Cabinet approves additional 2% Dearness Allowance / Dearness Relief due from January, 2017
The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modihas approved release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensionersw.e.f. 01.01.2017. It has increased by 2% over the existing rate of 2% of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise.
This increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.
The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief would be Rs. 5,857.28 crore per annum and Rs.6,833.50 crore in the Financial Year 2017-18 (for a period of 14 months from January, 2017 to February, 2018).
This will benefit about 48.85 lakh Central Government employees and 55.51 lakh pensioners
Strike Notice for 16th March, 2017 – Instructions under CCS (Conduct Rules) 1964 – Regarding.
MOST IMMEDIATE
OUT TODAY
No. 45018/I/2017-Vig
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel. P.G. & Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training
North Block. New Delhi.
Dated the 15th March 2017
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject :- Strike Notice for 16th March, 2017 – Instructions under CCS (Conduct Rules) 1964 – Regarding.
It has been brought to the notice of the Government that Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers. New Delhi has given a notice that the members of the affiliates of the Confederation will go on strike on 16th March, 2017 in pursuance of their 7th Central Pay Commission Demands
2. The instructions issued by the Department of Personnel and Training prohibit the Government servants from participating in any form of strike including mass casual leave, go slow etc, or any or any action that abet any form of strike in violation of Rule 7 of the CCS (Conduct) Rules. 1964. Besides, in accordance with the proviso to Rule 17(1) of the Fundamental Rules, pays and allowances is not admissible to an employee for his absence from duty without any authority. As to the concomitant rights of an Association after it is formed, they cannot be different from the rights which can be claimed by the individual members of which the Association is composed. It follows that the right to form an Association does not include any guaranteed right to strike. There is no statutory provision empowering the employees to go on strike. The Supreme Court has also ruled in several judgments that going on a strike is a gravy misconduct under the Conduct Rules and that misconduct by the government employees is required to be dealt with in accordance with the law. Any employee going on strike in any form would face the consequences which. besides deduction
of wages. may also include appropriate disciplinary action. Attention of all employees of this Department is also drawn to this Department’s O.M. No. 33012/I/(s)/2008-Estt.(B) dated 12.9 2008. on the subject for strict compliance.
3. All officers are requested that the above instructions may be brought to the notice of the employees working under their control. All officers are also requested not to sanction Casual Leave or other kind of leave to the officers and employees if applied for, during the period of proposed strike. and ensure that the willing employees are allowed hindrance free entry into the office premises.
4. In case employees go on strike all divisional heads are requested to forward a report indicating the number and details of employees who are absent from duty on the day of strike i.e.16.03.2017
(Surest) Kumar)
Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of India
DOPT Clarification for extension of tenure of CVOs in CPSEs
F.No.385/7/2011-AVD-III
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training
*****
North Block, New Delhi
Dated the 14 March, 2017
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Clarification regarding extension of tenure of CVOs in CPSEs and other organizations beyond 5 years and upto 7 years.
The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s O.M. No. 2/6/2016-Estt. (Pay-II) dated 17.02.2016, wherein it was circulated that if the administrative Ministries/Departments and other borrowing organizations wish to retain an officer beyond 5 years, they may extend the tenure of deputation covered under earlier deputation guidelines dated 28.11.2007, where absolutely necessary in the public interest, upto a period not exceeding 7 years at a stretch subject to willingness of the concerned officer, cadre clearance from the lending authority/State Government, approval of the UPSC/ACC etc., wherever applicable and to say that the matter has already been clarified vide O.M. No. 385/2/2014-AVD-III dated 21.09.2016 for the officers of All India Services who are working as CVO in CPSEs and other organizations.
2. Now, it is also clarified that DoPT’s O.M. No. 2/6/2016-Estt.(Pay-II) dated 17.02.2016 is not applicable to CVOs in CPSEs and other organizations under Ministries/Departments as they are governed under the separate guidelines issued by this Department from time to time.
(Santa Nair)
Under Secretary to the Government of India
Tel. No. 23094541
Confederation Of Central Government Employees And Workers Karnataka State
C/o Civil Audit & Accounts Association
Principal Accountant Generals Office A&E
Park House Road, Bangalore, Karnataka 560001
website http://karnatakacoc.blogspot.in/
Ref : COC/Karnataka-2017-189
Date:14/3/2017
To
The Editor
Sub: All India Central Government Employees Strike on 16/3/2017
Sir,
The Central Government employees working in following departments such as Postal, Income Tax, RMS, CGWB, AG’s, Postal Accounts, Civil Accounts, Survey of India , Census etc. Are participating in the one day All India Central Government Employees Strike on 16/3/2017 in respect of 21 charter of demands , the main demands are as follows. The strike shall be held in all Central Government offices of the Karnataka State.
CHARTER OF STRIKE DEMANDS
1) Revision of minimum wage from Rs 18000/ to Rs 26000/- for Central Government employees.
2) Revision of fitment formula from 2.57 to 3.60 ie wage hike provided by the 7th CPC shall be hiked from present 14% to 50%.
3) Revision of house rent allowances and restoration of old HRA rates and restoration of all allowances with effect from 1/1/2016.
4) Scrap PFRDA Act and New Pension System (NPS) and grant Pension/Family Pension to all Central Government employees under CCS (Pension) Rules 1972.
5) No privatization, outsourcing, contractorisation of Government functions.
6) Treat Gramin Dak Sevaks as Civil Servants and extend all benefits on pay, pension and allowances of departmental employees. Implement GDS committee report.
7) Regularize casual, contract, contingent and daily rated workers and grant equal pay and other benefits as per Supreme Court orders.
8) Fill up all vacant posts by special recruitment. Lift ban on creation of new posts.
It’s requested to publish the same in your esteemed news paper for publication.
Recruitment rallies are conducted in different parts of the country to provide opportunity to youth from these areas to join the Armed Forces. Recruitment in the Armed Forces is a continuous process. Efforts are made to cover entire country including remote, border, tribal and hilly areas.
Presently there is no proposal to open any new recruitment centre.
For recruitment in Army, certain relaxations in physical and educational standards are available for candidates of tribal / hilly and other backward areas. In the case of Navy and Air Force, there is no provision for relaxation in educational standards. However, some relaxation in height is given to candidates from certain areas.
This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre in a written reply to Shrimati Kamla Devi Paatle and Shri Harinarayan Rajbhar in Lok Sabha today.
Status of revision & payment of arrears to Defence Forces Retired Personnel as per 7th CPC
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO:1774
ANSWERED ON: 10.03.2017
Implementation of Seventh Pay Commission Report
ARVIND GANPAT SAWANT
Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:-
(a) whether there has been delay in the implementation of the recommendations made in the Seventh Pay Commission report for Defence forces personnel;
(b) if so, the reasons therefor; and
(c) the present status of revision and payment of arrears of retired personnel of defence forces as per the implementation of the recommendations made in the Seventh Pay Commission report?
ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE (DR. SUBHASH BHAMRE) IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
(a) & (b): The following steps have been taken to implement the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission Report in respect of Armed Forces personnel:
(i) Issue of Resolution dated 25th July 2016 by Ministry of Finance.
(ii) Issue of Resolution dated 5th September 2016 by Ministry of Defence.
(iii) Issue of orders dated 10th October, 2016 by Ministry of Defence for payment of ad-hoc arrears equal to 10% Basic Pay and Dearness Allowance.
(c) The order for revision of pension to ex-servicemen pursuant to the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission Report was issued on 29th October, 2016. As per information available in respect of pre-2016 pensioners, 24 public sector banks have revised pension of 18,99,697 pensioners and have paid Rs.5883.27 crore (approx) on account of arrears of pension / family pension.
Government yet to receive 7th CPC Allowances Report from the Committee
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
Department of Expenditure
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 1778
ANSWERED ON: 10.03.2017
Committee on Allowances of Seventh Central Pay Commission
SULTAN AHMED
DUSHYANT CHAUTALA
Will the Minister of
FINANCE be pleased to state:-
(a) whether the Government has set up a Committee to examine the various allowances in the light of recommendation made by the Seventh Central Pay Commission;
(b) if so, the details and terms of reference thereof;
(c) whether the said Committee on allowances has submitted its report to the Government, if so, the recommendations made by the Committee along with the follow-up action taken by the Government thereon;
(d) if not, the reasons therefor and the time by which the said report is likely to be submitted; and
(e) whether the Government proposes to give arrear of House Rent Allowance and other allowances with effect from the month of notification of implementation of Seventh Central Pay Commission, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)
(a) & (b): Yes. The Committee on Allowances has been constituted vide order dated 22.07.2016. The Committee is to examine the recommendations of the 7th CPC in regard to various allowances having regard to the representations made by the Staff Associations and the suggestions of the concerned Ministries/Departments and make recommendations as to whether any changes in the recommendations of the 7th CPC are warranted and if so, in what form.
(c) to (e): The Committee has not submitted its report to the Government. The deliberations of the Committee are in the final stages. Decisions on implementing the Report will be taken after the Report is submitted by the Committee
Parliament passes bill to raise maternity leave to 26 weeks
Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 passed in the Parliament
The Bill seeks to increase maternity leave available to working women from the current 12 weeks to 26 weeks for the first two children
The Lok Sabha has passed the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 today. The Bill had already been passed by the Rajya Sabha during the Winter Session. With this, the Bill stands passed in the Parliament.
The Bill seeks to amend the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 to provide for the following:-
(i) Maternity leave available to the working women to be increased from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for the first two children.
(ii) Maternity leave for children beyond the first two will continue to be 12 weeks.
(iii) Maternity leave of 12 weeks to be available to mothers adopting a child below the age of three months as well as to the “commissioning mothers”. The commissioning mother has been defined as biological mother who uses her egg to create an embryo planted in any other woman.
(iv) Every establishment with more than 50 employees to provide for crèche facilities for working mothers and such mothers will be permitted to make four visits during working hours to look after and feed the child in the crèche.
(v) The employer may permit a woman to work from home if it is possible to do so.
(vi) Every establishment will be required to make these benefits available to the women from the time of her appointment.
The Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Gandhi thanked the Minister for Labour and Employment, Shri Bandaru Dattatreya for taking up the demand of lakhs of women across the country and for having steered the Bill through Rajya Sabha as well as the Lok Sabha. In her message to the working women, Smt. Gandhi congratulated the women who are planning to have a child and has stated that the Ministry of Women and Child Development will continue to work for the empowerment of women.
The amendments in the Bill were taken up following the request by the WCD Minister to the Hon’ble Labour Minister to bring about these changes so that a working woman gets time to exclusively breast-feed her child for 6 months after the birth. This period also enables the working mother to recuperate herself before she goes to back to work. In her communication to the Labour Ministry, the WCD Minister had also highlighted the concerns of commissioning and adopting mothers who also require maternity leave.
With a view to facilitate transfer from recognised provident funds to the National Pension System (NPS), Clause (iv) in Rule 8 of Part A of the Fourth Schedule to the Income Tax Act has been inserted through the Finance Act 2016 so as to provide exemption from taxation to one time portability from a recognised provident fund to the NPS. Further, a sub clause (v) to section 10(13) of Income Tax act has been inserted so as to provide for the exemption from tax to any payment from an approved superannuation fund by way of transfer to the account of the employee under NPS referred to in section 80CCD and notified by the Central government. With introduction of this provision in the said clause, transfer of funds of an assesse employee from his existing superannuation fund to a pension account under National Pension System (NPS), is not liable to be treated as income of such assesse for the said Assessment Year.
Accordingly, in case the subscriber is interested to get his recognised provident fund/superannuation fund transferred to NPS, he may follow the below mentioned process:
1. The subscriber should have an active NPS Tier I account which can be opened either through the employer (where NPS is implemented) by filling up the prescribed subscriber registration form or through the Points-of-Presence(POPs) (Banks/non-banks entities registered as POPs with PFRDA) or online through eNPS on the NPS Trust website www.nrstrust.org.in
2. The subscriber presently under Govt./Private Sector employment is required to approach the recognised provident fund/Superannuation Fund Trust through the current employer by giving request for transfer of his recognised provident fund / superannuation fund to his NPS account.
3. The Recognised Provident fund/Superannuation Fund Trust may initiate transfer of the Fund as per the provisions of the Trust Deed read with the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
4. The Recognised Provident fund/Superannuation Fund may issue the cheque/draft in the name of :
In Case of Govt. employee: Nodal Office Name (PAO or CDDO Name)<> Employee Name<> PRAN (12 Digit No.)
5. In case of Subscriber presently under Private Sector including All Citizen Model: POP (Name of the POP) Collection Account-NPS Trust<>Subscriber Name<>PRAN (12 Digit No.)
6. In case of Government Employee, the employee should request the recognised provident fund/ Superannuation Fund to issue a letter to his present employer mentioning that the amount is being transferred from the recognised provident fund/ superannuation fund to be credited in the NPS Tier I account of the employee.
7. The Present employer/POP i.e. nodal office shall while uploading the fund may mention the transfer from recognised provident fund/ superannuation fund in the remarks column while uploading it through Arrears mode. The upload may be made as per the request letter of the ex-employer.
8. In case of Private Sector employee including subscriber covered under All Citizen model, the employee should request the recognised provident fund/ Superannuation Fund to issue a letter to his present employer/POP as the case may be mentioning that amount is being transferred from the recognised provident fund/ superannuation fund to be credited in the NPS account of the employee/individual Tier I account.
9. The POP will get the amount collected and the same may be uploaded by the POP in the NPS account of the subscriber.
It may be noted that as per the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961 the amount so transferred from recognised provident fund/Superannuation Fund to NPS is not treated as income of the current year and hence not taxable. Further, the transferred recognised provident fund/superannuation fund will not be treated as contribution of the current year by employee/employer and accordingly the subscriber would not make IT claim of contribution for this transferred amount.
