Over 6 Lakh Vacant Posts in Central Government Departments

Over 6 Lakh Vacant Posts in Central Government Departments

Over Six lakh posts in various central government ministries are vacant, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Out of the total sanctioned posts of 37,16,520, a total of 6,02,325 are vacant, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.

Of the total vacancies, 5,33,081 are at Group C level (comprising clerical and support staff), 51,478 are of Group B level and 17,766 are of Group A officers’ level, he said.

PTI

Filling up the post of Financial Adviser and Chief Accounts Officer in EPFO

Filling up the post of Financial Adviser and Chief Accounts Officer in EPFO – reg.

MINISTRY OF LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT
SHRAM SHAKTI BHAVAN
NEW DELHI – 110001

D.O. No. A-12026/05/2015-SS.1

February 17, 2016

Dear Secretary,

Employees Provident Fund Organization is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Labour & Employment. The financial/ accounts matter in the EPFO are looked after by FA & CAO which is in PB-4, GP: Rs. 10,000/-. The post of FA & CAO has fallen vacant on 29.12.2015 due to repatriation of its incumbent and is required to be filled on deputation/ short term contract basis. This Ministry has already issued a vacancy circular (copy enclosed) for the said post and the same has also been published in Employment News dated 6-12 February, 2016. The said vacancy circular is also available on the official website of this Ministry.

2. I shall be grateful, if you could kindly arrange to circulate the same amongst all eligible officers of organized Group ‘A’ service under your Ministry/Department and forward applications of interested & eligible officers to this Ministry before last date to receive such application .i.e. 21.03.2016.

With regards,
Yours sincerely,
(Shankar Aggarwal)

Encl: As above.
Shri Sanjay Kothari
Secretary,
Department of Personnel & Training,
Ministry of Personnel, Pub. Grievances & Pensions,
North Block,
New Delhi.

**********

F.No. A-12026/05/2015 – SS.I

Government of India/Bharat Sarkar
Ministry of Labour & Employment/Shram Aur Rozgar Mantralaya

New Delhi, dated the 13 January 2016

VACANCY CIRCULAR

Subject: Application for the post of Financial Adviser & Chief Accounts Officer (PB-4- Rs-37400-67000 Plus grade Pay Rs.10,000) on deputation/short term contract basis in Employees’ Provident Fund Organization — reg.

Applications are invited for filling up of one post of Financial Adviser & Chief Accounts Officer(PB-4- Rs-37400-67000 plus grade Pay Rs.10,000) to be filled on deputation/short term contract basis in Employees’ Provident Fund Organization under the administrative control of Ministry of Labour & Employment, New Delhi.

2. Following officers are eligible to apply for the post:-

Officers of the Central Government (including Officers of the Organized Accounts Services)/Officers of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization failing which Officers of statutory or autonomous Organization who are :-

(a)(i) holding analogous post on regular basis; or
(ii) with 6 years’ regular service in the pay band of Rs.37,400-67,000 or equivalent in the grade pay of Rs.8700/-. and

(b) possessing minimum 5 years experience in budget, establishment and accounts

1. Period of deputationlcontract including period of deputation in another ex-cadre post held immediately preceding this appointment in the same or some other organization/department of the Central Government shall not exceed 5 years.

2, The maximum age limit for appointment by deputation shall be not exceeding :56 yearas off the closing date of receipt of application.

3. The Pay and allowance of the selected officer shall be regulated as per Deptt of Pers. & Trang OM No- 6/8/2009-Estt(Pay-II) dated 17.6.2010, as amended from time to time. Officers who volunteer for the post will not be permitted to withdraw their names subsequently.

4. It is requested that applications (in triplicate), in the prescribed profonna (Annexure) in respect of eligible and interested officers may be forwarded to Shri Manish Kumar Gupta, Joint Secretary, M/o Labour & Employment, Room No-106, Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi through concerned Cadre Controlling Authorities along with following documents so as to reach within 45 days from the date of publication of this vacancy circular:-

a) Attested copies of the ACRs/APARs for last 5 years i.e. 2011-12 to 2015-16
b) Vigilance clearance
c) No penalty certificate
d) Integrity Certificate

5. Application received after prescribed date or without requisite documents will not be considered. Details of the Organization can be accessed at www.epfindia.com.

(Ajay Malik)
Under Secy to the Govt of India

Encl As above.
Original Circular

Highlights of Railway Budget 2016-17 in Questions and Answers Format (Q & A Format)

Highlights of Railway Budget 2016-17 in Questions and Answers Format (Q & A Format)

 Ministry of Railways
Press Information Bureau,
Government of India

03-March 2016

For the Convenience, the Highlights of Railway Budget, 2016-17 have been complied in questions and answers format which is given below : – Rail Budget 2016-17

Q. What is the theme of this Budget?

• To Reorganise, Restructure and Rejuvenate Indian Railways.
    A new approach, a new way of working – “चलो, मिलकर कुछ नया करें”.
• Objectives:
  Ø to improve customer service,
  Ø regain the lost modal share, and
  Ø to introduce a new way of working by relooking the processes and structures.
• 3 pillars of the strategy :
  Ø Nav Arjan or New revenues (focus on new sources of revenue),
  Ø Nav Manak or New norms (optimising outgo on each activity), and
  Ø Nav Sanrachna or New Structures (revisiting all processes, rules, and structures).

Q Is this budget reform oriented?

• Yes, the Budget 2016-17 focusses on consolidation of the vision set out in the Budget 2015-16.
• Draft Bill on regulator to be finalized
• Restructuring Railway Board on business lines
• Forming cross-sectoral directorates
• Setting up Railway Planning and Investment Organisation
• Setting up a holding company for Railway PSUs
• Creating a separate organization Special Railway Establishment for Strategic Technology & Holistic Advancement (SRESTHA) for R&D
• Creating an organization Special Unit for Transportation Research and Analytics (SUTRA) for data analytics
• Setting up duly empowered missions to take forward 7 activities with time bound targets – missions are for switching over to 25 tonne axle load, increasing speeds, accounting reforms, commissioning 100 sidings/PFTs in 2016-17, preparing a blueprint of utilizing the network once DFC is commissioned, zero accident for safety and for procurement and consumption efficiency.

Q How is capacity augmentation planned?

• Plan Budget is pegged at Rs. 1.21 lakh crore, 21% higher than the expected Plan expenditure in 2015-16.
• 2015-16 will surpass target of commissioning 2,500 km Broad Gauge lines.
• 2016-17 commissioning of 2,800 kms of Broad Gauge track.
• 90 new projects involving a total investment of Rs. 1,26,172 crore covering about 8,432 kms covering new line, doubling, gauge conversion and Metropolitan Transport Project (MTP) included in the Budget.
• In 2016-17, Broad Gauge lines at the rate of over 7 km per day against an average of about 4.3 Km per day in the last 6 years.
• This pace will increase to about 13 kms per day in 2017-18 and 19 kms per day in 2018-19
• Railway Electrification – 1,600 kms to be commissioned in 2015-16; in 2016-17 propose to electrify 2,000 kms.
• High speed passenger corridor from Ahmedabad to Mumbai; SPV to be registered; will bring in modern technology for the country.
• DFC – three new freight corridors: North-South connecting Delhi to Chennai, East-West connecting Kharagpur to Mumbai & East Coast connecting Kharagpur to Vijayawada through innovative financing mechanisms including PPP
• Port connectivity: Tuna Port commissioned in 2015-16 and rail connectivity projects to ports of Jaigarh, Dighi, Rewas and Paradip under implementation. For 2016-17, to take up connectivity for the ports of Nargol and Hazira under PPP.

Q What is there for the Common Man?

• Introduction of Antyodaya Express, a long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service, to be operated on dense routes
• Addition of two to four Deen Dayalu coaches in some long distance trains for unreserved travel with facility for potable drinking water and a higher number of mobile charging points
• Sale of tickets through hand held terminals
• Sale of platform tickets through ticket vending machines both cash and card compatible
• E-ticketing facility to foreign debit/credit cards for foreign tourists and NRIs
  Facility of cancellation through the 139 helpline using ‘One Time Password’
• Bar coded tickets, scanners and access control on a pilot basis
• Progressive CCTV coverage at tatkaal counters
• ‘Vikalp’ (Alternative Train Accommodation System) scheme to be expanded to provide choice of accommodation in specific trains to wait-listed passengers.
• IRCTC to manage catering services in a phased manner.
• Extending e-catering services from 45 stations to all 408 ‘A-1’ and ‘A’ class stations.
• Explore making mandatory catering services optional in trains.
• Introducing a new policy where each stall at station can provide multiple products including milk products and OTC medicines
• Option to our customers for drinking tea in kulhad
• To convert all operational halts into commercial halts.
• Information boards in trains to list on-board services and also GPS based digital displays inside coaches to provide information regarding halts.
• A1 class stations to be manned with duly empowered Station Directors supported by cross functional teams.
• Passenger amenities and beautification on stations at pilgrimage centres including Ajmer, Amritsar, Bihar Sharif, Chengannur, Dwarka, Gaya, Haridwar, Mathura, Nagapattinam, Nanded, Nasik, Pali, Parasnath, Puri, Tirupati, Vailankanni, Varanasi and Vasco.
• Aastha circuit trains to connect important pilgrim centres.
• Porters to have new uniforms and train them in soft skills, to be henceforth called sahayak.

Q What is there for Cleanliness?

• ‘Clean my Coach’ service through SMS.
• Ranking of A1 and A stations based on periodic third party audit and passenger feedback.
• Waste segregation and recycling centres.
• ‘Awareness campaigns’ for cleanliness.
• Additional 30,000 bio-toilets.
• Providing portable structures with bio-toilets at all platforms of select stations for senior citizens, Divyang and women travellers.

Q What is there for farmers?

• Encouraging development of cold storage facilities on vacant land near freight terminals. Local farmers and fishermen would be given preferential usage of the facility. A policy in this regard would be issued in the next 3 months.
• Allowing floriculture/horticulture along tracks.

Q What is there for Industry?

• Expanding the freight basket by looking beyond core commodities
• Starting a time-tabled freight container, parcel and special commodity trains on a pilot basis
• Container sector to be opened to all traffic barring coal and specified mineral ores and part-loads during the non-peak season.
• Existing terminals/sheds to grant access to container traffic, where feasible
• Review of tariff policy to evolve a competitive rate structure vis a vis other modes, permit multi-point loading/unloading and apply differentiated tariffs to increase utilization of alternate routes
• Signing long term tariff contracts with key freight customers using pre-determined price escalation principles
• To develop Rail side logistic parks and warehousing in PPP mode
• 10 goods sheds to be developed by Transport Logistics Company of India (TRANSLOC) in 2016-17.
• Inaugurating soon India’s first rail auto hub in Chennai to capture automobile traffic.
• Exploring feasibility of opening up leasing of general purpose wagons.
• Appointing Key Customer Managers to liaison with our major freight stakeholders.

Q. What are the measures for environment and energy conservation?

• To reduce energy consumption in non-traction area by 10% to 15%; all new light provisions will be LED luminaire only
• More than 2,000 locations provided with Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) facility; RWH systems will be provided in a phased manner in all establishments having rooftop areas of more than 200 square metres
• Environmentally friendly composite sleepers made up of recycled plastic waste will be used over all girder bridges
  · Tender documents for 50 MW solar plants at rooftop issued and facility for another 100 MW being set up
• To commission 132.5 MW of windmill power plants in 2016-17
• Automatic coach washing plants to be commissioned in major coaching depots with a holding of more than 500 coaches
• To convert all production units as well as at least one workshop in each Zonal Railway as green industrial unit

Q. Are there any measures in the budget for Staff Welfare?

• To tie up with the Ministry of Health for ensuring an exchange between Railways hospitals and Government hospitals.
• Introduce ‘AYUSH’ systems in 5 Railway hospitals.
• All gang men to be provided devices called ‘Rakshak’ which will intimate them about approaching trains.
• to reduce weight of the tools carried by gangmen while patrolling
• Provide toilets and air-conditioning in cabs for loco pilots.
• one C T Venugopal chair on Strategic Finance, research and policy development
• One Kalpana Chawla chair on geo-spatial technology for IR.
• Rail University at Vadodara
• Skill development on IR premises with Ministry of Skill Development
• Railway Workshops and Production Units to develop ‘Centres of Excellence for Skill Development’, focussing on one/two specialized activities for the general public
• Join hands with prominent NGOs to provide skilling to people in remote areas including wards of Railways employees.

Q. Are there any passenger friendly initiatives to cater to special needs, including Senior Citizens, Divyang (differently-abled) etc?

• Expansion of Sarathi Seva to help old and disabled passengers requiring assistance at stations.
• Strengthen existing services for enabling passengers to book battery operated cars, porter services, pick up and drop, and wheel chair services – Rail Mitra Sewa.
• Ensuring all stations under redevelopment are accessible by Divyang
• At least one Divyang friendly toilet at each platform in A1 class stations in 2016-17.

Q Are there any measures for the business traveller?

• For passengers transiting railway network for freshening up before moving on with their business for the day, hourly booking of retiring rooms to be allowed instead of the existing minimum of 12 hours.
• Retiring rooms to be handed over to IRCTC for management.

Q What is there for Suburban systems?

• Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) III to be taken forward.
• Financial closure and an early award of tenders for two elevated suburban corridors between Churchgate-Virar and CSTM-Panvel
• Raise all low level platforms in Mumbai suburban stations in 2016-17
• Issues related to East West Corridor of Kolkata Metro resolved and Phase I will be completed by June 2018; working on the possibility of extending the East West Corridor by 5 km.
• Reviving the Ring Railway system in Delhi in partnership with the State Government.
• Major programme to build an integrated suburban ecosystem of IR by launching a new investment framework with sharing of equity contribution with the State Governments and ensuring cost neutrality on operations; detailed policy in 4 months.
• Partnership with State Governments of Gujarat, Telengana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu for developing suburban sections in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai, respectively by deploying innovative financing mechanisms.

Q Are there any measures for Women?

• To make available of children’s menu items on trains.
• Baby foods, hot milk and hot water to be made available on stations
• Changing boards for babies would be provided in train toilets.
• CCTV cameras would continue to be installed in coaches
• Sub-quota in allotment of stalls
• Encouragement to self-help groups to supply food on trains

Q. Are there any measures for youth?

• Open up IR to 100 students across Engineering and MBA schools for 2-6 months’ internships each year.
• Wi-Fi at 400 stations in next two years
• Rs. 50 crore earmarked for Innovation Fund for encouraging innovations and start-ups.

Q. Are there any measures for journalists?

• E-booking of tickets on the concessional passes available to them

Q What is there for the North East & J&K?

• States of Mizoram and Manipur will come on the Broad Gauge map of the country with commissioning of the Kathakal-Bhairabi and Arunachal-Jiribam Gauge Conversion projects.
• Decongestion work on the Jalandhar- Jammu line, an important link to the valley, is going on in full swing. Doubling of two bridges will be commissioned by March 2016, while the other two bridges will be completed by 2016-17.

Q What are the provisions for Technology?

• Integrating various facilities into two mobile apps – one dealing with all ticketing issues and the other for receipt and redressal of complaints and suggestions.
• Physical progress on DFC to be monitored in 2016-17 using latest drone and Geo Spatial based satellite technology
• Initiated system wide integration of IT programs/systems, both horizontal and vertical, akin to an ERP through innovative partnership models.
• Process leading to award of tenders electronically to be rolled out on a Pan-India basis in 2016-17.

Q Is there anything related to innovation and startups?

• Setting aside a sum of Rs. 50 crore for innovation grants to employees, startups and growth oriented small businesses
• Innovation labs to be set up in workshops and production units to support creative innovation by locals and staff.
• Annual innovation challenge
• To develop a Test Track for testing prototypes.

Q What is there for State Governments?

• Creation of Joint Ventures with State Governments for undertaking rail based projects. Received in principle approval from 17 states, out of which 6 MOUs have already been signed.
• 44 new line, gauge conversion and doubling projects proposed in partnership mode

Q How are resources proposed to be mobilized?

• LIC has agreed to invest Rs. 1.5 lakh crore over five years on extremely favourable terms.
• Looking forward to setting up a Fund with multilateral assistance for financing railway projects.
• Non fare revenues
• Station redevelopment will help monetize land and buildings through commercial exploitation of vacant land and space rights over station buildings.
• Monetizing land along tracks
• Monetizing soft assets such as data, software and some of the free services such as PNR enquiry, e-commerce activities on IRCTC website.
• Target to increase the advertising revenues by more than 4 times the current revenues.
• To liberalize the current parcel policies including opening the sector to container train operators
• Expanding our service offerings specially to growing sectors such as e-commerce.
• Pilot project for online booking of parcels.
• Revenues from manufacturing activity of production units and workshops for domestic and international market; revenue targeted at Rs. 4,000 crore by 2020.

Q Make in India

• After agreement for setting up two loco factories in India with an order book of about Rs. 40,000 crore, a similar bid process started for train sets for Rajdhani and Shatabdi services; current procurement to be increased by 30%.
• Production units and workshops to aim at generating annualised revenues of about Rs 4,000 crore by 2020 through manufacturing products for domestic and international markets.

Q Is there anything special for the passenger services?
For the unreserved passenger

• Antyodaya Express, a long-distance, fully unreserved, superfast train service, to be operated on dense routes.
• Addition of two to four Deen Dayalu coaches in some long distance trains with facility for potable drinking water and a higher number of mobile charging points.
• For the reserved passenger
• Humsafar would be fully air-conditioned third AC service with an optional service for meals.
• Tejas will showcase the future of train travel in India. Operating at speeds of 130 kmph and above, it will offer onboard entertainment, local cuisine, Wi-Fi, etc.
• Overnight double-decker, Utkrisht Double-Decker Air-conditioned Yatri (UDAY) Express on the busiest routes.
• Modern coaches
• Designing coaches to ensure higher carrying capacity and automatic doors, bar-code readers, bio-vacuum toilets, water-level indicators, accessible dustbins, ergonomic seating, improved aesthetics, vending machines, entertainment screens, LED lit boards for advertising, PA system.

Q Have any social initiatives been announced?

• IRCTC has begun the process of empanelling Self-help groups for providing catering/cooking services.
• Partnering with NABARD to provide support and access to our IRCTC website to ensure extensive e- marketing for products produced by the Self-help groups.
• Partnered with Khadi and Village Industries Commission to support creation of employment and self-reliance in rural India resulting in the generation of 17 lakh man days; will continue to partner with them
• Will encourage sourcing of products from SC/ST entrepreneurs.

Q Are there any measures related to tourism?

• Partner with the State Governments for operating tourist circuit trains and explore the possibility of a revenue sharing model.
• Recently upgraded our National Rail Museum; promotion of tourism through Railway museums and UNESCO world heritage Railways
• To spread awareness about our National Animal, the Tiger, we will offer complete packages including train journey, safaris and accommodation to cover the wildlife circuit comprising Kanha, Pench and Bandhavgarh.

*********

PIB

Don’t recover excess payment from staff facing hardship: Central Government Departments

Don’t recover excess payment from staff facing hardship: Central Government Departments

The recovery of excess payment made to central government employees in excess of their entitlement due to unintentional mistakes committed by the concerned competent authorities may not be recovered if they are facing extreme hardships, the Centre said today.

The matter of recovery of such amount was examined in consultation with the Department of Expenditure and the Department of Legal Affairs by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

It has been decided to take into consideration a Supreme Court verdict which directs government to take into consideration exceptional cases of hardship.,

The apex court while observing that it was not possible to postulate all situations of hardship which would govern employees on the issue of recovery, where payments have mistakenly been made by the employer, in excess of their entitlement has summarised few situations, wherein recoveries by the employers would be impermissible in law, DoPT said in Office Memorandum F.No.18/03/2015-Estt.(Pay-I), issued today.
It includes recovery from retired employees, or those who are due to retire within one year of the order of recovery, and recovery in cases where an employee has wrongfully been required to discharge duties of a higher post, and has been paid accordingly, even though he should have rightfully been required to work against an inferior post.

Citing the Supreme Court order, it said recovery of excess amount will not be permissible from employees belonging to Class-III and Class-IV service–comprising support staff.

The DoPT said that the waiver of recovery in such conditions of hardships may be allowed with the express approval of Department of Expenditure.

PTI

Latest Parliament News published by PIB

Latest Parliament News published by PIB

Reservation in Promotion

The instructions issued by Department of Personnel & Training provide for reservation in promotion to persons belonging to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in posts in the Central Government upto the lowest rung of Group ‘A’. These instructions are also being implemented by Central Public Sector Undertakings, wherever reservation in promotion is applicable.

The Supreme Court in its judgment dated 19.10.2006 in the matter of M. Nagaraj & Others vs. Union of India and Ors., while upholding the validity of some of the Constitutional Amendments, observed that the concerned State will have to show in each case the existence of compelling reasons, namely, backwardness, inadequacy of representation and overall efficiency of administration before providing reservation in promotion. In order to provide impediment free reservation in promotion to SCs and STs, the Constitution (One Hundred and Seventeenth Amendment) Bill, 2012 was introduced in Rajya Sabha in September, 2012. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 17.12.2012 and transmitted to the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing. The Bill could not be considered in the Lok Sabha and lapsed on the dissolution of 15th Lok Sabha. The issues emanating from the Supreme Court judgment in M. Nagaraj case are under examination.

This was stated by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Kaushal Kishore in the Lok Sabha today.


Time Taken to Dispose Appeal

As per the Right to Information Act, 2005 it is mandatory on the part of Public Information Officer either to provide the information or reject the request for any of the reasons specified by the RTI Act within 30 days of receipt of the request. However, information concerning life or liberty of a person has to be provided in forty-eight hours of the receipt of request.

Similarly, as per the RTI Act, an appeal shall be disposed of within 30 days on the receipt of the appeal by the First Appellate Authority or within such extended period not exceeding a total of 45 days from the date of filing thereof, as the case may be, for reasons to be recorded in writing.

The Act, however, does not prescribe time limit or target for disposal of 2nd appeal/complaint by the Central Information Commission.

The Commission, however, on 22.03.2011 decided that each Information Commissioner including Chief Information Commissioner will endeavour to decide about 3200 appeals/complaints per year. During 2015, a total of 27,922 appeals/complaints were disposed off.

This was stated by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Sharad Tripathi, Shri Y.V. Subba Reddy and Shri K.N. Ramachandran in the Lok Sabha today.


Simplified Forms

The subjects like registration of birth and death certificate falls within the State List of the Constitution of India. It is for the States and Union Territory Administrations to take action for simplification of their forms as per the need and requirement. As a part of `Minimum Government & Maximum governance’ various initiatives are being undertaken in the Central Government for reforms, which includes simplification of procedures and forms. Accordingly, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances has on 15.02.2016 requested all Ministries/Departments to undertake an exercise to review forms concerning citizens’ services and explore the possibility making them one page. Further, administrative reforms, inter-alia, concerning simplification of procedures and forms are a continuous exercise and depend on the requirements of the day.

This was stated by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri V. Panneerselvam, Shri B. Vinod Kumar, Shri Prem Singh Chandumajra, Shri PR Senthil Nathan and Shrimati V. Sathya Bama in the Lok Sabha today.


Monitoring of Grievances

The total number of grievances received on the online Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System(CPGRAMS) in respect of Central Government Ministries/ Departments during the last four years are as under:-

Year	No. of Grievances received
2012	176126
2013	209637
2014	270255
2015	881132

The increase is due to a number of citizen friendly measures taken by the Government particularly integration of Prime Minister Office Public Grievances Redress Mechanism with CPGRAMS, launch of a Mobile App through which grievances can be lodged on CPGRAMS through android based Mobile phones, integration of Common Services Centre portal with the CPGRAMS and also higher expectations of the citizens from the Government.

Instructions have been issued by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances to Secretaries of all the Ministries/Departments to accord top level priority to the redress of grievances by including monitoring of grievance pendency as an agenda item in review meetings in their Ministries/Departments and to make it clear to all concerned dealing with public grievances that unwarranted delays in redressing grievances would be viewed seriously. To enable effective monitoring of grievances at Secretary level, an electronic Dashboard has been created showing the consolidated status of grievances disposed and pending on CPGRAMS for which the user IDs and passwords have been duly provided to all the Secretaries of Central Ministries/Departments. Secretaries of all the Departments having substantial public dealing have been advised to personally examine at least 10 grievances every week and upload the report on e samiksha portal of Cabinet Secretariat.

Some of the other important steps taken by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances for expeditions and effective disposal of public grievances include : a Grievance Analysis Study of the top 20 grievance receiving Ministries/Departments/Organisations for identifying the major grievances , root cause analysis and systemic reforms for reducing the grievances and regular review meetings in the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances for monitoring the pendency of public grievances.

This was stated by Minister of State in the Personnel, Public Grievances and pensions and Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Kunwar Haribansh Singh, Dr. Sunil Baliram Gaikwad, Shri Sudheer Gupta, Shri S.R. Vijayakumar, Dr. J. Jayavardhan, Shri Gajanan Kirtikar, Dr. Kirit P. Solanki, Shri Ashok Shankarrao Chavan and Shri Bidyut Baran Mahato in Lok Sabha today.

Pay commission award budgeted for in ministries allocations: Government

Pay commission award budgeted for in ministries allocations: Government

With absence of an explicit overall provision for the Seventh Pay Commission in Budget raising questions, government today said the once-in-a-decade pay hike has been built in as interim allocation for different ministries and Budget numbers were credible.

The voluminous Budget documents state that “the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission due from January 1, 2016 is to be implemented during the financial year 2016-17 as also the revised One Rank One Pension scheme for Defence services.”

“The government has made provisions for the additional liabilities on these count,” it said, without giving the amount allocated for implementation.

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the number cannot be quantified and it has been built up in budget of various ministries.

“We cannot really quantify how much we require in 2016-17. Because the Secretaries Committee have to first give its recommendations, then government will take a decision and then only we will know what is the requirement in FY17,” he said here.

Implementation of the pay commission report is to cost the government Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

“We have the Pay Commission recommendations with us, we have analysed the likely requirement and it has been built into the Budget of various ministries. Some suitable interim provisions have been made,” he said without elaborating. “Hence the expenditure and revenue numbers are credible.”

Das said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech stated that interim provisions have been made. “And these provisions are there in the Demands for Grants for individual departments and ministries. It is built into and subsumed into those allocations.”

“The Budget reaffirmed the commitment of the government to continue with the process of fiscal consolidation as projected in the Medium Term Fiscal Policy Statement of 2015-16 despite a tough external environment,” the Budget documents said.

Accordingly, fiscal deficit has been projected at 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2016-17. “In accordance with the amended FRBM targets, the fiscal deficit of 3 per cent is projected to be achieved in 2017-18 onwards.”
“Keeping in view the challenge of reduction of fiscal deficit by 0.4 per cent of GDP in a difficult year in 2016-17 with substantial additional liabilities on pay revision etc, the government is quite optimistic of fully achieving the fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent or below by March 2018,” the documents said.

Inputs with PTI

Government provides fund for pay commission implementation in Budget

Government provides fund for pay commission implementation in Budget

Central Government provided the fund of excess Rs 28,300 crore for the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations on Monday in the Budget estimates of fiscal 2016-17, presented by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The government has provided a fat allowances bill of Rs 88,932 crore in the Budget, almost as much as the total basic pay bill of Rs 90,598 crore for one crore central government employees, including pensioners.
According to the budget estimates of 2016-17, the total pay bill has increased by Rs 28,300 crore to Rs 90,598 crore in the next financial year as compared to Rs 62,230 crore in 2015-16.

The allowances bill has gone up by Rs 37,000 crore, taking the amount to Rs 88,932 crore in next fiscal.
The total provision towards pay, allowances and travel expenses of central government employees has been to the tune of Rs 1,83,935 crore in the next fiscal as against the Rs 1,18,248 crore in this financial year.
The government has made provisions as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, though the actual disbursement would depend on the suggestions of the empowered committee of secretaries which has been constituted for the implementation of the Pay Commission recommendations.

The Pay Commission had calculated the total impact of the increase in salaries and allowances at Rs 1.02 lakh crore of which it had estimated the increase in pay to be at Rs 39,100 crore and allowances at Rs 29,300 crore. In percentage terms, the overall increase according to the Pay Commission was about 23.5% where the increase in pay was 16% and the allowances at 63%.

The significant jump in allowances could be on account of house rent, which has been recommended at 24% of the basic pay, besides others. The minimum pay as per the pay panel report was set at Rs 18,000 and the maximum at Rs 2.25 lakh for secretary-level officers. Accordingly, the house rent allowance (HRA) for secretaries would be more than Rs 56,000.

However, this is not the first time that allowances bill is likely to be as much or more than the pay bill. In 2014-15, the salary bill as per actual expenditure was Rs 53,371 crore while the allowances was Rs 76,613 crore.

Inputs with TNN

Union budget 2016-17 and 7th CPC demands

Union budget 2016-17 and 7th CPC demands

“Main consideration in the private and public sector being ‘profit’, and in Central Government it is “service” even through Railways, Income Tax & Central Excise are revenue earning departments, hence an equal comparison with the Government is not going to be ever possible. Performance for the Government is usually not measured in terms of profit, but in terms of achieving societal goals.”

Union budget 2016-17 and 7th CPC demands

The Union budget 2016-17 presented by Hon’able Finance Minister in the parliament on 29th Feb 2016 has the total expenditure in the Budget for 2016-17 has been projected at Rs 19.78 lakh crore, consisting of Rs 5.50 lakh crore under Plan and Rs 14.28 lakh crore under Non-Plan. The increase in Plan expenditure is in the order of 15.3% over current year.

The fiscal deficit in RE 2015-16 and BE 2016-17 have been retained at 3.9% and 3.5% of GDP and the growth of GDP has now accelerated to 7.6%. This clearly shows that the finance of the Central Government is in good shape.

The Hon’able Finance Minister in the parliament on 29th Feb 2016 has stated that the next financial year 2016-17 will cast an additional burden on account of the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission and the implementation of Defence OROP.

Let us examine the last year spending on various ministries

This clearly shows many ministries have not spent the money allocated, this due to mainly the shortage of talented staff and various policies’ of the Government.

Today, the weakest link in respect of any government policy is at the delivery stage. This phenomenon is not endemic to India. Internationally also, there is an increasing emphasis on strengthening the delivery lines and decentralization with greater role being assigned at delivery points, which actually determines the benefit that the common citizen is going to derive out of any policy initiative of the government.

More the talented persons are there in Government services, more the delivery of the government schemes will be there, thus the Government machinery will be more effective and common man will benefit a lot.
The 7th CPC has not improved the service condition of the Central Government employees, it has provided just 14.3 % wage hike against the staff side demand of more than 70% wage hike.

The person joining a Government Service is not just for the employment is for a whole career, if a person joins a Government Service he will quit/ retire from the job only after putting 30 years service or more. In case of the person joining a private company he will jump from one company to another at least five times in thirty years.

The talented persons from all over the country are moving to IT, BT and private sectors, rather than Central Government sector. Because of the lower salary / pay structure in Central Government sector compared to IT and BT sectors and complex nature of rules and regulations in Central Government sector and also the skill and merit of the worker/ employee is not into account in Central Government sector.

Main consideration in the private and public sector being ‘profit’, and in Central Government it is “service” even through Railways, Income Tax & Central Excise are revenue earning departments, hence an equal comparison with the Government is not going to be ever possible. Performance for the Government is usually not measured in terms of profit, but in terms of achieving societal goals.

The minimum wage should be calculated using Dr Aykroyd formula and following 15th ILC norms. The actual market rates should be adopted , not the imaginary rates as provided the 7th CPC should be adopted . This will pay way of meaningful wage hike and fitment formula. House rent is from Rs 7000/- per month to Rs 35,000/- per month. The 7th CPC has provided just from Rs 3000/- to Rs 25,000/- per month. The old HRA rates should be adopted.

The strength of Central government employees should increase. In 1990 Population of the country is 85 crores – Central Government Employees strength is 40 lakhs . In 2014 Population of the country is 125 crores – Central Government Employees strength is 31 lakhs. India has 1,622.8 government servants for every 1,00,000 residents. In sharp contrast, the U.S. has 7,681. The Central government, with 3.1 million employees, thus has 257 serving every 1,00,000 population, against the U.S. federal government’s 840.
Non-filling up of vacant posts has resulted in increased work load on the existing employees and delivery of the Government schemes.

Hence the Government should adopt a proper wage policy for the central Government employees and improve vastly the 7th CPC recommendations and fill up vacant post to deliver the Government schemes to the needy of the country. Now that the Central Government finances are good. This way both Central Government employees will benefit and the common man will also benefit.

Source: http://karnatakacoc.blogspot.in/

Recovery of wrongful and excess payments made to Government servants – Dopt orders on 2.3.2016

Recovery of wrongful and excess payments made to Government servants – Dopt orders on 2.3.2016

F.No.18/03/2015-Estt. (Pay-I)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training

New Delhi, the 2nd March, 2016

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Sub: Recovery of wrongful / excess payments made to Government servants.

The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s OM No.18/26/2011-Estt (Pay-I) dated 6th February, 2014 wherein certain instructions have been issued to deal with the issue of recovery of wrongful / excess payments made to Government servants in view of the law declared by Courts, particularly, in the case of Chandi Prasad Uniyal And Ors. vs. State of Uttarakhand And Ors., 2012 AIR SCW 4742, (2012) 8 SCC 417. Para 3(iv) of the OM inter-alia provides that recovery should be made in all cases of overpayment barring few exceptions of extreme hardships.

2. The issue has subsequently come up for consideration before the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of State of Punjab & Ors vs Rafiq Masih (White Washer) etc in CA No.11527 of 2014 (Arising out of SLP(C) No.11684 of 2012) wherein Hon’ble Court on 18.12.2014 decided a bunch of cases in which monetary benefits were given to employees in excess of their entitlement due to unintentional mistakes committed by the concerned competent authorities, in determining the emoluments payable to them, and the employees were not guilty of furnishing any incorrect information / misrepresentation / fraud, which had led the concerned competent authorities to commit the mistake of making the higher payment to the employees. The employees were as innocent as their employers in the wrongful determination of their inflated emoluments. The Hon’ble Supreme Court in its judgment dated 18 th December, 2014 ibid has, inter-alia, observed as under:

“7. Having examined a number of judgments rendered by this Court, we are of the view, that orders passed by the employer seeking recovery of monetary benefits wrongly extended to employees, can only be interfered with, in cases where such recovery would result in a hardship of a nature, which would far outweigh, the equitable balance of the employer’s right to recover. In other words, interference would be called for, only in such cases where, it would be iniquitous to recover the payment made. In order to ascertain the parameters of the above consideration, and the test to be applied, reference needs to be made to situations when this Court exempted employees from such recovery, even in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India. Repeated exercise of such power, “for doing complete justice in any cause” would establish that the recovery being effected was iniquitous, and therefore, arbitrary. And accordingly, the interference at the hands of this Court.”

“10. In view of the afore-stated constitutional mandate, equity and good conscience, in the matter of livelihood of the people of this country, has to be the basis of all governmental actions. An action of the State, ordering a recovery from an employee, would be in order, so long as it is not rendered iniquitous to the extent, that the action of recovery would be more unfair, more wrongful,  more improper, and more unwarranted, than the corresponding right of the employer, to recover the amount. Or in other words, till such time as the recovery would have a harsh and arbitrary effect on the employee, it would be permissible in law. Orders passed in given situations repeatedly, even in exercise of the power vested in this Court under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, will disclose the parameters of the realm of an action of recovery (of an excess amount paid to an employee) which would breach the obligations of the State, to citizens of this country, and render the action arbitrary, and therefore, violative of the mandate contained in Article 14 of the Constitution of India.”

3. The issue that was required to be adjudicated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court was whether all the private respondents, against whom an order-of recovery (of the excess amount) has been made, should be exempted in law, from the reimbursement of the same to the employer. For the applicability of the instant order, and the conclusions recorded by them thereinafter, the ingredients depicted in paras 2&3 of the judgment are essentially indispensable.

4. The Hon’ble Supreme Court while observing that it is not possible to postulate all situations of hardship which would govern employees on the issue of recovery, where payments have mistakenly been made by the employer, in excess of their entitlement has summarized the following few situations, wherein recoveries by the employers would be impermissible in law:-

(i) Recovery from employees belonging to Class-III and Class-IV service (or Group ‘C’ and Group ‘D’ service).
(ii) Recovery from retired employees, or employees who are due to retire within one year, of the order of recovery.
(iii) Recovery from employees, when the excess payment has been made for a period in excess of five years, before the order of recovery is issued.
(iv) Recovery in cases where an employee has wrongfully been required to discharge duties of a higher post, and has been paid accordingly, even though he should have rightfully been required to work against an inferior post.
(v) In any other case, where the Court arrives at the conclusion, that recovery if made from the employee, would be iniquitous or harsh or arbitrary to such an extent, as would far outweigh the equitable balance of the employer’s right to recover.

5. The matter has, consequently, been examined in consultation with the Department of Expenditure and the Department of Legal Affairs. The Ministries / Departments are advised to deal with the issue of wrongful / excess payments made to Government servants in accordance with above decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in CA No.11527 of 2014 (arising out of SLP (C) No.11684 of 2012) in State of Punjab and others etc vs Rafiq Masih (White Washer) etc. However, wherever the waiver of recovery in the above-mentioned situations is considered, the same may be allowed with the express approval of Department of Expenditure in terms of this Department’s OM No.18/26/2011-Estt (Pay-I) dated 6th February, 2014.

6. In so far as persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department are concerned, these orders are issued with the concurrence of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

7. Hindi version will follow.

sd/-
(A.K.Jain)
Deputy Secretary to the Government of India

Authority : www.persmin.gov.in

SEVENTH CENTRAL PAY COMMISSION: PUBLIC NOTICE: 7th CPC

SEVENTH CENTRAL PAY COMMISSION

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

PUBLIC NOTICE

Government of India, vide its Resolution No. 1/1/2013-E.III(A) dated the 28th February, 2014 have constituted the Seventh Central Pay Commission with the following terms of reference :-

a) To examine, recommend changes that are desirable and feasible regarding the principles that should govern the emoluments structure including pay, allowances and other facilities/benefits, in cash or kind, having regard to rationalization and simplification therin as well as the specialized needs of various Departments agencies and services, in respect of the following categories of employees:-

(i) Central Government employees-industrial and non-industrial;
(ii) Personnel belonging to the All India Services;
(iii) Personnel of the Union Territories;
(iv) Officers and employees of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department;
(v) Members of the regulatory bodies (excluding the RBI) set up under the Acts of Parliament; and
(vi) Officers and employees of the Supreme Court.

b) To examine, review, evolve and recommend changes that are desirable and feasible regarding the principles that should govern the emoluments structure, concessions and facilities/benefits, in cash or kind, as well as the retirement benefits of the personnel belonging to the Defence Forces, having regard to the historical and traditional parties, with due emphasis on the aspects unique to these personnel.

c) To Work out the framework for an emoluments structure linked with the need to attract the most suitable talent to Government service, promote efficiency, accountability and responsibility in the work culture, and foster excellence in the public governance system to respond to the complex challenges of modern administration and the rapid political, social, economic and technological changes, with due regard to expectations of stakeholders, and to recommend appropriate training and capacity building through a competency based framework.

d) To examine the existing schemes of payment of bonus, keeping in view, inter-alia, its bearing upon; performance and productivity and make recommendations on the general principles, financial parameters and conditions for an appropriate Incentive Scheme to reward excellence in productivity, performance and integrity.

e) To review the variety of existing allowances presently available to employees in addition to pay and suggest their rationalization and simplification with a view to ensuring that the pay structure is so designed as to take these into account.

f) To examine the principles which should govern the structure of pension and other retirement benefits, including revision of pension in the case of employees who have retired prior to the date of effect of these recommendations, keeping in view that retirement benefits of all Central Government employees appointed on and after 01.01.2004 are covered by the New Pension Scheme (NPS).

g) To make recommendations on the above, keeping in view:

i. the economic conditions in the country and the need for fiscal prudence;
ii. the need to ensure that adequate resources are available for developmental expenditures and welfare measures;
iii. the likely impact of the recommendations on the finances of the State Governments,which usually adopt the recommendations with some modifications.
iv. the prevailing emolument structure and retirement benefits available to employees of Central Public Sector Undertakings; and
v. the best global practices and their adaptability and relevance in Indian conditions.

h) To recommend the date of effect of its recommendations on all the above.

2. The Commission invites all associations, unions, institutions, other organisations and interested individuals to send memoranda containing their views on the aforesaid matters so as to reach Office of Seventh Central Pay Commission latest by 31st May, 2014. This memoranda/material may be sent to PO Box No. 4599, Hauz Khas P.0, New Delhi 110 016 (Ten copies) and in case of e-mail to secy-7cpc@nic.in

Meena Agarwal
Secretary
Seventh Central Pay Commission
davp 15101/11/0004/1415

7cpc.india.gov.in