Saturday 18 November 2017

CCS (JOINING TIME) RULES

In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to Article 309 and Clause (5) of Article 148 of the Constitution and after consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor-General in relation to persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, the President hereby makes the following rules, namely..

1. Preliminary

   (1) These rules may be called the Central Civil Services (Joining Time) Rules, 1979.
   (2) They shall come into force on the date of issue of this Notification and shall apply to transfers effected on/or after that date.
   (3) These rules shall apply to all Government servants appointed in Civil Services and posts under the Central Government including work-charged staff but shall not apply to –
      (a) Railway employees,
     (b) Armed Forces Personnel and those paid from the Defence Services Estimates,
    (c) Government servants engaged on contract and those who are not in whole-time employment of Government.
     (d) Government servants, paid out of contingencies.
2.(1) When a Government servant to whom these rules apply is transferred to the control of another Government or organization, which has made separate rules prescribing amount of joining time, his Joining Time for the journey o join his post under that Government /organization and for the return journey, will be governed by those rules, unless different provisions are expressly made in the terms of deputation/foreign service by mutual agreement between the lending and borrowing authorities.
   (2) The Joining Time of railway employees, Armed Forces Personnel and those paid from Defence Services Estimates and the employees of State Government or any other organization who are appointed to Civil Services and posts under the Central Government on deputation or on foreign service basis, shall, for joining the Civil Services and posts under the Central Government and for the return journeys, be regulated in accordance with these rules, unless different provisions are expressly made in their respective terms, of deputation/foreign service, by mutual agreement between the lending and borrowing authorities.

3. Definitions

   Unless there is Something repugnant in the subject or context, the terms defined in these rules are used in these rules in the sense hereinafter explained:-
   (a) “Department of Government of India” means a Ministiy or Department of the Central Government as notified from time to time and any other authority which exercises the powers of a Department/Ministry of the Government of India.
[ In respect of the persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India shall exercise the same powers as the Ministries/Departments of Government of India, under these rules. ]
   (b) “Head of Department” means the authority declared as such under the Delegation of Financial Powers Rules, 1978. In the case of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, Head of Department means the authority declared as such by the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
   (c) “Joining Time” means time allowed to a Government servant in which to join a new post or to travel to a Station to which he is posted.
   (d) “Transfer” means the movement of a Government servant from one post to another either within the same Station or to another station to take up duties of a new post or in consequences of change of his headquarters.

4. Joining Time

   (1) Joining time shall be granted to a Government servant on transfer in public interest to enable him to join the new post either at the same or a new station. No joining time is admissible in cases of temporary transfer for a period not exceeding 180 days. Only the actual transit time, as admissible in case of journeys on tour, may be allowed.
   (2) The surplus staff transferred from one post to another under the Scheme Regulating Redeployment of Surplus Staff shall be eligible for joining time.
   (3) Government servants who are discharged due to reduction of establishment from one Central Government office and reappointed to another Central Government office shall be entitled to joining time, if the orders of appointment to the new post are received by them while working in the old post. If they are appointed to the new post after being discharged from the old post, the period of break may be converted into joining time without pay by the Head of Department, provided that the break does not exceed 30 days and the Government servant has rendered not less than 3 years continuous service on the date of his discharge.
   (4) For appointment to posts under the Central Government on the results of a competitive examination and/or interview open to Government servants and others, Central Government employees and permanent/provisionally permanent State Government employees will be entitled to joining time under these rules. But temporary employees of the Central Government who have not completed 3 years of regular continuous service, though entitled to joining time would not be entitled to joining time pay.
   5. (1) The joining time shall commence from the date of relinquishment of charge of the old post if the charge is made over in the forenoon or the following date if the charge is made over in the afternoon.
   (2) The joining time shall be calculated from old headquarters in all cases including where a Government servant receives his transfer orders or makes over charge of the old post in a place other than his old headquarters, or where the headquarters of a Government servant while on tour is changed to the tour station itself or where his temporary transfer is converted into permanent transfer.
   (3) Not more than one day’s joining time shall be allowed to a Government Servant to join a new post within the same station or which does not involve a change of residence from one station to another. For this purpose, the term ‘same station’ will be interpreted to mean the area falling within the jurisdiction of the municipality or corporation including such of suburban municipalities. notified areas or cantonments as are contiguous to the named municipality. etc.
   (4) In cases involving transfer from one Station to another and also involving change of residence, the Government servant shall be allowed joining time with reference to the distance between the old headquarters and the new headquarters by direct route and ordinary mode(s) of travel as indicated in the following schedule. When holiday(s) follow(s) joining time, the normal joining time may be deemed to have been extended to cover such holiday(s).
Distance between the old headquarters and the new  headquarters
Joining Time admissible
Joining Time admissible where the transfer necessarily involves continuous travel by road for more than 200 kms:
1,000 km or less 
10 days
12 days
More than 1,000 km
12 days
15 days
More than 2,000 km
15 days except in cases of travel by air for which the maximum will be 12 days.                                  
15 days

NOTE.— Distance means actual distance and not weighted mileage for which fare is charged by the Railways in certain ghat/hill sections.
   (5) Extension of joining time beyond the limits indicated in Rule 5 (4) can be granted up to the maximum limit of 30 days by the Head of Department and beyond 30 days by the Department of the Government of India, the guiding principle being that the total period of joining time should be approximately equal to 8 days for preparation plus reasonable transit time plus holidays, if any, following the extended joining time. While computing the transit time, allowance could be made for the time unavoidably spent due to disruption of transport arrangements caused by strike or natural calamities, or the period spent awaiting the departure of the steamer.
   6. (1) When a Government servant joins a new post without availing full joining time by reasons that:-
   (a) he is ordered to join the new post at a new place of posting without availing of full joining time to which he is entitled; or
   (b) he proceeds alone to the new place of posting and joins the post without availing full joining time and takes his family later within the permissible period of time for claiming Travelling Allowance for the family;
   the number of days of joining time admissible under sub-rule (4) of Rule 5 of the Central Civil Services (Joining Time) Rules, 1979, subject to a maximum of 15 days reduced by the number of days of joining time actually availed of shall be credited to his leave account as earned leave:
   Provided that the earned leave at his credit together with the unavailed joining time allowed to be so credited shall not exceed 240 days.
   (2) Joining time may be combined with vacation and/or regular leave of any kind or duration except casual leave.
   (3) If a Government servant in transit on transfer is directed to proceed to a place different from that indicated in the initial transfer orders, he shall be entitled to joining time already availed of up to the date of receipt of revised orders plus fresh spell of full joining time from the date following the date of receipt of the revised orders. The fresh spell of joining time in such cases shall be calculated from the place, at which he received the revised orders as if he is transfĂ©rred from that place.

7. Joining Time pay

   A Government servant on joining time shall be regarded as on duty during that period and shall be entitled to be paid joining time pay equal to the pay which was drawn before relinquishment of charge in the old post. He will also be entitled to Dearness Allowance, if any, appropriate to the joining time pay. In addition, he can also draw compensatory allowances like House Rent Allowance as applicable to the old station from which he was transferred. He shall not be allowed Conveyance Allowance or permanent Travelling Allowance.

8. Miscellaneous

   Where any Ministry / Department of Government of India is satisfied that the operation of any of these rules causes undue hardship to any particular case, that Ministry or Department of the Government of India may by order, for reasons to be recorded in writing, dispense with or relax the requirement of that rule to such extent and subject to such exceptions and conditions as it may consider necessary for dealing with the case in a just and equitable manner, provided that no such order shall be made except with the concurrence of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms.
   9. If any doubt arises as to the interpretation of these rules, it shall be referred to the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms.
   10. All rules and instructions on the subject of joining time in force immediately before commencement of these rules and applicable to Government servants to whom these rules apply, are hereby repealed.

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA’S ORDERS

   (1) Transit Time /Joining Time to cover journey from / to a remote locality while proceeding on/or returning from leave.— With the promulgation of the Central Civil Services (Joining Time) Rules, 1979, certain provisions of FRs and SRs and Government Orders thereunder relating to transit time / joining time admissible to Government servants to cover journeys from to a remote locality while proceeding on/or returning from leave or on transfer became inoperative. As regards joining time to remote localities on transfer, no difficulty was anticipated because Heads of Departments could allow joining time under Rule 5 (5) of the CCS (Joining Time) Rules, 1979. As regards joining time to remote localities during leave, it was proposed to make suitable provisions in the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules. Pending amendment to the Leave Rules, some administrative instructions were issued vide this Department’s Office Memorandum No. 21011/12/79-Allowances, dated the 16th November, 1979 and No. 19011/30/81-Allowances, dated the 13th October, 1981 (not printed). Since revision of the Leave Rules has not been finalized, the following administrative instructions are issued in supersession of those Office Memorandums to cover cases of journey to/from remote localities while on leave:-
   (i) A Government servant proceeding on leave from/to a place in the remote locality mentioned in Column 1 of the Annexure to this OM or returning from leave to/from the said place shall be entitled, once in a calendar year, to transit time each way to cover the period spent in journey between the said remote locality and the specified station at the scale prescribed in Column 3 of 
that Annexure.
   (ii) The concession is also admissible, while on leave, to a Government servant
   (a) who is domiciled in any part of India other than the remote locality concerned and has been specifically recruited from outside for service in remote locality, and
   (b) who, though not specially recruited outside the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands or the Union Territory of the Lakshadweep, as the case may be, for service in the respective Union Territory, is domiciled in any part of India other than the Union Territory concerned.
   (iii) A Government servant domiciled in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands or the Union Territory of Lakshadweep and proceeding on leave to his home town in another Island of the Union Territory concerned, shall be entitled, once in a calendar year, to transit time to cover the period spent in journey by sea to the island in which his home town is located and vice versa while returning from leave. The transit time thus admissible shall be the actual number of days taken in the journey by sea subject to a maximum of seven days for each journey.
   (iv) Where the outward journey falls in one calendar year and the return journey falls in the succeeding calendar year, the concession shall be counted against the calendar year in which the leave commences. In calculating transit time, holidays falling before or at the end of it shall be excluded while those falling during transit time shall be included.
   (v) A Government servant domiciled in the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar islands or the Union Territory of Lakshadweep and recruited for service in the respective territory, when posted for service on mainland in public interest shall be entitled joining time, once a year, while proceeding to and returning from the Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar islands and Lakshadweep on leave.
   (vi) A Government servant, domiciled in any part of India other than Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands or the Union Territory of Lakshadweep and recruited whether within or outside that Union Territory for service there, while proceeding on leave from his post in one island in that Union Territory to his home town on the mainland to join his post in another island in that Union Territory shall be entitled to joining time on the same scale as provided in Para. I (i) above.
   2. When a Central Government servant posted in the remote areas spends his leave Outside the Union Territory, the journey time from the place in the remote area to the Specified Station indicated in the Annexure and vice versa will be treated as free joining time if admissible under this Office Memorandum and in addition, the remaining journey time if any, in excess of 2 days could be allowed as free joining time under the provisions of Finance Ministry O.M. No. 20014/3/83.E IV, dated the 14th December, 1983. (See Appendix- 9)

Source – DOPT
http://circulars.nic.in/WriteReadData/CircularPortal/D2/D02est/CCS-01082012.pdf

Over Time Allowance (OTA) to Operational Staff - seeking Inputs/Comments : DoPT

Over Time Allowance (OTA) to Operational Staff - seeking Inputs/Comments : DoPT

Recruitment of Combined Higher Secondary Level (10+2) Examination, 2017




Recruitment of Combined Higher Secondary Level (10+2) Examination, 2017

Application Start Date is 18th November,2017


Application Closing Date is 18th December,2017



Friday 10 November 2017

Posting of regular Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) officers of Indian Postal Service, Group 'A'


Revised the House Building Advance (HBA) rules for Central Government Employees incorporating the accepted recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs
09-November-2017 18:33 IST

House Building Advance 2017 

The Government has revised the House Building Advance (HBA) rules for Central Government Employees incorporating the accepted recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission.  Following are the salient features of the new rules:-

1.         The total amount of advance that a central government employee can borrow from government has been revised upwards.  The employee can up to borrow 34 months of the basic pay subject to a maximum of Rs. 25 lakhs (Rs. Twenty Five Lakhs only), or cost of the house/flat, or the amount according to repaying capacity, whichever is the least for new construction/purchase of new house/flat.  Earlier this limit was only Rs.7.50 lakhs.
2.         Similarly, the HBA amount for expansion of the house has been revised to a maximum of Rs.10 lakhs or 34 months of basic pay or cost of the expansion of the house or amount according to repaying capacity, whichever is least. This amount was earlier Rs.1.80 lakhs. 
3.      The cost ceiling limit of the house which an employee can construct/ purchase has been revised to Rs.1.00 crore with a proviso of upward revision of 25% in deserving cases. The earlier cost ceiling limit was Rs.30 lakhs.
4.      Both spouses, if they are central government employees, are now eligible to take HBA either jointly, or separately.  Earlier only one spouse was eligible for House Building Advance.
5.      There is a provision for individuals migrating from home loans taken from Financial Institutions/ Banks to HBA, if they so desire.
6.      The provision for availing ‘second charge’ on the house for taking loans to fund balance amount from Banks/ Financial Institutions has been simplified considerably. ‘No Objection Certificate’ will be issued along with sanction order of HBA, on employee’s declaration.
7.      Henceforth, the rate of Interest on Housing Building Advance shall be at only one rate of 8.50% at simple interest (in place of the earlier four slabs of  bearing interest rates ranging from 6% to 9.50% for different slabs of HBA which ranged from Rs.50,000/- to Rs.7,50,000/-) .
8.       This rate of interest shall be reviewed every three years.  All cases of subsequent tranches/ installments of HBA being taken by the employee in different financial years shall be governed by the applicable rate of interest in the year in which the HBA was sanctioned, in the event of change in the rate of interest.  HBA is admissible to an employee only once in a life time.
9.      The clause of adding a higher rate of interest at 2.5% (two point five percent) above the prescribed rate during sanction of House Building Advance stands withdrawn. Earlier the employee was sanctioned an advance at an interest rate of 2.5%  above the scheduled rates with the stipulation that if conditions attached to the sanction including those relating to the recovery of amount are fulfilled completely,  to the satisfaction of the competent authority, a rebate of interest to the extent of 2.5% was allowed.
10.  The methodology of recovery of HBA shall continue as per the existing pattern recovery of principal first in the first fifteen years in 180 monthly instalments and interest thereafter in next five years in 60 monthly instalments.
11.   The house/flat constructed/purchased with the help of House Building advance can be insured with the private insurance companies which are approved by Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA). 
12.       This attractive package is expected to incentivize the government employee to buy house/ flat by taking the revised HBA along with other bank loans, if required.  This will give a fillip to the Housing infrastructure sector.
***
 RJ/Chanda/
ource : http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=173355

Wednesday 8 November 2017

Casual Labourers - Grant of Temporary Status and Regularization


CHILDREN EDUCATION ALLOWANCE, Hostel Subsidy Claims & Travelling Allowance Entitlement: PCDA's instructions

CHILDREN EDUCATION ALLOWANCE, Hostel Subsidy Claims & Travelling Allowance Entitlement: PCDA's instructions



"CHILDREN EDUCATION ALLOWANCE:

As specified in the Govt. letter No. 1(23) / 2017 / D(Pay/ Services) dated 15/09/2017, reimbursement of CEA is to be claimed once in a year, after completion of the Financial Year based on certificate from the Head of the Institution, where the ward of the employee is studying.

HOSTEL SUBSIDY:
Similar procedure is to be applied for Hostel Subsidy. The certification from the Head of Institute should also mention the amount of expenditure incurred by the Govt servant towards boarding and lodging.

These orders are applicable from 01/07/2017.
Claims on account of CEA & Hostel Subsidy w.e.f. 01/07/2017 may be forwarded after completion of the financial year.

Claims already submitted for the period 01/07/2017 onwards are being returned unsanctioned.

TRAVELLING ALLOWANCE ENTITLEMENTS:
GoI, MoD letter No. 12630/TA/DA/Mov C dated 15th September 2017 regarding provisions relating Travelling Allowance Entitlements, are effective from 01/07/2017.

Service Personnel, who had undertaken tours and had been transferred between 01 / 07 / 2017 and the date of issue of these orders i.e. 15th Sep 2017 and whose TA/ DA claims have been settled with reference to their earlier entitlements as per 6th CPC, may submit supplementary claims based on their revised entitlement as per 7th CPC."

Source: pcdaopune

Guidelines on Air Travel on Government Expenses - Purchase of Tickets from Authorised Agent: MHA OM