“Forward ever, backward never: onwards with Breaking Through”

09/02/2015 
  1)Encashment earned leave along with LTC- clarification.


No.14028/2/2012-Estl(L)

Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, PG and Pensions
(Department of Personnel and Training)
*****
New Delhi, dated the 9th February, 2015.
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject : Encasement earned leave along with LTC- clarification.
The undersigned is directed to refer to DoPT's O.M. No. 31011/4/2008-Estt.(A), dated 23s September, 2008 allowing encashment of earned leave along with LTC and to say that references have been received with regard to the number of times that a Government servant can avail of the encashment within the same block.
2. It is clarified that the Government servants governed by the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972 and entitled to avail LTC may encash earned leave upto 10 days at the time of availing both types of LTCs, i.e. `Hometown' and 'anywhere in India'. However, when the one and the same LTC is being availed of by the Government servant and his family members separately in a block year, encashment of leave would be restricted to one occasion only.
3. Hindi version will follow.
Sd/-
(Mukul Ratra )
Director
 



2)NFIR writes to 7th Pay Commission to conduct Inter-action meeting on Memorandum submitted

NFIR
National Federation of Indian Railwaymen
3, CHELMSFORD ROAD, NEW DELHI -110055
No. IV/NHR/7th CPC/CORRES/Pt. V
Dated: 05/02/2015
The Chairman,
Seventh Central Pay Commission,
Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhawan,
IIFT, Block B (B-14/A),
Qutab Institutional Area,
New Delhi 110016
Dear Sir,
Sub: Inter-action meeting with the Seventh Central Pay Commission on NFIR’s memorandum-reg.
Ref: NFIR’s letter No.IV/NFIR/7th CPC/CORRES/Pt. V dated 02/08/2014.
Federation vide its letter dated 02/08/2014, addressed to the Secretary, Seventh Central Pay Commission had made following suggestions with regard to holding interaction meetings:
a) Inter-action meetings may be fixed giving us reasonable advance intimation to enable us to reschedule our other programmes,
b) Meeting/hearing may be fixed department wise to facilitate us to meet the Pay Commission along with the representatives of the conccrned department/category.
c) In the Railways, there are eight major departments with hundreds of categories. Eight different dates for explaining our case may kindly be considered.
d) Inter-action meetings may also be convened for explaining the case of miscellaneous and isolated categories in Railways.
e) Separate date and time be provided to facilitate the NFIR to explain uniqueness of railways as well unique nature of duties of railway employee in general.
Federation is yet to receive response from the Seventh Central Pay Commission.
In this connection, NFIR desires to mention that the 6th CPC had allotted a total time of 28 hours to us in different spells/different dates to explain the case of Railway employees belonging to various categories in different departments. Federation trusts that similar time slots would be provided to us by the 7th CPC as well.
NFIR. therefore, once again requests the Hon’ble Chairman Seventh Central Pay Commission to arrange to allot adequate time slots and convey to the Federation.
Yours faithfully,
sd/-
(Dr.M.Raghavaiah)
General Secretary
Source: NFIR

3)Supreme Court seeks Govt’s views on the legality of Aadhaar – Petition filed on the ground that it violated personal liberties and privacy.

The Supreme Court on Monday sought the government’s views on the unique identification or Aadhaar programme that was started by its predecessor as a fresh petition sought to question its legality on the ground that it violated personal liberties and privacy.
A two-judge bench, comprising chief justice of India HL Dattu and justice AK Sikri, asked solicitor general Ranjit Kumar to revert to the top court in two weeks with the information but stopped short of issuing any formal legal notices to the government.
“We read news reports which said the new government was doing a rethink on the issue,” Dattu observed.
The petition, filed by Bangalore-resident Mathew Thomas, a former army officer and defence missile scientist turned social activist, had accused the new government of “slyly” pushing ahead with Aadhaar. He said the government had insisted on linking bank accounts with Aadhaar for direct transfer of the LPG subsidy and it was also being used to ensure attendance by officials. He urged the court to immediately stop this.
“Our democratic constitution does not permit such state surveillance. UID is the first step towards profiling, tracking and stereotyping. Mere production of ID cards by people, upon demand by police, would neither absolve such persons from suspicion, nor would it prevent them from indulging in criminal activities,” his plea said.
Arguing for Thomas, senior advocate Gopal Subramanium contended that almost all countries such as the UK and US have scrapped such attempts following a public uproar over their intrusive nature. Aadhaar is being rolled out by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a non-statutory body. It involves collecting biometric information of all citizens and in return issuing them unique ID or Aadhaar numbers that facilitate the accurate targeting of social security and in-service benefits. Several activists had approached the top court seeking a stay.
The court had clarified that Aadhaar should not be insisted upon while dispensing social security benefits.
The court is, however, yet to take a final call on its fate. The fresh PIL, filed through lawyer Aishwarya Bhatti, called upon the court to direct the Centre to destroy all biometric information collected so far.
Collection of data was being undertaken by agencies with suspect credentials and cards had been issued even to illegal migrants, the PIL claimed.
The UIDAI couldn’t be set up through mere approval of the “empowered group of ministers”, it said. All acts that curtail the rights and liberties of an individual are to be necessarily backed by law, it said. The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, was introduced in the Lok Sabha and is still pending. However, in the interim, the authority has been collecting personal information of all citizens, including army officers and government servants.
Thomas said he had sought information about UIDAI-approved scanners that were used to collect biometric data but was denied this. A Right to Information (RTI) query led to the answer that there was “no way of verifying the country of origin of the companies”, he said.
In the meantime, Maharashtra has made Aadhaar mandatory to pay bills. Other states use it to record attendance in offices. Delhi has made Aadhaar necessary for solemnisation and registration of marriages and the direct transfer of LPG subsidies.
There is no provision for residents to opt out of the UID project and information once given cannot be destroyed, he said. The former army officer said that possibility of “illegal residents” wrongly being issued Aadhaar cards and carrying out espionage activities could not be ruled out. The scheme would have limited use in checking illegal migration or terrorism, he said.
The information collected under the UID scheme is valuable to criminals and this makes citizens vulnerable as well, he said. There are almost no checks and balances in sharing of private information, the petitioner said.
source: Economic Times
 

07-02-2015



1)Request for Voluntary Retirement from Persons suffering with disability – Draft OM
F. No. 25012/01/2015-Estt (A.IV)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training
Establishment A-IV Desk
North Block, New Delhi-110 001
Dated: February 6th, 2015
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: – Request for Voluntary Retirement from Persons suffering with disability – regarding.
The undersigned is directed to say that many Government servants seek voluntary retirement on medical grounds. Sec 47 of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities,Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (PWD Act) lays down that no establishment shall dispense with the services of an employee who acquires a disability during the course of service. It is proposed that any Government servant seeking voluntary retirement on medical grounds may be apprised of the above provisions of PWD ACT, in order that he can take a considered decision.
2. A draft of the office memorandum to be issued in this regard is enclosed. Comments/ suggestions are invited on the proposal. Comments may kindly be sent to the undersigned by Email at dse@nic.in or by FAX at 011-23093179 by 20-02-2015
(J.A. aidyanathan)
Director(E)
Te1:23093179

2)Dearness Allowance is admissible for both pension and salary after re employment

The Nagpur bench of Maharashtra Administrative Tribunal (MAT) held that a re-employed pensioner was entitled for receiving “dearness allowance (DA)” on his pension as well as on his salary.
“There is no rule that prohibits claiming dearness allowance on pension amount as well as on basic salary that is received after re-employment. The intention of legislation was to give benefit to the government employee who prefers retirement before the age of 55 years and is obviously subjected to payment of reduced amount as pension as compared to those who superannuate at 58 years,” Justice (retired) MN Gilani stated.
Applicant Mohammed Jameel had sought voluntary retirement from the Public Health Department on October 5, 1999, before attaining 55 years and joined as a lecturer in Law College in Gondia from the next day. He retired on February 9, 2007, after putting in seven years of teaching. On the same day, city-based district treasury officer issued an order of recovery of Rs1.31 lakh from his pension amount on the grounds that drawing “two dearness allowances” was not permitted. The petitioner received the DA on his pension as well as on his salary during his re-employment.
He challenged this order through counsel Tushar Mandlekar relying on the MCS Pension Rules that say in case of persons retiring before attaining the age of 55 years, the competent authority while fixing the pay should ignore the “entire pension” clause in case of employees other than Class I. The government relied on the guidelines issued through its circulars for pointing out that excess DA payment was not permissible.
Mandlekar argued the definition of “pension” as per Article 366 of the Constitution of India was inclusive of DA. The definition of pay, pension, and pensionable pay, are defined under Rule 9 (36), (37), (38), and Rule 60 of MCS, if read together along with the definition of pension under Article 366, makes it clear that DA was included in pay and pension, and thus could not be separated or deducted independently.
The tribunal held that Rule 157 (3) of MCS Pension Rules was independent and had its own identity, which mandated the government to ignore the “entire pension” clause that included allowances attached to it.
MAT added that there was no reason for paying and disbursing officer to rely on Rule 262 of Maharashtra Treasury Rules 1968 or government circulars. “The payment of pension to the re-employed pensioners is required to be fixed in accordance with the provisions of Chapter XIV of MCS Pension Rules, 1982. It is provided in Rule 157 (3) that “entire pension” needs to be ignored while fixing the new pay,” Justice Gilani said before quashing the district treasury officer order.
Source: Times of India

3)Recruitment to Multi Tasking Staff in Pay Band-1, with Grade Pay of Rs.1800

No.AB-14017/6/2009-Estt (RR)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances 86 Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training
New Delhi, dated the 5th February, 2015
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Recruitment to Multi Tasking Staff in Pay Band-1, with Grade Pay of Rs.1800/– Sending of requisition to Staff Selection Commission.
This Department vide OM of even number dated 12.5.2010 and reiterated vide OM dated 21st October, 2013 had issued instructions to all the Ministries/ Departments that they have to intimate their requirements for Multi Tasking Staff (Non-Technical) in PB-1 Grade Pay Rs.1800/- to the Staff Selection Commission. The Ministries/ Departments were also advised to take action simultaneously for framing Recruitment Rules for these posts in accordance with the Model RRs already circulated vide OM dated 30.4.2010.
2. It is once again reiterated that the posts of MTS are required to be filled up only through SSC as per the instructions of this Department. All Ministries/ Departments may send their requirements as well as the requirements of their attached/subordinate offices also, for MTS ( PB-1 Grade Pay Rs.1800/-) to the Staff Selection Commission so that the Commission could initiate action for recruitment. The Staff Selection Commission is likely to issue advertisement on 1.8.2015.
3. Action pending, if any, may simultaneously be taken for framing of Recruitment Rules for these posts in accordance with the Model Recruitment Rules already circulated.
(Mukta Goel)
Director (E-I)
Download DOPT office Memorandum: Recruitment to Multi Tasking Staff in Pay Band-1, with Grade Pay of Rs.1800