No.1/3/2008-Estt.(Pay-I)(Vol.II)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training
North Block, New Delhi
Dated the 7th April, 2015
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Sub:- Grant of incentive for acquiring higher qualifications – Inclusion of additional qualifications / Review of the qualification listed in the Annexure to this Department’s OM No. 1/2/89-Estt. (Pay-I) dated 9/4/1999 – reg
The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s OM of even number dated 28.4.2009 and subsequent reminders of even number dated 11.6.2009, 20.8.2009, 30.10.2009, 7.1.2010 and 22.11.2013 calling for suggestions regarding addition / deletion of qualifications listed in the Annexure to this Department’s OM dated 9.4.1999.
2.Only few Ministries / Departments have sent in their suggestions on the subject. The meeting of the Centralized Committee for considering the inclusion of new qualification for grant of lump sum incentives is going to be held shortly.
3.All the Ministries / Departments are once again requested to furnish their suggestions to this Department latest by 10th April, 2015. This may please be accorded priority.
(A.K. Jain)
Deputy Secretary to the Government of India
F.No.31011/3/2015-Estt (A-IV)
Ministry of Personnel, Pensions & Public Grievances
Department of Personnel & Training
Establishment A-IV Desk
*****
North Block, New Delhi
Dated April 1, 2015
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject:- LTC Claims – Need for observing prescribed procedures
This Department receives a large number of recommendations for relaxation of some or the other provision of the Central Civil Services (Leave Travel Concession) Rules, 1988, (hereinafter referred to as LTC Rules), in individual cases. It is seen that, in most cases the situation arises are due care had not been exercised by the Government servant and/or the administrative authority in claiming LTC or in examination.
2.The references mainly relate to:
a) Late submission of claims;
b) Booking of air tickets through an agency not authorized by the Government for this purpose;
c) Travel by private vehicles; and
d) Claims for wrong block of years.
3.In this connection it may please be noted that the primary responsibility for ensuring compliance with the rules is that of the Government servant. The of-repeated plea of ignorance of rules cannot be a valid ground for relaxation of rules. At the same time it has also been noticed that the administrative authorities have also shown laxity and due diligence on their part could have prevented such situations from arising.
4.Late Submission of Claim
4.1 In terms of Rules 14 and 15(vi) of LTC Rules, the time limit for submission of LTC claim is :
i) Within three months of completion of return journey, if no advance is drawn;
ii) Within one month of completion of return journey, if advance is drawn.
Powers have been delegated, as under, to the Ministries/Departments to relax these limits with the concurrence of the Financial Advisor.
a) Upto 6 months, if no advance is drawn;
b) Upto 3 months if advance is drawn, provided the Government servant refunds the entire amount of advance (not merely the unutilized portion) within 45 days of completion of return journey.
4.2 As per Rule 12(a) of the “Compendium of Rules on Advances to Government Servants”, it is the responsibility of the Head of Office to effect recovery of advances and also to see that the conditions attached to each advance are fulfilled. The Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) is required to keep a watch on the advances and furnish monthly statements to the AP&AO. In addition, the DDO is also required to adjust all outstanding short term advances at the close of financial year.
5.Booking of air tickets through agents other than Government approved agents
5.1 Government servants travelling by air under LTC are required to book their tickets either directly from the airline or through the approved agencies viz: M/s Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd/ M/s Ashok Tours & Travels Ltd/IRCTC. Booking through any other agency is not permissible.
6. Travel by private vehicles.
6.1 As per LTC rules, a Government servant may travel only by vehicles operated by Central/State Government or local bodies or by any corporation in the public sector owned/controlled by Central/State Government. Journey on LTC by taxi, auto-rickshaw etc, are permissible only between places not connected by rail. This is further subject to the condition that these modes operate on a regular basis from point to point with the specific approval of the State Governments/transport authorities concerned and are authorized to ply as public carriers.
7. Claims for wrong block of years
7.1 Whenever a Government servant applies for LTC advance, the administrative authority is required to verify from the service book and certify the entitlement of the Government servant. Cases of the type mentioned in para 2(d) would not arise, if this is properly done.
8. LTC Rules also provide that a government servant who has been granted LTC Advance is required to submit copies of the tickets within 10 days of drawal of advance. The administrative authority can at this stage itself check the date of commencement of journey; whether ticket has been booked direct from airline or through approved agency etc. Any discrepancy can be brought to the notice of the government servant so that he can take remedial action, if needed.
9. Even in cases where advance is not drawn, the Government servant is required to give prior intimation of his intention to avail LTC. The administrative authority can check the details indicated especially w.r.t entitlement. A watch can also be kept to ensure timely submission of claims.
10. All Ministries/Departments are requested to bring the contents to this O.M. to the notice of all concerned. It may also be noted that requests for relaxation of rules shall be considered by this Department only if it is established that the deviation is due to reasons beyond the control of the Government servant and there has been no laxity on the part of the administrative authorities concerned.
The Union Cabinet cleared 6 per cent raise in the dearness allowance (DA) for central government employees, benefiting 48 lakh government employees and 55 lakh pensioners. With this hike, the DA now goes up to to 113 per cent of the basic pay from 107 per cent.
“The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gave its approval for the release of an additional installment of dearness allowance to central government employees and dearness relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from January 1, 2015. This is an increase of 6 per cent over the existing rate of 107 per cent of the basic pay/pension, to compensate for price rise,” a government statement said.
The Centre said that this increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission.
Declaration of Assets and Liabilities by public servants under section 44 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 – Clarification regarding formats to be used for filing returns under the Act
Implementation of Supreme Court’s judgement dated 31.10.2013 in WP(Civil) No. 82/2011 in the matter of Shri T.S.R.Subramanian & Others vs. UOI & Others — Parliament Assurance in Rajya Sabha Unstarred Q. No.988, answered on 17.07.2014, on ‘Amendment in Rule 3(3) of All India Service (Conduct) Rules’ — regarding
No. 1/19/2014-P&PW (E)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, P.G. & Pensions
Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare
3rd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhavan,
Khan Market, New Delhi,
31st March, 2015
Office Memorandum
Sub: Enrolment for Aadhaar number and its seeding in pension records of all pensioners and family pensioners – regarding.
In November, 2014, the Prime Minister has launched an Aadhaar-based biometric verification system “Jeevan Pramaan” to enable pensioners to submit a digital Life Certificate on-line. This is an important step in realising the vision of Digital India. This facility has been provided in addition to the other existing methods of submitting Life Certificate.
2. “Jeevan Pramaan” aims at sparing the pensioners and family pensioners the trouble of visiting bank or any other pension disbursing agency for submission of Life Certificates. It is possible to submit the Life Certificate from personal computers and laptops or by visiting a conveniently located Common Service Centre. Further, banks by linking Aadhaar number with bank accounts and PPO numbers will ensure authenticity of pension and other payments.
3. All the pensioners/family pensioners are, therefore, advised to get themselves and their family members registered for Aadhaar and furnish this information to the Pension Disbursing Authority. This exercise may be completed at an early date so as to avoid inconvenience at the time of submission of Life Certificate in November, 2015.
(Vandana Sharma)
Joint Secretary to the Government of India
KVS vide office-order of even number dated 04.03.2014, conveyed approval of Government of India, for establishing 54 new Kendriya Vidyalayas under Civil Sector with the stipulation that the sponsoring authority concerned is required to transfer the identified and demarcated land to KVS prior to opening of the new Kendriya Vidyalaya.
Since the land in the matter of 01 Kendriya Vidyalaya has been transferred in favour of Kendriya Vidyalaya concerned, the sanction of the Commissioner, KVS is hereby conveyed to start a new Kendrya Vidyalaya under Civil Sector w.e.f. 01.04.2015, at the following location:
The above Vidyalaya will start functioning from class I toV (single section in each class) during the academic year 2015-16 and thereafter will grow consequently based on feasibility.
The admission process may be completed within the time schedule as per extent admission guidelines of KVS.
No.1/2/2014-E.II(B)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Expenditure
*******
North Block, New Delhi,
Dated the 1st April 2015.
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject:- Payment of Dearness Allowance to Central Government Employees – Revised Rates effective from 01.01.2015 – Fake Order/Instructions – Clarification regarding.
It has come to the notice of the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance that Office Memorandum bearing F. No. 1/2/2015-E.II(B) dated 30th March, 2015 under the signature of Shri A. Bhattacharya, Under Secretary, Department of Expenditure, regarding Payment of Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees – Revised Rates effective from 01.01.2015, is being circulated amongst Government Departments/Offices.
2. It is clarified that the O.M. dated 30.03.2015, purportedly issued by the Ministry of Finance, is a fake and that no such instructions have been issued by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. Accordingly, all Ministries/Departments and Central Government offices are hereby advised not to take cognisance of these fake instructions being circulated in Government offices.
Government Announces Interest Rates for Various Small Savings Schemes; Rates to Come Into Force with Effect from 1st April 2015
It was decided by the Government of India that interest rates on Small savings Schemes will be linked to yields on government securities of comparable maturity. In pursuance of that decision, the Government has decided to revise the rates applicable on various small savings schemes as given in the table below.
Scheme
Rate of interest
w.e.f.01.04.2014
Rate of Interest
w.e.f. 01.04.2015
1.
2.
3.
Savings Deposit
4.0
4.0
1 Year Time Deposit
8.4
8.4
2 Year Time Deposit
8.4
8.4
3 Year Time Deposit
8.4
8.4
5 Year Time Deposit
8.5
8.5
5 Year Recurring Deposit
8.4
8.4
5 Year SCSS
9.2
9.3
5 Year MIS
8.4
8.4
5 Year NSC
8.5
8.5
10 Year NSC
8.8
8.8
PPF
8.7
8.7
Kisan Vikas Patra
8.7
8.7
Sukanya Samriddhi Account Scheme
9.1
9.2
The above rates will be effective from tomorrow i.e. 1.4.2015.
Thus the rates on many of the small savings scheme have undergone an upwards revision vis-à-vis 2014-15.
No. 5/1/2015- CPI
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT
LABOUR BUREAU
`CLEREMONT, SHIMLA-171004
DATED: the 31st March, 2015
Press Release
Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) – February, 2015
The All-India CPI-IW for February, 2015 decreased by 1 point and pegged at 253 (two hundred and fifty three). On 1-month percentage change, it decreased by (-) 0.39 per cent between January, 2015 and February, 2015 when compared with the increase of (+) 0.42 per cent between the same two months a year ago.
The maximum downward pressure to the change in current index came from Food group contributing (-) 0.66 percentage points to the total change. At item level, Rice, Eggs (Hen), Fish Fresh, Onion, Vegetable items, Sugar, Petrol, Flower/Flower Garlands, etc. are responsible for the decrease in index. However, this decrease was neutralised by Wheat, Wheat Atta, Arhar Dal, Groundnut Oil, Goat Meat, Tea (Readymade), etc., putting upward pressure on the index.
The year-on-year inflation measured by monthly CPI-IW stood at 6.30 per cent for February, 2015 as compared to 7.17 per cent for the previous month and 6.73 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. Similarly, the Food inflation stood at 7.42 per cent against 7.81 per cent of the previous month and 7.56 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year.
At centre level, Tiruchirapally recorded the highest decline of 7 points followed by Guntur (4 points), Mysore, Chhindwara Siliguri and Puducherry (3 Points each) Among others, 2 points decrease was observed in 15 centres and 1 point in 18 centres. On the contrary, Belgaum and Kodarma centres reported a highest increase of 3 points each followed by Kanpur, Bokaro and Doom-Dooma Tinsukia (2 points each). Among others 1 point increase was observed in 13 centres. Rest of the 21 centres’ indices remained stationary.
The indices of 37 centres are above All India Index and other 40 centres’ indices are below national average. The index of Vishakhapathnam centre remained at par with all-India index.
The next index of CPI-IW for the month of March, 2015 will be released on Thursday, 30th April, 2015. The same will also be available on the office website www.labourbureau.gov.in.
