applicant has requested for ‘certified copies’ of the documents or records, the CPIO should endorse on the document “True copy of the document/record supplied under RTI Act”, sign the document with .date, above a seal containing name of the officer, CPIO and name of public authority; as enumerated below:

True copy of the document/record supplied under RTI Act.
Sd/-
Date
(Name of the Officer)
CPIO
(Name of the Public Authority)

Further in case the documents to be certified and supplied is large in number, information on RTI application should be supplied by a designated PIO but the certification of the documents, if need be, could be done by an other junior gazetted officer.

3. This may be brought to the notice of all concerned.

Source: www.persmin.gov.in
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Procedure for empanelment and appointment of retired officers as the Inquiry Officers for conducting Departmental Inquiries- reg.

Procedure for empanelment and appointment of retired officers as the Inquiry Officers for conducting Departmental Inquiries- reg.

G.I., Dept. of Per. & Trg., O.M.F.No.142/40/2015-AVD.I, dated 08.10.2015

Subject:- Procedure for empanelment and appointment of retired officers as the Inquiry Officers for conducting Departmental Inquiries- reg.

The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s office memorandum of even number dated 8th October, 2015 laying down the procedure for empanelment and appointment of retired officers as the Inquiry Officers for conducting Departmental Inquiries by the cadre controlling authorities. The services of the Inquiry Officers would be utilized by the Ministries/Departments under Government of India, State Government and PSUs for conducting Departmental Inquiries against the delinquent officials.

2. Comments/views of Ministries/Departments and State Governments are invited on the procedure laid down in the office memorandum under reference within three weeks from the posting of this office memorandum on the website of this Department (persmin.gov.in).

3. All the stake holders are requested to send their comments on the procedure for empanelment and appointment of retired officers as the Inquiry Officers for conducting Departmental Inquiries within the stipulated period. The comments may either be sent over fax (fax No.011-23092963) or e-mailed at usatl@nic.in.

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Simplification of procedure for verification of service- adherence to the revised format

Simplification of procedure for verification of service- adherence to the revised format

18019/7/2013-Estt. (L)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pensions
(Department of Personnel & Training)

JNU Old Campus, New Delhi
Dated the 30th September, 2015.

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Simplification of procedure for verification of service- adherence to the revised format – regarding.

The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s OM of even number dated 23 rd October, 2013 for simplification of procedure for verification of service and adherence of the revised format of the Service Book prescribed by this Department’s OM No, 17011/1/99-Estt. (L) dated 11.03.2008 whereby the revised format of the Service Book was circulated for being adopted. The said revised format also includes Part V where under the record of verification of service is to be maintained.

2. It has been brought to the notice of this Department that the aforesaid provisions of the OM dated 23rd October, 2013 and Supplementary Rules as also the provisions of the CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972 as referred to in that OM are not being followed. Consequently, the gaps in service verification, get detected at a very late stage when the concerned Government servant is due to retire on attaining the age of superannuation.

3. In view of this and with the objective of eliminating delays in processing of cases of retiring Government Servants, the aforementioned rules and the instructions of this Department are reiterated and it is stated that it may be ensured that the following are strictly adhered to:

(i) The record of verification of service may henceforth be maintained only in Part V of the revised format of the Service Book as per the new format prescribed by this Departments aforesaid OM of 11-03-2008.

(ii) The exercise for ensuring completion of the entries of service verification in the Part V of the new format, in respect of employees who are retiring within five years, may be undertaken immediately, by the concerned administrative authorities and concluded within a defined time frame, as may be worked out by such authority.

(iii) Any gap in the verification of service may be intimated to the employee concerned, and simultaneously appropriate action for ensuring verification of missing spells may be taken by the Head of Office.

(iv) The concerned Government servant may also be informed of deficiencies and gaps as regards missing entries relating to verification of service and the period thereof.

4. The Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare have also suggested that the administrative authorities, to preclude and to cut down on delays in payment of retiring benefits to Government servants retiring of superannuation, may consider adoption of the following mechanisms and processes:

(i) Annual service verification and intimation to every officer regarding Service Verification Status so that any lapse is timely ascertained and corrective action taken.

(ii) The exercise of Annual verification be monitored by every Ministry/ Department/Cadre Controlling Authority on a quarterly basis.

5. All Ministries/ Departments are accordingly requested to issue suitable instructions to all Heads of Offices/Pay & Accounts Offices for strict compliance of the above instructions so as to preclude any delays in disbursement of retiral benefits of Government servants.

(Mukul Ratra)
Director

Source: www.persmin.gov.in
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