“Forward ever, backward never: onwards with Breaking Through”
 01/06/2015

7th Pay Commission’s Final Meeting with JCM Staff Side on 9th June 2015
The full Text of letter dated 27.05.2015 addressed by 7CPC to NC, Staff Side JCM is as follows

Jay ant Sinha

Joint Secretary
Government of India
Seventh Central Pay Commission
D.O.No. 7CPC/158/Meetings/2015
27.05.2015
Dear Shiv Gopal Mishra
The Seventh Central Pay Commission has had wide ranging interaction with a variety of Stakeholders. It has had a series of meetings with National Council and the Constituents of the JCM from March 2015 onwards. The Commission has also sought views of Individual Ministries / Departments on the issues Posed in relation to matters that ar relevant to the Ministries
The Commission has scheduled a final meeting of the National Council with the 7th Central Pay Commission at 11.00 am on 9th June 2015, in the Conference Room, 1st Floor, B-14/A. Chatrapati Shivaji Bhawan, Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi
With Regards
Yours Sincerely
(Jayant Sinha)


 

2) Income Tax Return Forms ITR 1, 2 and 4S Simplified for Convenience of the Tax Payers;

A New Form ITR 2A Proposed which can be Filed by an Individual or HUF who does not have Capital Gains, Income from Business/Profession or Foreign Asset/Foreign Income; In Form ITR 2 and the New Form ITR 2A, the Main Form will not Contain more than 3 Pages, and other Information will be Captured in the Schedules which will be Required to be filled only if applicable;

As the Software for these Forms is under Preparation, they are likely to be available for e-filing by 3rd week of june 2015;Time Limit for Filing these Returns is also Proposed to be Extended up to 31.08.2015;

Only Passport Number, if available, would be required to be given in forms Itr-2 and itr-2A. Details of Foreign Trips or Expenditure thereon are not required to be Furnished
Forms ITR 1, 2 and 4S for Assessment Year 2015-16 were notified on 15th April 2015 (15.04.2015). In view of various representations, it was announced that these ITR forms will be reviewed. Having considered the responses received from various stakeholders, these forms are proposed to be simplified in the following manner for the convenience of the taxpayers:-

1) Individuals having exempt income without any ceiling (other than agricultural income exceeding Rs. 5,000) can now file Form ITR 1 (Sahaj). Similar simplification is also proposed for individuals/HUF in respect of Form ITR 4S (Sugam).

apital gains, income from business/profession or foreign asset/foreign income.2) At present individuals/HUFs having income from more than one house property and capital gains are required to file Form ITR-2. It is, however, noticed that majority of individuals/HUFs who file Form ITR-2 do not have capital gains. With a view to provide for a simplified form for these individuals/HUFs, a new Form ITR 2A is proposed which can be filed by an individual or HUF who does not have c
3) In lieu of foreign travel details, it is now proposed that only Passport Number, if available, would be required to be given in Forms ITR-2 and ITR-2A. Details of foreign trips or expenditure thereon are not required to be furnished.
4) As regards bank account details in all these forms, only the IFS code, account number of all the current/savings account which are held at any time during the previous year will be required to be filled-up. The balance in accounts will not be required to be furnished. Details of dormant accounts which are not operational during the last three years are not required to be furnished.
5) An individual who is not an Indian citizen and is in India on a business, employment or student visa (expatriate), would not mandatorily be required to report the foreign assets acquired by him during the previous years in which he was non-resident if no income is derived from such assets during the relevant previous year.
6) As a measure of simplification, it has been endeavoured to ensure that in Form ITR 2 and the new Form ITR 2A, the main form will not contain more than 3 pages, and other information will be captured in the Schedules which will be required to be filled only if applicable.
As the software for these forms is under preparation, they are likely to be available for e-filing by 3rd week of June 2015. Accordingly, the time limit for filing these returns is also proposed to be extended up to 31st August, 2015 (31.08.2015). A separate notification will be issued in this regard.
3) Cabinet Approves Revision and Up gradation of Cities for granting HRA and Transport Allowance
Revision of the classification/up gradation certain cities/towns on the basis of Census-2011 for the purpose of grant of House Rent Allowance and Transport Allowance to Central Government employees
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to the proposal of the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure for reclassification/upgradation of certain cities/towns on the basis of Census-2011, for the purpose of grant of House Rent Allowance (HRA) and Transport Allowance to Central Government employees.
On the basis of the final population figures of Census-2011, two cities have qualified for being upgraded from ‘Y’ class to ‘X’ class and 21 cities have qualified for being upgraded from ‘Z’ to ‘Y’ class for the purpose of HRA. Six cities have qualified for being upgraded from “Other Places” to specified higher class for the purpose of Transport Allowance.
The revised classification of cities shall take effect from 01.04.2014. The impact on the exchequer on account of upgradation of 29 cities, would be approx. Rs.128 crore for the year 2014-15.
Background:
HRA and Transport Allowance are admissible to Central Government employees depending upon employees’ Basic Pay (including NPA where applicable)/Grade Pay and the classification of the city/town where they are posted. The existing classification of cities/towns in different classes viz. ‘X’, ‘Y’ and ‘Z’ for the purpose of HRA and 13 specified cities classified earlier as ‘A-1’/ ‘A’ and “Other Places” for the purpose of Transport Allowance, is as per the criterion recommended by the 6th Central Pay Commission. The existing qualifying limits of population for classification for HRA purpose is 50 lakhs & above for ‘X’, 5 – 50 lakhs for ‘Y’ and below 5 lakhs for ‘Z’ class city. Transport allowance is payable at ‘higher rates’ in 13 specified cities classified earlier as ‘A-1′ / ‘A’ (that is those cities having population of 20 lakhs & above) and at ‘lower rates’ in all other places.
The classification of cities/towns for this purpose is revised on the basis of their population as reflected in the decennial census report. The existing classification of various cities/towns is based on 2001 Census figures. The criterion of population for this purpose has been followed as recommended by the Central Pay Commissions.
Cities/towns to be upgraded on the basis of census-2011 for grant of House Rent Allowance
Cities to be upgraded/re-classified as “X”
Ahmadabad(UA)
Pune (UA)
Cities to be upgraded/re-classified as “Y”
Nellore (UA)
Gurgaon (UA)
Bokaro Steel City (UA)
Gulbarga (UA)
Thrissur (UA)
Malappuram (UA)
Kannur(UA)
Kollam (UA)
Ujjain (M. Coprn.)
Vasai-Virar City (M. Corpn.)
Malegaon (UA)
Nanded-Waghala (M.Corp.)
Sangli (UA)
Raurkela (UA)
Ajmer (UA)
Erode (UA)
Noida (CT)
Firozabad (NPP)
Jhansi (UA)
Siliguri (UA)
Durgapur (UA)
Cities/towns to be upgraded on the basis of census-2011 for grant of Transport Allowance
Cities to be added for higher rates of Transport Allowance (i.e. which have population of more than 20 lakh to qualify for earlier classification as “A-1”/ “A” as stipulated in O.M. No. 21(2)/2008-E.II(B) dated 29.8.2008):
Patna (UA)
Kochi (UA)
Indore (UA)
Coimbatore (UA)
Ghaziabad (UA)
4) Discussion in the National Anomaly committee meeting.
The meeting of the National Anomaly Committee was held today at Room No. 72 , North Block. Mrs. Mamatha Kundra, JS(E) Department of Personnel and Training chaired the meeting. The Staff side was represented by:
.S/Shri. M. Raghavaiah, Leader Staff Side, .Shiv Gopal Mishra, Secretary, . Bhosale (AiRF) ..  Guman Singh(NFIR),  K.K.N. Kutty(Confederation),  M.S. Raja ( Audit),  Srikumar (AIDEF)
The following issues alone were taken up for discussion at the meeting. The next meeting of the NAC will be held on 9th June, 2015afternnon, when the un-discussed items (12) of the agenda will be taken up. The Staff side also pointed out the need to reach finality on all issues included in the agenda of NAC.
Item No.1. Review of MACP where Grade Pay of Rs. 2000/- is not available like Railways: The official side stated that the demand was to bring the hierarchy based MACP which may not be acceptable as it would disturb the uniformity across the Departments. They also said that in the background of 7th CPC coming into being, no change in the scheme at this stage would be desirable.
Item No. 2. Grant of Addl. Pay to Loco and Traffic running Staff in Railways. After some discussions, it was agreed that the DOE will cause a reconsideration of the issue.

Item No. 3. MACP for personnel appointed under LDCE and GBDCE scheme in Railways. The official side agreed that under the ACP if the appointees under LCDE and GDCE have been treated as direct recruitment, the same might be treated in the same manner under MACP.

Item No. 4. Grant of minimum entry pay meant for direct recruits to promotees. The official side stated that unless logically it is established that the proposed stepping up is needed, the direction of the FM in the matter cannot be got reversed. There was serious discussion in the matter thereafter. The Staff side stated that the RPA rules promulgated after the 6th CPC recommendations were not in conformity with the Fundamental Rules on this issue. They also stated that having once agreed to a position; the official side cannot withdraw there-from under the JCM Scheme. They also stated that the course open to the official side was to present the case before the new Finance Minister. On behalf of the Staff Side, the Secretary informed the official side that a rejection of an issue on which agreement is reached will not be taking lying down by the employees. The Staff side also demanded that a meeting with the new Finance Minister be arranged so that they will be able to place this issue before his consideration.

4)Government employees to get passport without NOC

No Objection Certificate (NOC) is not now a mandatory requirement for government employees to get a passport.

To streamline and check the undue delay in getting passports to the government employees, the Ministry of External Affairs has relaxed provisions for issue of passport and asked the government employees to attach the copy of prior intimation letter submitted by the government employees to their controlling authority before applied for passport.

The Ministry of External Affairs has recently issued an Office Memorandum No.VI/401/01/05/2014 making the ‘Prior Intimation Letter’ valid proof like ‘No Objection Certificate (NOC)’ to obtain passport for government employees, public sector undertakings (PSU) employees and autonomous body employees.
Government employees, who applies for passport with ‘Prior Intimation Letter’, they do not need to police verification.
The above provision is applied for getting passport only not for VISA, the government employees are required to obtain ‘No Objection Certificate (NOC)’ from their departments concerned for getting VISA from foreign embassies for travelling abroad as per CCS (Conduct) Rules and the instructions have been issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) from time to time.