Unique Facility for EPF members to Download their E-Pass Book

A unique facility for EPF members to download their e-pass book each month, if they are active members and ECR is being uploaded by their employer, was today formally launched by Shri R.C.Mishra, Central PF Commissioner here in the EPFO headquarters, New Delhi.

The salient features of this facility are as under:

• The members shall be able to download their e-pass book each month, if they are active members and ECR is being uploaded by their employer.

• In case of the members who are not active (left service) and have not settled their account or have not become inoperative, the facility to download the pass book on request basis shall be available.

• The facility shall be available on www.epfindia.gov.in

• Any PF member can register himself/herself on the Member Portal by using his/her Photo Identification number such as PAN, Aadhar, NPR, Driving License, Passport, Voter ID, Ration Card and use the mobile number as the password. Thus the member will not be required to remember any user id/password.

• The member can add multiple id numbers after registration and can use any one for login.

• Once registered, he/she can download the pass book by entering his/her account number. If available the pass book will appear for download.

• In case not available a request will be created on the portal and once the pass book is uploaded by the respective field office, an SMS will be sent to the member to login and download the pass book.

• The e-pass book shall contain the transaction wise details in the member`s account (all credits and debits) since the month for which the details for the establishment have been processed in the new application software at the field offices.

• The facility, however is not available for the members under establishments that are exempted under the EPF Scheme 1952 (as the fund details are maintained by the Trust), Inoperative members (i.e in accounts where no contribution has been received during preceding 36 months).

However, the facility will have following restrictions:-

1. Only one registration is permitted against one mobile number.

2. The member can download the passbook for only one account number under one establishment. Thus in case he/she has worked for different spells in one establishment with different account numbers, he/she has to apply for the transfer of the old account to the new so that the credit may be reflected in the e-pass book of the new account.

3. To view the amount balance against any inoperative account also the member should apply for transfer and then the transferred amount will reflect as credit in the present account of the member.
Source:pib

Unique Facility for EPF members to Download their E-Pass Book

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Filed Under: EPF, EPFO

AICPIN FOR OCTOBER 2012

Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) October 2012
The All-India CPI-IW for October, 2012 rose by 2 points and pegged at 217 (two hundred and seventeen). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by 0.93 per cent between September and October compared with 0.51 per cent between the same two months a year ago.

The largest upward contribution to the change in current index came from food items which increased by 0.43 per cent, contributing 0.45 percentage points to the total change. At item level, largest upward pressure came from Rice, Wheat & Wheat Atta, Milk, Tea (readymade), Snack Saltish, Snack Sweet, Onion, etc. The other items like Cooking Gas, Electricity Charges, Fire wood, Medicine (Allopathic), Doctors’ Fee, Bus Fare, Cinema Charges, etc. also put upward pressure in total change.

The largest downward contribution to the change in current index came from Oils and Fats with a decline of 1.08 per cent, contributing (-) 0.10 percentage points to the total change. The main downward pressure came from Groundnut Oil, Coconut Oil, Vanaspati Ghee and Palm Oil.

The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 9.60 per cent for October, 2012 as compared to 9.14 per cent for the previous month and 9.39 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, the Food inflation stood at 9.91 per cent against 11.00 per cent of the previous month and 8.72 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year.

At centre level, Monger Jamalpur and Siliguri recorded the largest increase of 6 points each followed by Labac Silchar, Guntur, Salem, Jharia, Coimbatore, Sholapur, Jalpaiguri, Kodarma, Mariani Jorhat, Bengluru and Tripura (4 points each). Among others, 3 points rise was registered in 7 centres followed by 2 points in 21 centres and 1 point in 11 centres. Hubli Dharwar centre reported a decline of 4 points followed by Goa with 3 points, Chennai and Varanasi with 2 points each and other 6 centres registered a fall of 1 point. Rest of the 16 centres’ indices remained stationary.

The indices of 38 centres are above All-India Index and other 39 centres’ indices are below national average. Bokaro’s index remained at par with all-India index.

The next index of CPI-IW for the month of November, 2012 will be released on Monday, December 31, 2012.

Source:pib

AICPIN FOR OCTOBER 2012

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Filed Under: AICPIN, DA, EXPECTED DA

CONFEDERATION SOUGHT THE INTERVENTION OF COMRADE BASUDEV ACHARYA M.P TO OPPOSE GOVERNMENT MOVE TO REJECT ARBITRATION AWARDS IN PARLIAMENT

GOVERNMENT  IS MOVING AHEAD TO REJECT SOME ARBITRATION AWARDS

BY TAKING THEM TO PARLIAMENT IN THE SHAPE OF RESOLUTIONS

ARBITRATION AWARDS ON TRANSPORT ALLOWANCE AND HOUSE RENT ALLOWANCE

ARE BEING TAKEN TO PARLIAMENT

CONFEDERATION SEEKS THE SUPPORT OF COMRADE BASUDEV ACHARYA M.P TO  OPPOSE THE RESOLUTIONS

CONFEDERATION LETTER TO COMRADE BASUDEV ACHARYA IS PLACED HEREUNDER

CONFEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT 

EMPLOYEES AND WORKERS

Manishinath Bhawan

A2/95 Rajourigarden

New Delhi-10027

website: confederationhq.blogspot. com.

e mail: confederation06@yahoo.co.in

Conf/ 14/2012 Dated: 29th November, 2012-11-29

Dear Comrade,

                Kindly refer to the Lok Sabha Bulletin Part II Nos. 4687-4695 Wednesday, November, 21 2012  and the discussion your office had with us in the matter  The Government has proposed to move two resolutions  i.e. No. 4693 and 4694.  As desired by you we send herewith the draft of the counter resolution to be moved by you in the matter.

Against Resolution No. 4693:                                   Text of the Counter resolution.

From whom received.   Ministry concerened.  

Shri Basudeb Acharya.   Finance.                              This house disapproves the proposal of the Government to reject the award given on 24th November, 2005 by the Board of Arbitration in CA Reference case No. 3 of 2004 regarding revision of rates of transport allowance to the Central Government employees as the expenditure to be incurred is not going to be Rs. 1232 crores.   The increased allowance is to be given for only two months i.e. November, 2005 and December, 2005 as Transport allowance at much higher rates has already been paid from 1.1.2006 onwards.

Against Resolution No. 4694.                                   Text of the Counter resolution.

Shri Basudeb Acharya. Finance                                  This house disapproves the proposal of the Government to reject the award given on 6.4.2004 by the Board of Arbitration in CA reference case No. 2 of 2002 regarding grant of house rent allowance to the Central Government employees for the period from 1.1.2996 to 31.7.1997  at pre revised rates but with reference to revised pay.  This is only a one time expenditure for the period of 19 months and logically to be related to the revised pay as was obtaining at the relevant point of time.  Since this expenditure will be met from the savings in the Budget under the head Salaries no diversion of any funds are to take place.

                   With greetings,

                   Yours fraternally,

K.K.N. Kutty

Secretary General

Source:http://confederationhq.blogspot.in/ 

CONFEDERATION SOUGHT THE INTERVENTION OF COMRADE BASUDEV ACHARYA M.P TO OPPOSE GOVERNMENT MOVE TO REJECT ARBITRATION AWARDS IN PARLIAMENT

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Filed Under: CCGEW, CONFEDERATION, HRA, TRAVELLING ALLOWANCE

EXPECTED DEARNESS ALLOWANCE (DA) JANUARY 2013

Expectation of future Dearness Allowance from January, 2013 on the basis of 2 points jump in CPI-IW for the month of August, 2012 and 1 point jump in September, 2012 giving expectation for DA  80% or more from January 2013.
All India Consumer Price Index Number [http://labourbureau.nic.in/indtab.html] for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) on base 2001=100 for September, 2012 showing increase in 1 point and stood at 215 (Two hundred and fifteen).

Expectation-1
 If we expect only 1 point increase in this index for every month the Dearness Allowance for Central Government Employee will touch 80% in January, 2013.  In view of increased LPG & Diesel price etc. we expect more monthly increase in Index and similarly in future DA.  Please go through the following calculation:-

Expected Dearness Allowance DA for Jan, 2013 calculated as under:

Dearness Allowance = (Avg of AICPI for the past 12 months - 115.76)*100/115.76

Month	Base Year 2001 = 100	Total of 12 Months	TwelvemonthlyAverage	% increase over 115.76 for   DA	DA announced or will be announced
Dec-11	197	2298	191.50	65.43%	65%
Jan-12	198	2308	192.33	66.15%
Feb-12	199	2322	193.50	67.16%	72%
Mar-12	201	2338	194.83	68.31%
Apr-12	205	2357	196.42	69.68%
May-12	206	2376	198.00	71.04%
Jun-12	208	2395	199.58	72.41%
Jul-12	212	2414	201.17	73.78%
Aug-12	214	2434	202.83	75.22%	80%
Sep-12	215	2452	204.33	76.51%
Oct-12	216	2470	205.83	77.81%
Nov-12	217	2488	207.33	79.11%
Dec-12	218	2509	209.08	80.62%
Jan-13	Expected DA from January, 2013

Expectation-2

 If we expect 2 point increase in this index for every month the Dearness Allowance for Central Government Employee will exceed 80% in January, 2013.  In view of increased LPG & Diesel price etc. we expect more monthly increase in Index and similarly in future DA.  Please go through the following calculation:-

Expected Dearness Allowance DA for Jan, 2013 calculated as under:

Dearness Allowance = (Avg of AICPI for the past 12 months - 115.76)*100/115.76

Aug-12	214	2434	202.83	75.22%	81%
Sep-12	215	2452	204.33	76.51%
Oct-12	217	2471	205.92	77.88%
Nov-12	219	2491	207.58	79.32%
Dec-12	222	2516	209.67	81.12%
Jan-13	Expected DA from January, 2013

Courtesy:http://karnmk.blogspot.in/2012/10/expected-da-upto-81-from-january-2013.html

EXPECTED DEARNESS ALLOWANCE (DA) JANUARY 2013

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Filed Under: DEARNESS ALLOWANCE, EXPECTED DA

Guidelines for monitoring and expeditious disposal of the disciplinary proceeding cases - DoPT Order

No. 425/04/2012-AVD-IV(A)

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pension

Department of Personnel & Training

North Block, New Delhi 

29th November, 2012

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Guidelines for monitoring and expeditious disposal of the disciplinary proceeding cases — reg.

Instructions have been issued in the past for expeditious disposal of disciplinary proceedings against delinquent government servants. However, it has been observed that disciplinary proceedings are generally taking a long time which defeats the very purpose of initiating the said proceedings. Therefore, it has been considered necessary to issue the following guidelines for monitoring and expeditious disposal of disciplinary proceedings:

i. There are a number of instances where the Courts have set aside the order of penalty due to inordinate delay in initiating action. Therefore, it has to be ensured that disciplinary proceedings are initiated without undue delay.

ii. The Administrative Department/Competent Authority should study the allegations more carefully and resort to minor penalty proceedings instead of initiating major penalty proceedings, where the circumstances involve minor infringements or cases of procedural irregularities. It has to be kept in mind that a minor penalty swiftly but judiciously imposed by a Disciplinary Authority is much more effective than a major penalty imposed after years spent on a protracted enquiry.

iii. There is undue delay due to repeated requests of the charged officer for time to give his written statement in reply to the charge sheet. As per existing instructions, the charged officer is allowed 10 days to submit his written statement. The charged officer may be allowed 3 — 4 days absence by the Controlling Officer for preparing his written statement in which case, no extension of time should be allowed beyond the stipulated period of 10 days. (DoP&T's OM No.142/5/2003-AVD.I dated 6th April, 2004)

iv. If vigilance angle is involved in a complaint, the case should be referred to CVC for their 1st stage advice within one month from the date of receipt of investigation report. If vigilance angle is not involved, case should be put up to the disciplinary authority for taking decision to initiate disciplinary action for major or minor penalty against delinquent officer under CCS(CCA) Rules within one month from the date of receipt of investigation report.

v.   After receipt of first stage advice of CVC, the case should be put up to the .disciplinary authority for taking decision to initiate disciplinary action for major or minor penalty against delinquent officer under CCS(CCA) Rules within one month from the date of receipt of 1st stage advice of CVC.

vi. The chargesheet should be issued to the charged officer within a week from the date of receipt of decision of the disciplinary authority to initiate major or minor penalty proceedings against him. In any case, it should be ensured that the chargesheet is issued within one month from the date of receipt of the 1st stage advice of CVC.

vii. Simultaneously with the issuance of chargesheet, names of suitable officer to be appointed as 10 & PO may be selected tentatively. If the charged officer, in his written statement of defence, denies the charges leveled against him, orders regarding appointment of 10 & PO should be issued immediately after receipt and consideration of defence statement. Copies of all the relevant papers/documents should also be provided to IO/P0 along with the order.

viii. The charge sheet should be drafted with utmost accuracy and precision based on the facts revealed during the investigation or otherwise and the misconduct involved. It should be ensured that no relevant material is left out and at the same time no irrelevant material or witnesses are included. (DoP&T's DO No.134/2/83-AVD.I dated 2nd May, 1985)

ix. As far as possible, copies of all the documents relied upon and the statements of witnesses cited on behalf of the Disciplinary Authority should be supplied to the Government servant along with the charge sheet, so that the time taken by the charged officer to submit his written statement of defense is reduced. (DoP&T's DO No.134/2/83-AVD.I dated 2nd May, 1985)

x. JO should submit his report within six months from the date of receipt of order of his appointment as 10. Where it is not possible to adhere to this time limit, the JO should submit reasons for delay to the disciplinary authority in writing.

xi. A copy of the inquiry report and also disagreement of the disciplinary authority, if any, on it should be provided to the Charged Officer within 15 days from the date of receipt of Inquiry Report alongwith reasons for disagreement of the Disciplinary Authority with JO's findings, if any. (CVC Circular No. 000NGL/18 dated 23rd May, 2000). The Charged Officer may be allowed 15 days to submit, if he so desires, his written representation or submission to the disciplinary authority irrespective of whether the report is favourable or not to the government servant (DoP&T's O.M. No.11012/13/85-Estt. dated 26th June, 1989)

xii. After the receipt of the representation of charged officer on Inquiry Report, the case may be sent to CVC, wherever required, for their second stage advice, or to UPSC for their advice, as the case may be, within one month. (CVC's Circular No 000NGL/18 dated 23rd May, 2000)

xiii. Penalty order should be issued within a month from the date of advice of UPSC. (DoP&T's DO No 134/2/83-AVD.I dated 2nd May, 1985)

xiv. The time-limits indicated above should be strictly adhered to. The CVO concerned would be directly responsible to adhere to these time limits.
xv. Each Ministry/Department may keep ready a panel of IO/P0 from their retired government officers which may be used when no serving government servant is available for appointment of IO/PO. The services of I0s/POs who would be available on the panel maintained by CVC may also be utilized in consultation with CVC.

xvi. In some Departments a large number of oral inquiries are pending. In order to expedite completion of inquiries within a specified time limit, some officers on a full time basis may be earmarked by the concerned Department to act as IO/PO.

xvii. In order to ensure expeditious disposal of disciplinary proceedings, vide DoP&T's OM No.372/19/2011-AVD-III) (Pt. 1) dated 26.09.2011, the second stage consultation with CVC in disciplinary matters has been dispensed with except in those cases where consultation with UPSC is not required as per extant rules/instructions. This may be followed. Since there will be only one consultation after receipt of IO's report (either with CVC or the UPSC, as the case may be), it is expected that the new procedure would substantially reduce the time taken in finalizing disciplinary proceedings after receipt of the IO's report.

xviii. Wherever a Departmental officer is appointed as the 10 in Departmental Proceedings, the officer concerned may be relieved from his normal duties for a period up to 20 days in two spells during which he should complete the inquiry and submit the report. During this period so allowed, he will attend to the inquiry on full time basis. These time spells may depend on the need and the feasibility of conducting full-time hearings on a day to day basis. (DoP&T's OM No.142/5/2003-AVD.I dated 6th April, 2004)

xix. For effective monitoring of the disciplinary proceedings cases, the Vigilance set up must be strengthened in every Ministry/Department. Instructions issued vide DOPT OM No. 372/19/2011-AVD-III (Pt.1) dated 26.09.2011 are hereby reiterated. All Ministries/Departments are requested to take appropriate action in the matter.

All the Ministries/Departments are requested to follow the above guidelines in letter and spirit so that disciplinary proceedings are concluded expeditiously.

Sd/-

(Amarjit Singh)

Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of India

Source: www.persmin.nic.in

Guidelines for monitoring and expeditious disposal of the disciplinary proceeding cases - DoPT Order

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Filed Under: central government employees, disposal of the disciplinary proceeding cases, dopt

RAILWAYS-NIGHT DUTY ALLOWANCE

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

( RAILWAY BOARD)

RBE No. 129 /2012.

New Delhi, dated 21-11-2012.

No.E(P&A)II-2012/HW-1

The General Managers/CAOs,
All Indian Railways & Prod. Units etc,
(As per mailing lists No.I & II).

Subject:- Rates of Night Duty Allowance w.e.f. 01.07.2012.

         Consequent to sanction of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance vide this Ministry’s letter No. PC-VI/2008/I/7/2/1 dated 03.10.2012, the President is pleased to decide that the rates of Night Duty Allowance, as notified vide Annexures ‘A’ and ‘B’ of Board’s letter No. E(P&A)II-2012/HW-I. dated 08.05.2012 stand revised with effect from 01.07.2012 as indicated at Annexure ‘A’ in respect of ‘Continuous’, ‘Intensive’, ‘Excluded’ categories and workshop employees, and as indicated at Annexure ‘B’ in respect of ‘Essentially Intermittent’ categories.

2.     This issues with the concurrence of the Finance Directorate of the Ministry of Railways.
DA:One.

sd/-

[K.Shankar]

Director/E(P&A),

Railway Board.

Source:AIRF

RAILWAYS-NIGHT DUTY ALLOWANCE

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Filed Under: AIRF, NIGHT DUTY ALLOWANCE, RAILWAYS

Eligibility of children from a void or voidable marriage for family pension - clarification regarding.

No.1/16/1996-P&PW (E) (Vol.II)

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, P.G. & Pensions

Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare

3rdFloor, Lok Nayak Bhavan,

Khan Market, New Delhi

Dated: 27thNovember, 2012

Sub: Eligibility of children from a void or voidable marriage for family pension - clarification regarding.

The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department's O.M. No.1/16/96-P&PW (E), dated 2.12.1996 whereby it was clarified that Pensionary benefits will be granted to children of a deceased Government servant/pensioner from void or voidable marriages when their turn comes in accordance with Rule 54(8). It is mentioned in Para 4 of the O.M. that "It may be noted that they will have no claim whatsoever to receive family pension as long as the legally wedded wife is the recipient of the same."

2. The matter has been re-examined in consultation with the Ministry of Law and Justice(Department of Legal Affairs) and Ministry of Finance (Department of Expenditure). It has been decided that in supersession of Para 4 of the O.M., ibid, dated 2.12.1996, the share of children from illegally wedded wife in the family pension shall be payable to them in the manner given under sub-rule 7 (c) of Rule 54 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, along with the legally wedded wife.

3. It has also been decided that in past cases, no recovery from the previous beneficiary should be made. On receipt of an application from eligible child/children of the deceased Government employee/pensioner born to an ineligible mother, a decision regarding division or otherwise of family pension may be taken by the competent authority after satisfying himself/herself about veracity of facts and entitlement of the applicant (s).

4. As regards pensioners/family pensioners belonging to the Indian Audit and Accounts Departments, these Orders issue after consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

5. This issues with the concurrence of Department of Legal Affairs vide their FTS No. 3036, dated 17.10.2012.

6. This issues with the concurrence of Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure vide their I.D. No.530/E.V/2012, dated 23.11.2012.

Sd/-

(D.K. Solanki)

Under Secretary to the Govt. of India

Tel. No. 24644632

Source: www.persmin.nic.in

Eligibility of children from a void or voidable marriage for family pension - clarification regarding.

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Filed Under: DEATH CUM RETIREMENT BENIFITS, dopt, dopt-pension

All India Services (Medical Attendance) Amendment Rules, 2012 – Dopt Orders

[TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE GAZETTE OF INDIA, EXTRA ORDINARY PART-II, 

SECTION 3, SUB SECTION (i)]

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

Department of Personnel and Training

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 21st November, 2012

G.S.R.——— (E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the All India Services Act, 1951 (61 of 1951), the Central Government, after consultation with the Governments of the States concerned hereby makes the following rules further to amend the All India Service

 (Medical Attendance) Rules. 1954, namely:-

1. (1) These rules may be called the All India Services (Medical Attendance) Amendment Rules, 2012.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
2. In the All India Services (Medical Attendance) Rules, 1954. in rule 2 (C), in Explanation 1, for the letters and figures “Rs.1500/-’, the words and figures “rupees 3500/- plus dearness allowance thereon as on the date of consideration” shall be substituted.

[11023/01/2012-AIS-III]

sd/-

(Navneet Misra)

Under Secretary to the Government of India

Source: www.persmin.nic.in

All India Services (Medical Attendance) Amendment Rules, 2012 – Dopt Orders

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Filed Under: AMA RULES, CGHS, MEDICAL ATTENDANCE

Purchase of National Savings Certificates by an adult on behalf of a minor a clarification regarding.

SB Order No.16/2012

No.61-03/2012-SB

Government of India

Ministry of Communications & IT

Department of Posts

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi - 110 001,

Dated : 16.11.2012

To

All Heads Circles,
Addl. Director General, APS, New Delhi.

Subject : Purchase of National Savings Certificates by an adult on behalf of a minor a clarification regarding.

Sir/Madam,
The undersigned is directed to say that this office has received a complaint through Secretary (Coord & PG), Cabinet Secretariat, Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi regarding refusal of issue of NSC in the name of Grand Daughter (minor) to one Sh. S.P.Jain by Palam Vihar PO as well as SSPOs gurgaon (Haryana).

2. It is clarified that as per Rule 4(2)a of NSC-VIII issue and IX issue rules, a single holder type certificates may be issued to an adult for himself or on behalf of a minor or to a minor. Therefore, it is clarified that NSCs can be purchased by any adult in the name of a minor irrespective of any relation.

3. It is requested that all this may be circulated to all Post Offices for information and necessary guidance so that complaints of this nature may be avoided.

4. This issues with the approval of DDG(FS).

Yours faithfully,

sd/-

(Kawal Jit Singh)

Assistant Director (SB)

Source: www.indiapost.gov.in

Purchase of National Savings Certificates by an adult on behalf of a minor a clarification regarding.

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Filed Under: nsc, post offices, postal, POSTALDEPT

Common Medical Entrance Test

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has notified amendment in its regulations to conduct common entrance test viz. National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to Under Graduate (UG) and Post Graduate (PG) medical courses in the country from 2013-14. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has been identified as the agency for conducting NEET for UG and National Board of Examinations (NBE) for PG medical courses.

Majority of States have accepted the proposal but few States have expressed apprehensions about the proposed NEET which pertained to syllabus, medium of test, reservation policy, etc. Most of the apprehensions have been addressed. The MCI’s regulations on NEET clearly indicate that the prevailing reservation policy of States would not be disturbed. Further, the NEET-UG will be conducted in six regional languages viz. Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Telugu and Assamese in addition to Hindi and English. Few medical colleges and State Governments have filed writ petitions in respective Hon’ble High Courts seeking exemption from NEET. More than 26 such writ petitions have been transferred to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and the matter is sub-judice and any exclusion would depend upon the decision of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the pending transfer petitions.

This information was given by the Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.

Source:pib

Common Medical Entrance Test

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Filed Under: CBSE, COMMON ENTRANCE TEST

ID Proofs Compulsory During Train Journey in All Reserved Classes from 1st December 2012

With effect from 01.12.2012, one of the passengers booked on a ticket for undertaking journey in any reserved class will have to produce any one of the prescribed proofs of identity failing which all the passengers will be treated as travelling without ticket and charged accordingly.

This provision shall, however, not affect the existing provision of Tatkal scheme where during the journey, the passenger is required to show the original proof of identity indicated on the ticket.

The number of prescribed proofs of identity have been increased from nine to ten by adding following identity card to the list of prescribed proofs identity:-

“Photo identity cards having serial number issued by Public Sector Undertakings of State/Central Government, District Administrations, Municipal bodies and Panchayat Administrations”

This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Source:pib

ID Proofs Compulsory During Train Journey in All Reserved Classes from 1st December 2012

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Filed Under: ID CARD, RAILWAYS, RESERVATION

Hostels for ST Students

Hostels have been considered important infrastructure in tribal areas since location of education institutions and teachers in distant and remote locations were considered difficult. Under the Right to Education Act, however, all children in age group 6-14 have to be guaranteed school education by State Governments. For College and University education also the concerned State Governments and Universities/Institutions are expected to provide hostel facilities to students from distant locations. Under the scheme of “Hostels for ST Girls and Boys” this Ministry releases grant-in-aid to State Governments/UT Administrations and Universities for construction of hostel building only based on the proposals sent by the States/UTs/Universities according to their requirement of such hostels.

This Ministry releases grant-in-aid to State Governments (including Rajasthan) /Union Territory Administrations and Universities for construction of hostel building based on the proposals sent by the States/UTs/Universities in accordance with the provisions of the scheme and based on their requirement of such hostels. Under this scheme, an amount of Rs. 78.00 crore has been allocated in the budget for the year 2012-13 which includes Rs. 10.00 crore earmarked for the North East.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Smt. Ranee Narah in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

Source:pib

Hostels for ST Students

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Filed Under: SC/ST, students

Implementation of New Pension System

The New Pension System (NPS) has been implemented for various sectors like Central Government, State Government, Private Sector and NPS-Life.  The status of NPS in these sectors as on 10th November, 2012 is as under:-

Sector	No. of Subscribers  (Figures in lakhs)	Assets under Management (Rs. In crores)
Central Government	10.62	14,846
State Government	14.67	7,445
Private Sector	1.64	835
NPS-Life	13.05	344
Total	39.98	23,470

The number of subscribers is increasing every year in all the sectors.

There is no proposal to increase the monthly contribution of subscribers by the Government.  The Government provides matching contribution for the Central Government employees who are covered under the NPS scheme.  In case of NPS Swavalamban accounts, Rs. 1000/- per annum is being contributed by the Government.

NPS Trust consisting of professionals with expertise in the field of Investment and Asset Management has been constituted.  The NPS Trust regularly monitors the performance of the Pension Funder Managers (PFMs) appointed by Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA).  PFMs manage the investments of subscribers of NPS in conformity with the Investment Management guidelines prescribed by the NPS Trust.

             This information was given by the Minister of State for Finance, Shri   Namo Narain   Meena in written reply to a question in Lok  Sabha today.

Source:pib

Implementation of New Pension System

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Filed Under: NEW PENSION SCHEME, NPS

Clarification regarding availing of Restricted Holiday for Central Govt Staff

Controller General of Defence Accounts

Ulan Batar Road, Palam, Delhi Cantt-110010

No. AN/XIV/19404/Leave Matters/Vol-II

Dated: 19/11/2012

To

All PCsDA/CsDA/IFAs
PCof A(Fys) Kolkata
(through CGDA Mail server)


Subject:    Clarification regarding availing of Restricted Holiday

A doubt has been raised by one of the Controller’s office regarding mid fix of RH between Casual leave and regular leave. The matter has been examined with reference to provisions laid down under GOI’s decision No. 2 read with Rule 22 and Rule 11 of CCS Leave Rules and it is clarified that :-

(a)    RH can be mid-fixed between Casual Leave as CL is not a recognized form of leave.

(b) However, RH cannot be mid-fixed or sandwiched between two spells of any kind of regular leave viz. EL but can only be prefixed or suffixed.

sd

(Chitra Mahendran)

for CGDA

Source:http://www.cgda.nic.in/adm/rh191112.pdf

Clarification regarding availing of Restricted Holiday for Central Govt Staff

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Filed Under: cgda, LEAVE RULES, RH.

STRIKE ON 12/12/2012 EXPLANATORY NOTE ON DEMANDS

Item No. 1. Revision of wage with effect from. 1.,01..2011.

The present wage structure of the Central Govt. Employees has been made on the basis of the 6th Central Pay Commission's recommendations.  The 6th CPC introduced a new concept in the form of Pay band and Grade Pay.  The recommendations of the Commission were implemented with effect from 1.1.2006 in the case of Pay and in the case of allowances with effect from 1.9. 2008.  In the case of Central Public Sector undertakings, the wage revisions normally takes place after every five years.  The 5th CPC in the case of Central Government employees recommended wage revision in every 10 years.  In the past wage revision has been linked to the extent of erosion of real wages.  The degree of inflation in the economy determines the pace of erosion of the real value of wages.  The retail prices of those commodities which go into the making of minimum wages have risen by about 160% from 1.1.2006 to 1.1. 2011, whereas the D.A. compensation in the case of Central Government employees on that date had been just 51%.  It is also an acknowledged fact that the 6th CPC had computed the minimum wage by suppressing the retail price of these commodities in the market on the specious plea that official statistics of the retail prices of these commodities were not available.  They therefore, computed the retail price by increasing the wholesale price by 20% for each of the commodity whereas the actual retail price in the market was 60% more than the wholesale price.  While in the case of Group B,C & D employees, the Commission applied a multiplication factor of 1.86 for arriving at the revised pay structure, in the case of Group A Officers, the factor was ranging from 2.36 to 3 times. In the matter of fitment formula also, unlike recommended by the 5th CPC, the 6th CPC adopted varying percentages whereby the officers in Group A were given rise extending from 42 to 49%, whereas the employees in Group B,C,D were granted only 40%. While implementing the Commission's recommendations, the Government further accentuated the discrimination further. The recommendations of the 6th CPC when implemented gave rise to very many glaring anomalies. They were assured to be looked into and settled through negotiations in the JCM. The effectiveness of JCM as a potent forum to settle issues has been eroded over the years. Thus, though the National Anomaly Committee met 4-5 times, it could not settle any major issues.

The minimum wage  determined  by the 6th CPC was  at a far lesser amount than what an unskilled  worker is entitled to. Morevoer, the Commission  assigned the so determined minimum wage to be the wage of a skilled worker..   It excluded persons below matriculation qualification from the purview of Government employment.  In a country where one third people are illiterate, such controversial recommendations have  only gone to absolve the State from its solemn responsibility to provide employment to the persons at the lower strata of the society. The wage structure evolved by the 6th CPC deviated drastically from the concepts emerged from the deliberations over decades in the matter of wage determination of civil servants  and is beset with innumerable anomalies necessitating a thorough overhaul , which can only be attempted by setting up another Commission with appropriate terms of reference.

 The Grameen Dak Sewaks were excluded from the purview of the 6th Central Pay Commission as the Postal Department took an erroneous view that they are not Central Government employees.  The 4th  CPC had categorically stated that they ought to have been included within the purview of the Commission's jurisdiction but chose to go by the Postal Department's decision ultimately.  the GDS constitute the largest chunk of the Postal Workers.  The exclusion of GDS from the purview of the Pay Commission being  unjust, discriminatory and bereft of any logic,  the next Pay Commission when it is set up must have the jurisdiction to recommend  on wage structure and service conditions of the GDS.  

Wage revision in all public Sector undertakings through Collective bargaining takes place once in five years. On the same analogy, the wage revision of the Central Government employees must be after every five years and the Government must therefore set up the 7th CPC immediately.

Item No. 2. Merger of DA with pay:

The wage revision of the Central Government employees had always been through the setting up of Pay Commissions.  Since  the wage revision exercise involves inquiring into various aspects of wage determination and service conditions of the Government employees the Government had been appointing Pay Commissions for it was considered a better suited system.    Such inquiry  through setting up of Commissions had been a time consuming process.  The 3rd, 4th and 5th Central Pay Commissions had taken more than three years to submit their reports.  The 6th CPC however, submitted its report in the time frame provided to it i.e. 18 months.  Since the earlier Commissions had covered many aspects of the principles of wage determination and the periodicity of such revision had come down, the exercise might not now  require a longer period of time as was the case earlier  Even then the Commission will have to be given a reasonable time frame to go into the matter judiciously for the 6th CPC recommendations when implemented has given rise to large number of anomalies and cadre reated grievances. The methodology adopted for compensating the erosion in the real value of wages in the in the interregnum period had always been though the mechanism of merger of a portion of DA.  The 5th CPC had recommended that the DA must be merged with pay and treated as pay for computing all allowances as and when the percentage of Dearness compensation exceeds 50%.  Accordingly even before the setting up of the 6th CPC the DA to the extent of 50% was merged with pay. It is pertinent to mention that even this benefit was denied to the GDS.  As on 1.1.201, the Dearness compensation was 65% The suggestion for merger of DA to partially compensate the erosion in the real wages was first mooted by the Gadgil Committee in the post 2nd Pay Commission period.  The 3rd CPC had recommended such merger when the Cost of Living index crossed over 272 points i.e. 72 points over and above the base index adopted for the pay revision.  In other words, the recommendation of the 3rd CPC was to merge the DA when it crossed 36%. The Government in the National Council JCM at the time of negotiation initially  agreed to merge 60% DA and later the whole of the DA before the 4th CPC was set up.  The 5th CPC merged 98% of DA with pay.  It is, therefore, necessary that the Government takes steps to merge atleast 50% of DA with pay  to compensate the erosion of the real value of wages immediately.

Item No. 3. Compassionate appointments

On the plea of a Supreme Court directive, Govt. introduced a 5% ceiling on the compassionate appointments.  When the matter was taken up by the Staff Side in the National Council the Government was unable to produce any such direction of the Supreme Court.. Despite that, the official side refused to withdraw the said instructions limiting the appointments to 5% of the available vacancies.  In one of the National Council meetings, presided over by the Cabinet Secretary solemn assurance was given to the Staff Side that the issue will be revisited  in the light of the discussion, but nothing happened thereafter.   It is pertinent to mention in this connection that the compassionate appointments in the Railways continue to be operated without any such ceiling. In the Department of Posts hundreds of  candidates selected by Selection Committee were denied jobs.  The list of selected candidates was scrapped. These candidates approached the Court and obtained a favourable order.But the Court directive was not acted upon.  The Government has chosen to dilly dally by filing SLP in the Supreme Court.  When the Central Administrative Tribunals were established, it was with the intent of expeditious settlement of disputes on service matters.  Even recently the Prime Minister's office ordered that it would not be open for various Ministries to appeal against the orders of the Tribunal as a matter of course and efforts must be to explore the ways of acceptances of the judgements of the Tribunal.  In the light of this directive, the SLP ought to have been withdrawn. The standing Committee on Department of Personnel in one of their report has termed the scheme of Compassionate ground appointments as a sacred assurance to a fresh entrant that if he dies in harness, his family shall not be left in lurch.  Such an assurance is being breached by the provisions of limiting such appointments to 5% of   vacancies.  This condition, therefore, must be done away with.

Item No. 4(a). Absorption of GDS as regular postal employees

The postal Department employs the largest number of Government employees, next to Railways and Defence.   Nearly half of its workforce is called the Grameen Dak Sewaks, the new nomenclature given for the Extra  Departmental Agents.  The system of EDAs was evolved by the British Colonial Government to sustain a postal system at a cheaper cost especially in rural areas.  Despite the enactment of very many legislations to prohibit the exploitation of workers, the Government continued with this system.  No doubt in the post independent era, at the instance and persuasion of the Unions of regular employees, certain benefits were accorded to them. Till 1963, the GDS or the Extra Departmental Agents were treated as Government employees and were covered by the service conditions applicable to civil servants.    However, the Department of Post reversed this position thereafter and contended that they are not Central Government employees. The Honourable Supreme Court in 1977 declared that they are holders of Civil Posts.  Justice Talwar Committee appointed by the Govt. to look into the issues pertaining to GDS declared that the GDS are holders of Civil posts and all benefits similar to regular employees must be extended to them.  However, the Government did not accept this recommendation of the committee which they themselves set up. On the specific suggestion of the Postal Department, the Government set up a separate Committee called the Natarajamurthy Committee to go into their service conditions and suggest improvement on the lines of the recommendations of the 6th CPC.   The recommendations of this Committee were totally disappointing and the GDS in the post 6th CPC era is worse of. Instead of utilising the service of GDS for the welfare schemes of the State in rural areas by converting them as regular employees, the Department caused injustice to them by acting upon the recommendations of the Natarajamurthy Committee.    Recently,  the Postal Department has decided that the vacancies in the Cadre of Postmen, and MTS would not be fully made available for promotion to the GDS and an element of open direct recruitment has been introduced.  This has decelerated the meagre chance of the GDS being a regular Postal employee further.  In order to ensure that their grievances are properly addressed, the Postal Department must be directed to earmark all the existing vacancies in the cadre of Postmen and MTS to the eligible GDS for promotion and a scheme is evolved to absorb the GDS as regular full time Government employees.

Item No. 4(b) Regularisation of daily rated workers.

Regularisation of Casual/Contingent/daily rated workers.

Due to the ban on creation of posts and recruitment of personnel that continued for a very long period and the consequent strain on the existing workers, many Departmental heads had to recruit personnel on daily rated basis or as casual workers. Thus,almost 25% of the present workforce in Governmental organisations are casual workers deployed to do the permanent and perennial nature of jobs, contrary to the prohibition of such unfair labour practices by the law of the land. In Fifties and Sixties, even the casual workers who had been employed to do the casual and non perennial jobs used to get priority for regular employment as and when vacancy for such permanent recruitment arises.  Thousands of persons are now recruited as casual workers and kept as such for years together.   They are paid pittance of a salary with no benefits like provident fund, dearness allowance, other compensatory allowances etc.    In order to ensure that they do not get the benefit of regularisation, these workers are technically discharged for a few days to be employed afresh again.  The modus operandi differs from one department to another.  While in some organisations, they are recruited through employment exchanges   in others the functions are contracted out.  Not only the quality of work suffers but it is also an inhuman exploitation of the workers given the serious situation of unemployment that exists in the country.  While the permanent solution is to sanction the necessary posts and resort to regular recruitment,   the Government should evolve a scheme by which these casual/contingent/daily rated workers are made regular workers with all the concomitant benefits available for regular Government employees.  Pending finalisation of such a scheme for regularisation, the non regular employees recruited for meeting the exigencies of work must be paid pro-rata salary on par with the similarly placed regular employees on the principle  of equal pay for equal work.

Item No.5.  Functioning of the JCM.

It was in the wake of the indefinite strike action of 1960, the JCM was set up as a negotiating forum to expedite settlement of demands and problems of employees. On the pretext of the promulgation of the new CCS(RSA)Rules, most of the departments suspended the operation of the Departmental Councils.  Even after complying with the requisite formalities, in many departments, Associations/Federations are yet to be recognized.  Wherever the recognition process was completed and orders issued granting recognition, no meetings of the Departmental Councils are held.  Inspite of raising the issue in the National Council on several occasions by the Staff Side, nothing tangible has been done to ensure that the councils are made functional.

The National Council is, as per the scheme, to meet once in four months.  It meets after several years, the system of concluding on the agenda in the meeting in which it is raised has been totally abandoned with the result that number of issues have been kept pending for indefinite period of time.  The non- functioning of the Council and the consequent non- redressal of grievances has led to agitations including strike action in many departments. The 6th CPC recommendations were given effect to in September, 2008.  The anomalies arising therefrom (which is in large numbers) ought to have been settled as per the agreement by Feb,. 2010.  Barring one or two items, no settlement has been brought about on a large number of anomalies till date.

In the wake of the General Strike action on 28th Feb. 2012, the Joint Secretary (Estt.) in the Department of Personnel wrote in her demi-official communication addressed to all Secretaries of the Government of India as under, which is contrary to facts but also misleading too.

"Joint consultative machinery for Central Government employees is already functioning.  This scheme has been introduced with the object t of promoting harmonious relations and of securing the greatest measure of co-operation between the Government, in its capacity as employer and the general body of its employees in matters of common concern, and with the object further of increasing the efficiency of the public service.  The JCM at different levels have been discussing issues brought before it for consideration and either reaching amicable settlement or referring the matter to the Board of Arbitration in relation to pay and allowances, weekly hours of work and leave, wherever no amicable settlement could be reached in relation to these items."

The forum of Departmental Councils must be immediately revived in all Departments and made effective as an instrument to settle the demands of the employees.  The periodicity in which the meeting of the National Council is to be held must be adhered.  The Department of Personnel, which is the nodal department for ensuring the functioning of the negotiating machinery must monitor the functioning of the Departmental Councils of various Ministries and Departments and a report placed in the National Council.  The Cabinet Secretary, who is the Chairman of the National Council, is required to ensure that the Council meetings are convened once in four months and the issues raised therein settled in a reasonable time frame.

Since the grant of recognition to Service Association is a pre requisite for the effective functioning of the negotiating machinery, the Ministries must be  asked to process the application and take decision in the matter within a fixed time frame as the recognition rules have come into existence in 1993 that is about a decade back.

Item No. 6. Remove the ban on recruitment and creation of posts

In 1993, the Government of India introduced a total and blanket ban on creation of posts.  This was with a view to reduce the manpower in the Governmental establishments, for on implementation of the neo liberal economic policies, the Government will be required to close down some of its activities and some others to be shifted to the private domain. In 2001, the GOI  issued an executive instruction modifying the complete ban on recruitment that was in vogue whereby various departments, if they so desire, resort to recruit personnel to fill up the  existing vacancies, provided they abolish 2/3rd of such vacancies.  In other words, the concerned heads of Departments will be permitted to fill up 1/3rd of the vacancies provided they abolish the 2/3rd vacancies permanently.

Since it was impossible to carry on the functions assigned to the Departments with large number of vacant posts, they had to implement the above cited directive of the Department of personnel, which was meant to arbitrarily reduce the manpower especially in Group C and D segments.  Though the directive was to be applied uniformly to all cadres where direct entry is one of the mode of recruitment, not a single Group A.  post was abolished as most of the departments offered to do away with   Group C and D posts even in the place of require Gr.A posts.  Since direct recruitment is seldom resorted to in Group B cadres, the brunt of the burden of the above cited instruction had to be borne b    y the Group C and D cadres in each department.  The said directive remained operative for nearly a decade i.e. upto 2010.  Such abnormal and arbitrary abolition of posts affected very adversely the functioning of many departments consequent upon which the public at large suffered immeasurably, besides accentuating the unemployment situation to alarming proportion.   To cope up with the genuine complaints of the public, most of the heads of Departments had to resort to either outsourcing of the functions or engaging contract workers. The Govt. encouraged this endeavour by providing unlimited funds. In the circumstances, it is  imperative  that the sanctioned Strength as on 1.01.2001 is restored and the consequent vacancies filled up by a special drive for recruitment.

The Government has a time tested and scientific system of assessing the workload and measuring the manpower requirement.  This seems to have been presently abandoned and the vacancies barring in  a few cases are not being filled up.  Even though there had been phenomenal increase in the workload in each department no new posts are created to cope up with the situation. The 6th CPC dealing with the subject has recommended that such ban on creation of posts for a long period is not desirable and the Departments should be empowered to create the need based posts for its effective functioning. The commensurate posts that are needed to cope up with the increasing workload must be sanctioned and recruitment of personnel resorted to so that the assigned functions of each department could be carried out effectively and efficiently.

Item No. 7.  Downsizing, outsourcing, contractorisation etc.

                To overcome the difficulties emanated from the total ban on recruitment and creation of posts and more specifically impacted by the 2001 executive fiat of the Govt. of India in the matter, many departments had to resort to outsourcing of its functions.  Some  were virtually closed down and a few others were privatised or contractorised.   The large scale outsourcing and contractorisation of functions had a telling effect on the efficacy of the Government departments.  The delivery system was adversely affected and the public at large suffered due to the inordinate delay it caused in getting the  requisite service..  The financial outlay for outsourcing of functions of each department increased enormously over the years.  The quality of work suffered.  In order to ensure that the people do get a better and efficient service from the Government departments and to raise the image of the Government  employees in the eyes of the common people, it is necessary that the present scheme of outsourcing and contractorisation of essential  functions of the Government must be abandoned.The practice of outsourcing and contractorisation is nothing but a cruel exploitation of the alarming situation of unemployment.    The system of outsourcing of the functions seeks to informalise the workforce.  The contract/casual workers  get not even  one third of the salary of the regular work force.  They have no social security benefits like pension, provident fund gratuity etc.  The CG employees fought against the temporary service rules which was in vogue in sixties  and ensured that the recruitment to Government service is permanent and the civil servants are not allowed to be fired at the whim and fancy of their bosses.  The outsourcing and contractorisation has paved way for large scale entry of casual workers and has resulted in the reversal of what all achieved in this direction through struggles in the past two decades.  

Item No. 8. Stop price rise and strengthen PDS.    

The abnormal and phenomenal increase in the prices of essential commodities is an acknowledged fact.  The pursuance of the new economic policies and consequent withdrawal of the universal public distribution system had been per se the reason for such unbearable inflation.  The universal PDS which was evolved to protect the food security of common people was an effective instrument not only to arrest inflation but also to ensure that no Indian dies of hunger.  Government employees even at the lowest wage structure i.e. the Group D and C employees are presently precluded from the PDS as their meagre wages itself is considered to be above the benchmark of "Below Poverty Line".   They are to depend upon the open market for even essential food items, which with their meagre income they are unable to access.  It is, therefore, necessary that the universal PDS as was in vogue must be brought back as the market forces have failed to arrest inflation and price rise of essential food items.

 Item No. 9.Introduction of PLB and removal of ceiling limit.

Barring the Railways, Defence production units and Postal Department, Bonus is paid to the Central Government employees on adhoc basis.  The 30 days adhoc bonus is the maximum that is provided to them.  The 4thand 5th Central Pay Commissions had recommended the introduction of productivity linked bonus scheme to all Departments as is presently the case in the three Departments mentioned above. Even the scheme of PLB is not uniform in as much as the Postal Department introduced a ceiling on the entitled number of days of bonus whereas no such ceiling exist either in the Railways or in the Defence Production organisations.   The Government is yet to implement these recommendations even though several rounds of discussions on the subject were held.  There is no reason whatsoever, as to why this recommendation could not be implemented.  There had been no rise in the adhoc bonus for past a decade even though there had been considerable amount of increase in the case of PLB over the years.    The Department of Personnel and Expenditure may be advised to finalise the PLB scheme without further delay for those who are in receipt of adhoc bonus.

Even though Bonus Act is said to have no application or relevance to the Productivity linked Bonus or adhoc bonus, the provisions of the said Act is employed to deny the entitled bonus to the Government employees on the basis of their emoluments.  The bonus entitlement in both the cases is restricted to the computation based on the notional emoluments of Rs. 3500, while the Postal Department went one step ahead and declared that in the case of GDS, it would continue to be Rs. 2500.The injustice meted out to the GDS in the matter by the Postal Department is highly deplorable.   Presently even a casual worker is entitled to get a monthly wage of more than Rs. 3500.  The minimum wage as on 1.1.2006 determined by the 6th CPC in respect of Central Government employees  is Rs. 7000.   By artificially linking the restriction of emoluments stipulated by the Bonus Act, the employees are denied their legitimate entitlement of Bonus.   The Bonus entitlement must be computed on the basis of the actual emoluments of an employee.

Item No. 10. Revising OTA  and Night Duty allowance rates:

Overtime allowance is seldom given to the Government employees.  In case of emergency and in the contingency in which the work cannot be postponed, like that happens in the RMS division of Postal Department, in the Atomic Energy Commission offices or when the Parliament is in session in other administrative offices, employees are asked to do work beyond the stipulated working hours.  The Night duty allowance is provided to the employees who are asked to work in the night shifts with certain stipulated conditions.  The 4th CPC recommended that since there had been considerable misuse of the provisions relating to the grant of OTA, the Government should find alternative methods to compensate the employees who are asked to work on over time and pending such a scheme being evolved recommended not to revise the rates.  However, the Govt.did not bring in any new scheme but issued the directive that the OTA and Night duty allowance will be paid to the employees who are called upon to do overtime or night duty on the basis of the 4th CPC pay structure.  This directive is still in vogue.  On quite a number of occasions, the Staff Side pointed out the irrationality of the directive of the Government  in as much as a person engaged for managing the excess work from outside gets better emoluments than  the over time allowance granted to the regular employees.  The Government refused to reach an agreement in the National Council on this issue.  When the Staff side pressed, the Government came forward to record disagreement and refered  the matter to the Board of Arbitration under the JCM. Scheme.  The Board of Arbitration having found the unreasonable position taken by the Government gave out the award in favour of the staff and directed the Government to revise the order whereby the allowance will be linked to the actual pay of the Government employees.  The Govt. did not accept this award and has approached the Parliament for the rejection of the same.  The matter has not yet been placed in the form of a resolution in the Parliament.  Despite the fact that the employees had been abiding by the directive of their superiors to be on overtime/night duty, and despite having won the case before the Board of Arbitration they continue to be compensated on the basis of the Notional pay as in 1986.  There could not have been a much bigger injustice meted out to the employees. The Government must accept the award of the Board and  issue instructions  linking the allowance to the actual pay of the employee.

Item No.11. Arbitration Awards.

There are about 17 awards of the Board of Arbitration given in favour of the employees.  On the plea that the implementation of these awards would result in heavy financial outflow, the Govt. has moved resolutions in the Parliament for the rejection of these awards.   The fact is that the financial burden on account of acceptance of these awards is meagre.  The figures quoted by the official side included the arrears that have become due to the delay in taking decisions.  The financial implication is normally computed as a total outlay for a period of a year.  The official side has in fact only tried to mislead the Parliament in order to obtain a rejection of the award.   A few years back, the staff side  agreed to alter the date of implementation of these awards in order to reduce the financial implication.  The official side discussed the issue on several occasions but did not conclude with the result that these awards are still pending acceptance of the Government.  It is rather unethical and untenable that the Government has chosen to invoke the sovereign authority of the Parliament to deny the legitimate dues of its own employees.  Prior to 1998, the Government has not chosen to approach the Parliament once the award is given in favour of the employees and implemented every one of them except in a very few cases.   The Government must  accept these awards and implement the same for such a direction will bring in confidence in the efficacy of the negotiating forum and a sense of reasonableness in the decision making process.
                                                                     
Item No. 12. Right to strike

Article 309 of the Constitution makes it incumbent upon the Government of India and the Provincial Governments to make enactments to regulate the service conditions of the civil servants.  However, till date no such enactment has either been moved or passed by the Parliament..  The transitory provisions empowering the President of India to make rules till such time the enactment is made has been employed to regulate the service conditions of the Government employees.   Once recruited as an employee, the ILO's conventions provide all trade union rights.  India is a signatory to those conventions. Despite all these legal and moral obligations on the part of the Government, the Government employees continue to be denied the right to collective bargaining.  No negotiation is worth the meaning, if the employees have no right to withdraw their labour in case of a non-satisfactory agreement on their demands.  It is this legal lacuna which was employed by the Supreme Court to justify the arbitrary dismissal of lakhs of employees by the Tamilnadu State Government when they resorted to strike action.  In the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court, it was observed that the Government employees do not have any legal, fundamental or moral right to resort to strike action.  The entire section of the Indian Working Class enjoys the right to strike and an effective collective bargaining system except the Government employees.  The denial of the right to strike to Government employees was employed by the British Colonial Rulers as part of the scheme to subjugate the Indian people and to shut out any probable dissenting views  within the Governmental machinery.  To continue with the same concept is to infer that the Sovereign  Republic of India want to follow the archaic rules and regulations conceived by colonial rulers perhaps with the same intent.  We therefore urge that necessary legislation affording the right to strike to Government employees may be made in the Parliament.

Item No. 13 :Career progression: Grant five promotion in the service career.

For the efficient functioning of an institution, the primary pre-requisite is to have a contended workforce.  It is not only the emoluments, perks and privileges that motivate an employee to give his best. They are no doubt important.  But what is more important is to provide them a systematic career progression. The present system of career progression available in the All India Services and the organised group A Civil services attracts large number of young, talented and educated persons to compete in the All India Civil Service Examination.  No different was the career progression scheme available in the subordinate services in the past.  Persons who were recruited to subordinate services were able to climb to Managerial positions over a period of time.  The situation underwent vast changes in the last two decades.  In most of the Departments, stagnation has come to stay.  It takes decades to be promoted to the next higher grade in the hierarchy.  It was the recognition of the lack of promotional avenue in the subordinate services that made the 5th CPC to recommend a time bound  two career progression scheme.  However, this has not gone to address the inherent problem of de-motivation that has crept in due to the high level of stagnation.  In most of the Departments, the exercise of cadre review which was considered important was not carried out.  Any attempt in this regard was restricted to Group A services.  The discontent amongst the employees in the matter is of high magnitude today.  It is, therefore, necessary that every Department is asked to undertake to bring about a cadre composition and recruitment pattern in such a manner that an employee once recruited is to have five  hierarchical promotions in his career as is presently the position in the All India Services and in the organised Group A services.

Item No.14: Scrap the New Pension Scheme

The defined benefit scheme of pension was introduced replacing the then existing contributory system decades back. .  The Government decided to reconvert the same into a contributory scheme on the specious plea that the outflow on pension had been increasing year by year and is likely to cross the wage bill. By making it contributory, the Government expenditure on this score is not likely to get reduced for the next  four decades  because of the reason that as per the announced scheme, the Government is to contribute the same amount to the fund as the employees make. Coupled with this stipulation the Government is also duty bound to make payment for the existing pensioners and for all Central Government employees who were in service prior to 1.1.2004.  The contribution collected from the employees who are recruited after 1.1.2004 is to be managed by a mutual fund operator for investment in the stock market.  It is the vagaries of the stock market which will then determine the quantum of pension or in other words annuity, which would not be cost indexed.   Before the introduction of the new scheme and the PFRDA bill, the Government had set up a committee under the chairmanship of Shri Bhattacharya, the then Chief Secretary of the State of Karnataka. The bill was unfortunately drafted and presented to the Parliament disregarding even the recommendation of the said committee to the effect that the Govt. should consider introducing a hybrid system by which the employees will have either a defined benefit pension   or  opt for a higher return through stock exchange investments.  Despite the non-passage of the bill and the consequent absence of a valid law to support the Pension Regulatory authority, the Govt. converted the existing pension scheme into a contributory one through executive fiat and invested a percentage of the fund so generated from the employees' contribution in the Stock market.   India is a young country and the expenditure on statutory pension has remained over a long period not more than 5% of GDP which the country/Government can afford to spend. The withdrawal of PFRDA bill is required for the following  solid reasons:

(a)    The new pension scheme is going to make social security in old age uncertain and dependent on market forces.

(b)   The scheme has been compulsorily imposed on a section of employees and hence it is discriminatory.

(c)    Such scheme had been a failure in many countries including Chile, UK and even USA.  In USA entire pension wealth has been wiped out leaving pensioners with no pension. In Argentina the contributory scheme which was introduced at the instance of IMF was replaced with the defined benefit pension scheme.

(d)   The PFRDA Bill has provisions empowering the Govt. and the Authority to cover employees now left out and to amend the existing entitlements of pension benefits.

(e)   In majority of the countries, "pay as you go" is the system of pension.        

(f)     The contributory scheme does not give any guarantee for a minimum pension of 50% of the pay drawn at the time of retirement of the employee. Nor does it provide for  the protection of his family members in the form of family pension in the event of death.

The Supreme Court had declared pension as one of the fundamental rights. The government should therefore retrace from its avowed position, which is detrimental to the interest of the employees and ensure that the employees recruited after 1.1.2004 is covered by the existing statutory defined benefit scheme and withdraw the PFRDA bill from the Parliament.

The recent decision of the Cabinet to allow FDI in pension fund operations has made the real intent of the PFRDA bill unambiguously clear. The FDI will facilitate the mutual fund operators to invest the funds outside India thereby making Indian Savings available for development of a foreign country. It is now clear that the decision behind the contributory pension scheme was the pressure imposed by imperialist powers and more specifically IMF.  It has, therefore, to be opposed at all cost and with vehemence.  The Govt. must not be allowed to go ahead with its intention of induction of FDI in pension fund companies.  The one day strike on 12th December, 2012 must be seen as a beginning of the sustained and incessant struggles in the days to come.

Item No. 15.Vacate All Trade Union victimisation           

The Central Government employees are alarmed and distressed over the spree of vindictive actions pursued by various Accountant Generals against the employees of the I A & AD Department.  More than 12000 employees have been proceeded against under Rule 14 or 16 of the CCS (CCA) rules. The resort to such vindictive action has been taken by the Administration of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for the simple reason that the employees together decided to be on mass casual leave demanding the vacation of victimization of the Union functionaries in Kerala, Rajkot, Gwalior, Kolkata, Nagpur, Allahabad etc. The very fact that large number of employees participated in the Mass Casual leave programme is indicative of the fact of the growing discontent against the highhandedness of the Administration.

The authorities in the IA & AD have not been permitting the genuine trade union activities for the last several years. No meeting of the employees is allowed if the same is held under the auspices of the recognized Associations, whereas permission to hold cultural shows even during office hours are granted. In the name of discipline, dissenting voice, howsoever genuine they are, is not being tolerated. Despite repeated pleas made by the All India Audit and Accounts Association, the Comptroller General of India did not deem it to fit to intervene and set right the high handed behaviour of the Accountant General Kerala. On his promotion as Principal Accountant General, he was transferred to Hyderabad, where, as per the report, he has continued with his intolerant attitude towards the Association. Permission to hold the General Body meeting, a constitutional requirement and a necessity to abide by the stipulations made by the CCS (RSA) Rules, 1993, was denied to the recognized Association in Andhra Pradesh. The General Secretary and other office bearers of the Association have been proceeded against under Rule 16 for holding the General Body meeting during lunch break.

In the background of this unprecedented situation and the blanket ban instituted by the authorities to hold any meeting within the office premises we appealed  to the Honourable Prime Minister to  intervene in the matter and direct the concerned to hear the grievances of the employees and settle the same in an amicable and peaceful atmosphere. We also requested that In order to create a conducive atmosphere for talks, the authorities may be asked to withdraw all punitive and vindictive actions against the employees who had gone on Mass casual leave as a means of protesting against the inordinate delay in settling issues and to give vent to their feeling of anger. Not only no action has been initiated by the C&AG in this direction but the vindictive attitude  of the Accountat Generals continue to persist. The Government is required to interfere and bring about a peaceful atmosphere in this prestigious institution.

                                                                   
Source:http://confederationhq.blogspot.in/

STRIKE ON 12/12/2012 EXPLANATORY NOTE ON DEMANDS

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Filed Under: CCGEW, central government employees, charter of demands, STRIKE