F. No.12/6/2015-JCA-2
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
(Department of Personnel & Training)
*****
North Block, New Delhi
Dated the 19th March, 2015.
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Declaration of Holiday on 14th April, 2015- Birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
It has been decided to declare Tuesday, the 14th April 2015, as a Closed Holiday on account of the birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, for all Central Government Offices including Industrial Establishments throughout India.
2. The above holiday is also being notified in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (26 of 1881).
3. All Ministries/Departments of Government of India may bring the above decision to the notice of all concerned.
The Supreme Court of India laid down formal guidelines for dealing with sexual harassment at the workplace in the case of Vishakha Vs. State of Rajasthan. The guidelines clearly state that all workplaces should constitute a Complaint Committee to deal with complaints of sexual harassment. Taking forward the Supreme Court guidelines, “Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013” was enacted which came into force with effect from 9th December 2013.
The Act casts a responsibility on every employer to create an environment which is free from sexual harassment. Employers are required to organize workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for sensitizing the employees about the provision of this legislation and display notices regarding the constitution of Internal Committee, penal consequences of sexual harassment etc. An employer will be liable to a fine of Rs 50,000/- in case of violation of his duties under the Act and in case of subsequent violations, the amount of fine will be double together with penalty in the form of cancelation of his licence, withdrawal or non-renewal of the registration required for carrying out his activity.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development had issued advisories to States/UTs to ensure effective implementation of the Act. The Ministries/Departments in Government of India have also been advised to ensure the compliance of the Act.
This information was given by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi a in written reply to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha today
No.35011/1/2014-Estt.(D)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training
North Block, New Delhi
Dated the 19th March, 2015
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Reimbursement of expenditure on account of acquiring driving license for Motor cars to Dispatch Rider / MTS.
The undersigned is directed to say that a revised Model Recruitment Rules (RRs) for the post of staff car driver has been issued vide this Department OM No. AB-14017/10/2014-Estt (RR) dated 4.7.2014. Accordingly Ministries / Departments have been advised to review the existing rules to bring them in conformity with the model RRs. It may be observed from column 10 of the model RRs that the method of recruitment prescribed for filling up the post of staff car driver (ordinary grade) is “Deputation/absorption failing which by direct recruitment”. With regard to Deputation / Absorption following criteria has been prescribed:-
“From amongst the regular Dispatch Rider (Group C) and Group C employees in Pay Band I Rs. 5200-20200 Grade pay Rs. 1800 in the same Ministry / Department who possess valid Driving License for Motor Cars on the basis of a Driving Test to assess the competence to drive Motor Cars failing which from officials holding the post of Dispatch Rider on regular basis or regular Group C employees in Pay Band 1 Rs. 5200-20200 Grade Pay Rs. 1800 in other Ministries / Department of the Central Government who fulfil the necessary qualifications as mentioned in column 7.”
2. To encourage filling up of the post of Staff Car Driver through the method of Deputation/Absorption of Despatch Rider and Group ‘C’ employees in Pay Band I with Grade Pay of Rs.1800/-, it has been decided to reimburse the expenditure incurred on account of acquiring Driving Licence for Motor Cars to Despatch Riders (DR)/MTS subject to the condition that reimbursement is allowed to only such DRs/MTS who otherwise fulfil the criteria laid down in the RRs for appointment as Staff Car Drivers.
3. This issues with the concurrence of Department of Expenditure vide their OM FTS No. 16056/E.Coord-2015 dated 13th February, 2015.
(S. K.Prasad)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India
National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed work flow based application software for visitor management at any office known as eVisitor. It is a web based solution hosted at the NIC data centre and can be accessed / adopted by any Government office just by providing necessary master data for on-boarding.
Government has taken initiative to digitize Government files and documents for its easy accessibility. NIC is providing technical support and consultancy on digitization of files and documents to the various Ministries / departments. Government has conceived Mission Mode Project (MMPs) under National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) to improve service delivery system in the Central /State Government Ministries / Departments. The responsibility of provisioning of funds and digitization of file and documents rests with the concerned Ministry/Department/Organization.
NIC has also developed and implemented eOffice application. The eOffice application aims to support governance by ushering in more effective and transparent inter and intra-government processes. eOffice is Mission Mode Project under the National E-Governance Plan.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in Prime Minister’s office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Ramesh Chander Kaushik in the Lok Sabha today.
The Central Government employees are marking their attendance in the Aadhar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS). There is a difference between the number of registered employees and number of employees marking their attendance. The Department of Personnel & Training has issued fresh instructions to all Ministries/ Departments on 28.01.2015 that necessary directions may be issued to all employees to mark their attendance in the Biometric Attendance Portal on regular basis.
Biometric attendance system is an enabling platform for marking of attendance. There is no change in the instructions relating to office hours, late attendance etc. There is no proposal to introduce an alternative system.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in Prime Minister’s office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Dushyant Chautala in the Lok Sabha today.
The number of sanctioned posts and number in position of Class-C employees including erstwhile Group D employees in various Ministries/Departments as available in the Brochure on Pay and Allowances of Central Government Civilian Employees 2012-13 as on 1.3.2012, published by Pay Research Unit, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, is 33,52,380 and 28,06,369 respectively.
The posts sanctioned in Government Departments are required to be filled as and when vacancies arise as per the Recruitment Rules. Instructions have been issued that requisitions for Multi-Tasking Staff (MTS) may be made to the recruiting agency.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in Prime Minister’s office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Ram Tahal Choudhary and Dr. Manoj Rajoria in the Lok Sabha today.
There are provisions which prescribe that a female Government servant (including an apprentice) with less than two surviving children may be granted maternity leave by an authority competent to grant leave for a period of 180 days from the date of its commencement. During such period, she shall be paid leave salary equal to the pay drawn immediately before proceeding on leave.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in Prime Minister’s office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Kirti Azad in the Lok Sabha today.
Advance Reservation Period for Booking Reserved Train Tickets Increased From Existng 60 Days to 120 Days from 1st April 2015
The Ministry of Railways has decided that the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) for booking reserved train tickets will be increased from existing 60 days to 120 days (excluding the date of journey) w.e.f. 1st April 2015.
There will be no change in case of certain day time Express trains like Taj Express, Gomti Express, special trains etc, where lower time limits for advance reservations are at present in force. There will also be no change in case of the limit of 360 days for foreign tourists.
Under the ‘Digital India Mission’, Government has launched ‘Jeevan Pramaan – an Aadhaar based Digital Life Certificate’ for pensioners on 10.11.2014. This facility provides an option to the pensioners to submit their life certificate digitally by authenticating biometrically using UIDAI Database. The pension disbursing agencies integrated with the Jeevan Pramaan Portal will get access to digital life certificate. The pensioners need not go to the pension disbursing agency in person.
Aadhaar numbers is used for bio-metric authentication of pensioners. All pensioners having Aadhaar number may avail this facility. More than one crore pensioners may be benefitted by the scheme.
Government has taken a number of steps to bring awareness among the pensioners regarding the digital life certificate scheme such as publicity through leading newspapers, organization of camps for pensioners, regular meetings with pension disbursing agencies etc.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.
Women personnel in the Armed Forces are not being deployed for combat operations and on naval warships. Induction of women in combat duties has not been recommended by the studies carried out by the Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQIDS) in 2006 and High Level Tri-Services Committee in 2011.
In the Armed Forces, Women are inducted as Short Service Commissioned Officers (SSCOs) alongwith men SSCOs with a tenure of upto 14 years. All officers including SSCOs, irrespective of gender, are eligible to hold substantive rank of Lieutenant Colonel after completion of 13 years of reckonable commissioned service. Further, Women SSCOs are eligible for grant of Permanent Commission in specific branches in the three Services viz. Judge Advocate General (JAG) and Army Education Corps of Army and their corresponding branches in Navy and Air Force; Naval constructor in Navy and Accounts, Technical, Administration, Logistic and Meteorology branches in Air Force in terms of extant Government Policy.
This information was given by Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar in a written reply to Dr Bhola Singh and others in LokSabha today.
