Guidelines for transfer to regulate transfers of Group 'C'
officials, Group 'B' (non-gazetted) officials and Assistant
Superintendent of Posts (Group 'B' Gazetted)
No. 141-141 /2013-SPB-II
Government of India
Ministry of Communications
Department of Posts
Personnel Division
Dak Bhawan. Sansad Marg.
New Delhi - 110001
Dated: July 31, 2018
To
All Chief Postmasters General,
Subject:
Guidelines
for transfer to regulate transfers of Group 'C' officials, Group 'B'
(non-gazetted) officials and Assistant Superintendent of Posts (Group
'B' Gazetted)
Sir/Madam,
I
am directed to forward herewith the revised 'Guidelines for Transfer' to
regulate transfer of Group 'C' officials, Group '13' (non-gazetted)
officials and Assistant Superintendent of Posts (Group 'B' Gazetted).
These guidelines will supersede earlier guidelines circulated with
communication no. 141-141/2013-SPB-I1 dated 31.01.2014.
2. With a
view to promote transparency a number of new provisions have been
incorporated in these new guidelines. Circles are requested to sensitize
all concerned for strictly adhering to these provisions.
3. These guidelines come into force with immediate effect.
4. Circles are further requested to bring these guidelines to the notice of all Regional Postmaster Generals/Divisional Heads.
Yours faithfully,
(Satya Narayana Dash)
Assistant Director General (SPN)
Guidelines for Transfer
1. Applicability:
These guidelines shall be applicable to the following:
Group 'C' officials
Group 'B' (non-gazetted) officials
Assistant Superintendent of Posts (Group 'B' Gazetted)
2.Operation of Rule 37 of Postal Manual Volume IV:-
Notwithstanding
anything contained in these guidelines an official is liable to be
transferred to any part of India unless it is expressly ordered
otherwise for any particular class or classes of officials.
Provided
that Postmen, Village Postman and MTS should not, except for very
special reasons to be recorded in writing, be transferred from one
Division to another.
3. Transfer at one's own request under Rule 38 of Postal Manual Volume IV:-
A. General Conditions:
i.
As a general rule, no official shall be transferred from one unit to
another, either within the same Circle, or to another Circle unless he
has completed probation period satisfactorily.
ii. Transfer of an
official when requested for own convenience, shall not be discouraged
if they can be made without adversely affecting to the rights of others.
ix.
Under Rule 38, inter-Circle and intra-Circle transfer from one distinct
cadre to another viz. Post Offices to Circle Office, Regional Office,
SBCO, Postal Assistant to Sorting Assistant etc. or vice versa shall not
be allowed.
x.Only such officials who have completed minimum
service of 2 years and have completed probation period prescribed for
the post holding at the time of transfer, shall be eligible for transfer
under Rule 38:
Provided that subject to availability of vacancy
in corresponding category the condition of 2 years and probation period
shall not be applicable for Persons with Disabilities (PwD):
Provided
further that subject to availability of vacancy in corresponding
category the condition of 2 years and probation period shall not be
applicable if employee/his or her spouse/fully dependent children are
suffering from terminal illness. Transfer case of such officials shall
be referred to Directorate with due recommendation of CPMsG concerned
supported by relevant documents. It shall be open to the Directorate to
seek second medical opinion of the appropriate authority.
xi.
Under Rule 38, an official will be eligible for two Inter-Circle
transfer and two lntraCircle (i.e. Inter-region/Intra region) transfer
during entire service.
xii. One additional chance for transfer in
both the categories, viz. Inter-Circle and IntraCircle, will be
allowed to Persons with Disabilities (PwD). Employee with disability who
has been appointed without availing relaxed standard of merit for PH
candidates or an employee who suffered disability after initial
employment, shall be allowed transfer as of a PwD candidate, subject to
submission of appropriate certificate as per Government of India’s
instructions in support of claim of being
xiii. An Assistant
Superintendent of Posts shall not be transferred under rule 38 to a
Circle where all his seniors in the grade of Inspector Posts are not
promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Posts, excluding those who have
not been promoted due to disciplinary action or who have denied
promotion.
B.Authority competent to approve transfer under Rule 38: -
(I) Cases where all conditions are met:-
Inter-Circle CPMG of both Circles.
Intra-Circle (where change of Region is involved) - CPMG
Intra-Region - PMG
(II) Cases where any of the conditions of these guidelines is not met - Directorate
C.Maintenance of request register & Schedule for transfer under Rule 38:-
i.
An application for inter-circle/inter-region transfer shall be
addressed to the CPMG of the Circle where the official is working.
Application for intra-region transfer shall be addressed to the PMG.
Advance copy of application should not be sent to the authority where
transfer is sought.
ii. As and when an application for transfer
is received, it shall be recorded in the outward transfer request
register, in order of date of receipt of such application by the
competent authority i.e. CPMG/PMG. Similarly as and when communication
of inward transfer seeking consent therefor is received it shall be
recorded in the inward transfer register in order of date of receipt of
such communication. Authority competent to allow transfer under Rule 38
shall strictly adhere to the order of requests received.
iii. On
receipt of a transfer request, the office of the competent authority,
viz. CPMG/PMG, shall seek views of the controlling officer of the
official at the earliest but not later than 30 days from receipt of
application, who shall send his views within 15 days, failing which it
shall be presumed that the controlling officer has no objection to the
transfer request. After considering the report, if any, of the
controlling officer, the Competent Authority shall seek consent of CPMG
of other Circle in case of Inter-Circle transfer/PMG in case of
Intra-Circle transfer/Divisional Head in case of Intra-region transfer.
Such authority shall convey their consent or otherwise within 30 days,
failing which, it shall be presumed that the authority has agreed to
allow inward transfer of the official.
iv.Where a request for transfer is not agreed to, the reasons thereof, shall be communicated to the official immediately.
v.All
Circles/Regions shall initially upload Inward and Outward transfer
register on India Post website within 60 days of issuing of these
guidelines and shall update it on quaterly basis.
vi. Before
announcing vacancies for a particular recruitment year whether under
Direct Recruitment, Departmental examination or promotion, request
received under Rule 38 shall be considered in first instance. Only after
considering all such requests, vacancies shall be announced.
vii. Transfer under Rule 38 shall be considered once in a year as under:
Transfer case shall be considered only in the month of December.
Orders
shall be issued by 31st December by the competent authority,
transferring the official w.e.f. 1st April of the following year, thus
allowing the administration/official to plan in the intervening period.
In such a case, controlling officer shall issue relieving order of the
official latest by 31st March, failing which, official will be deemed to
be relieved on 01st
4. Request for temporary inter-Circle transfer.
Request
for temporary inter-Circle transfer shall not be entertained except
only in deserving cases for reasons to be recorded in writing. The
guidelines in this regard are as under:
i. Temporary
inter-circle transfer shall be approved only by the Directorate on the
recommendation of both CPMsG. The parent Circle of the official shall
forward the proposal to the Directorate inter alia including the
recommendation of the other Circle.
ii.The Circles shall not
entertain requests for inter-Circle transfer on temporary basis in a
routine manner. Such requests shall be considered by the Circles in the
first instance under Rule 38 of Postal Manual Volume IV and instructions
issued by the Directorate from time to time, if they are otherwise
eligible. If the case is not considered under Rule 38, the reasons
therefor may be recorded.
iii.Such inter-Circle transfer cases of
officials on temporary basis, referred to Directorate, will be
considered only when both the CPMsG of the Circles have agreed to in
deserving cases after the genuineness of ground for such transfer stated
by the official is established.
iv.Inter-Circle transfer on
temporary basis shall be available to only those officials, who have
completed probation period, wherever applicable, and in other cases on
completion of two years of service in the grade.
v.Temporary
transfer shall be allowed to an official for a maximum period of three
years, in the entire service, in one spell or two spells. However, there
shall be a minimum gap of 3 years between two spells of temporary
transfer.
vi.Grant of temporary transfer from one Circle to
another will be considered by the Directorate initially for a period of
one year only on recommendations of the CPMsG concerned. Extension of
temporary transfer beyond one year may be sent to the Directorate by the
borrowing Circle with the consent of parent Circle atleast 45 days
before completion of approved period.
vii.Inter-Circle transfer
on temporary basis from one cadre to another cadre, e.g. Postal
Assistant to Sorting Assistant etc. shall not be permissible. Circles
should not forward such request to the Directorate.
viii.If the
official is promoted during the period of temporary transfer, such
official shall be relieved immediately but not later than one month to
join the promoted post, failing which, he/she shall be debarred for
promotion for one year.
ix.Requests of temporary transfers and
extension thereof already granted to the officials by the Directorate
before issue of these guidelines will also be regulated s per these new
guidelines.
5. Rotational Transfers
Rotational transfer of employees shall be regulated as under:
i.
Post tenure of an employee shall be 3 years and station tenure shall be
6 years. Provided that an employee may be transferred before completion
of post/station tenure on administrative grounds for reasons to be
recorded in writing by an authority who is superior to the authority
competent to order such transfer. The Authority Competent to approve the
rotational transfer in normal course will initiate the proposal with
proper justification for approval of the Superior Authority.
ii.
Matching of human resource with requirements of posts and placing
officials in the choice stations may be considered in the overall
context of administrative requirement and austerity measures.
iii.Inter-station transfers should be restricted to minimum in view of the austerity
iv.Each
Circle shall publish schedule, cut-off date etc. of rotational transfer
immediately after circulation of these guidelines but not later than 30
days keeping in view the academic sessions prevailing in the particular
Circle or State. Schedule once published shall not be changed
subsequently under any circumstances.
v. All such officials who
are due for rotational transfer on completion of post tenure/station
tenure shall be asked to give at least three options of the place of
posting/station with reasons to enable the authorities to consider the
same while effecting transfer. However, such request shall be considered
subject to administrative convenience and availability of post.
vi.
On completion of post-tenure of three years, to the extent possible,
all officials will be posted in same station. Where it is not possible
to do so without shifting some of them outside their present stations,
they may be posted outside their present stations to the extent
administratively feasible.
vii. In respect of cities where
the whole city forms a Postal Region, on completion of station tenure of
six year, a Circle cadre official shall be transferred out of the
Division where he is working. In other words, a division within such
Postal Region shall compute as a station for Circle cadre officials.
viii.
If officials belonging to various cadres are waiting since long for
their posting to particular stations and it has not been found possible
to accede to their request for one reason or other, such pending
requests for transfer may be acceded to in really deserving cases by
transferring out officials having longest stay in such stations.
ix.All
Sub Postmaster/Postal Assistant in a single handed or double handed
Post Offices must be shifted on completion of their post tenure of three
years positively, even if it involves moving out of station of their
present postings. Further. as per the instructions, concerning
preventive vigilance measure, issued by Investigation Division of the
Directorate vide their letters No. 8-4/2005-Inv. Dated 22.09.2005,
12.01.2012 and 05.12.2012, officials who have been posted as Sub
Postmaster/Postal Assistant in a single handed or double handed post
office irrespective of period of posting/completion of tenure should not
be posted back to the same office even after a break. In other words,
officials of single handed and double handed Post Office can have only
one posting in such offices during their service period. However,
Divisional Heads, subject to following conditions have been vested with
the powers to consider an official, who had earlier served in the
single/double handed office to be posted back to the same office or
other single and double handed office in the division:
i.
The Divisional Head will satisfy himself/herself about the antecedents
and character of the officials for whom the provision are being relaxed
and note to this effect will be given in the file.
ii. No
official will be posted back to the same single single-handed/double
handed post offices on transfer/deputation or otherwise before a break
of full tenure period.
iii. Information about cases of relaxation
so exercised by the Divisional Head will be communicated to the
Regional Postmaster General/Chief Postmaster General as the case may be,
in a half yearly statement.
x. Rotational Transfer of officials
working in Saving Bank Control Organization shall be made within the
cluster of Divisions. However, in exceptional circumstances, DPS (Hqs.)
in consultation with Accounts Officer ICO (SB) may consider movement of
SBCO officials outside the cluster.
xi. Officials, other than Sub
Postmaster/Postal Assistants in a single handed or double handed Post
Offices, who are due for retirement within one year shall not be
transferred, unless otherwise specially specified or there are very
special reasons to be recorded in writing by the Head of the Circle.
Further, official due for retirement within four years shall not be
posted as Sub Postmaster/Postal Assistants in a single handed or double
handed Post Offices
xii. Extension of post tenure in respect of
all Group ‘C’ staff, other than Sub Postmaster/Postal Assistant in a
single handed or double handed Post Offices, may be allowed in deserving
cases for a period of one year by the Regional Postmasters General/
Chief PMG after recording full justification on file. Such extensions to
Group ‘B’ officials shall be granted by the Head of the Circle after
due consideration. In no case, post tenure of an official shall be
extended beyond one year.
xiii. An Official on his transfer,
after joining the station assigned to him, shall not be considered for
retransfer for a period of two years to the station from which he was
Two year break is; however, only a minimum condition and it will not
entitle an officer/official to claim retransfer to the old station in
preference to others who have spent longer period out-side. Retransfer
before completion of two years may be considered only in extreme public
interest or on extreme compassionate grounds in exceptional cases with
the approval of the Heads of the Circle.
xiv. The
transfer/posting/retransfer of officials as Sub Postmaster/Postal
Assistant in a single handed or double handed Post Offices shall be
regulated as per the instructions issued by Investigation Division of
the Directorate, in this regard.
xv. Postman and Multi-Tasking
Staff are exempted from rotational transfer except on administrative
grounds. Head of Circles shall formulate and circulate policy regarding
beat rotation of Postman.
xvi. Where spouse of an employee is
working, guidelines issued by Department of Personnel & Training
regarding posting of husband and wife at same station shall be taken
into account while implementing rotational transfer guidelines.
xvii.
For employees having differently abled dependents, guidelines issued by
Department of Personnel & Training regarding posting of Government
employees who have differently abled dependents shall be taken into
account while implementing transfer guidelines.
xviii.Rotational Transfer order shall be implemented within 45 days of its issue. When
orders
are not implemented within 45 days, Circle shall report such instances
to the Directorate with reasons and officer/official responsible for
non- implementation of the transfer orders within stipulated time.
xix.
New products/services and modern technology are being introduced in the
Department of Posts in a big way. Heads of Circles/Regional
Heads/Divisional Heads/Unit Heads therefore, should build up a pool of
trained officials to handle these new products and technology related
jobs so that manpower is readily available to replace the officials
presently working on completion of tenure and to ensure achievement of
desired objectives. Proper succession planning will have to be made by
the HOCs/Regional/Divisional/Unit Heads well in time. The Department has
already taken necessary steps to train its manpower for successful
implementation of IT Project. It should not be difficult to replace such
officials on completion of tenure. As such, the competent authority
should ensure transfer of such staff on completion of post
tenure/station tenure.
xx. It may be ensured that women employees
are posted/transferred to an office only after ensuring that basic and
essential amenities for women as required are available there.
6.
Provisions of these guidelines are in addition to the provisions of
Postal Manual Volume IV and therefore provisions of Postal Manual Volume
IV which are not incorporated here shall continue to prevail. In case
of conflict between any provision of the Postal Manual Volume IV and
these guidelines, relevant provision of these guidelines shall prevail
and the provision of the Postal Manual shall be deemed to be modified.
7.Bringing
of direct or indirect political or other outside influence regarding
posting/transfer would attract the provisions of Rule 20 of CCS
(Conduct) Rules, 1964, as per which an appropriate disciplinary action
may be initiated against the official/officer.
