This blog is maintained for the benefit of the entire fraternity of Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax Officer's

Tuesday 14 October 2014

MACP on Hierarchy: Pr. CAT directs to implement the judgement of High Court.

Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) on Promotional Hierarchy:  Hon’ble Principal Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), New Delhi directs Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development to implement the judgement of Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court in Union of India & others v. Raj Pal & another (CWP No.19387/2011) decided on 19.10.2011 to the applicant within 4 weeks.

 
Central Administrative Tribunal
Principal Bench, New Delhi
 
O.A.No.2553/2013
 
Monday, this the 15th day of September, 2014
 
Hon ble Mr. A.K. Bhardwaj, Member (J)
Hon ble Mr. V.N. Gaur, Member (A)
 
1. All India CPWD Office Staff Association
Through its General Secretary
Mr. Rajesh Kumar Srivastava
C Wing, Ground floor
Near Generator Room
IP Bhawan, New Delhi-2
 
2. Mr. Pradeep Singh Bist
Age 44 years
s/o Mr. K S Bist
r/o Flat No.167, Sector 5
R K Puram, New Delhi-22
 
3. Mr. Sanjeev Kumar
Aged 48 years
s/o Mr. Chandra Bhan
r/o F-2887, Betaji Nagar
New Delhi-23
 
4. Mr. Pankaj Atri
Age 42 years
s/o late Mr. R C Sharma
r/o 165/16, Shivaji Nagar
Gurgaon (HR)
.. Applicant
(By Advocate: Mr. S K Gupta)
 
Versus
 
Union of India through
 
1. Secretary
Ministry of Urban Development
Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
 
2. Director General
Central Public Works Department
Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
..Respondents
(By Advocate: Mr. Rajinder Nischal)
O R D E R (ORAL)
 
Mr. A.K. Bhardwaj:
Learned counsels for the parties are ad idem that the controversy involved in the present Original Application is, in all fours, of the decision of Hon ble Punjab & Haryana High Court in Union of India & others v. Raj Pal & another (CWP No.19387/2011) decided on 19.10.2011.
 
2. In view of the aforementioned stand taken by the parties, the Original Application is disposed of with direction to the respondents to extend the benefit of the said judgment of Hon ble Punjab & Haryana High Court to the applicants herein also within a period of twelve weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this Order. No costs.
 
( V.N. Gaur ) ( A.K. Bhardwaj )
Member (A) Member (J)

Central Govt. Employees need not give Boarding Pass For TA Claims: Govt

The central government has done away with a mandatory requirement of submitting boarding pass by their employees to claim Travelling Allowance (TA) for any official tours undertaken by them The difficulties have been expressed by various quarters in production of original boarding passes along with TA claims from time to time.

“The matter has been considered and it has been decided with the approval of the competent authority that in order to simplify the procedure of settlement of TA claims, the condition of submission of boarding pass along with settlement of TA claim is dispensed with,” the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said in the Circular F.No. G-14019/2/13-Cash  dated October 7, 2014 .
 However, the officer concerned will have to attach an undertaking along with TA claims that the journey, as mentioned therein, has actually been performed by him or her, it said.“Other requirements, as per the established procedures will continue to be followed,” the order said.
In case of extreme doubt, the controlling officer may be asked to verify the genuineness of the claim, the DoPT said.
The employees have also been asked to purchase air tickets only from the authorised travel agent of this department i.E. M/s Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd and at the cheapest rates after comparing the available fare from the websites of travel agents of repute. “If cheaper rates are available directly from Air India, the same can also be bought,” it said

Central Government employees’ attendance surveillance system goes online!


An electronic surveillance system to keep track of punctuality of government officials will become fully operational by the month end as part of Narendra Modi Government’s efforts to discipline employees.

Online trial run of the live biometric attendance system (BAS) have begun and attendance of over 50,000 employees from 148 departments can be viewed online. The system uses fingerprints to ensure that employees physically turn up and do not use proxies.
“BAS for central employees will be fully functional by the end of this month,” Dep Secretary Ram Sevak Sharma informed.
The website, attendance.gov.in, is hooked up to computers in government offices that will identify employees through their fingerprint and unique identity number (Aadhaar).
It displays a dynamic, real-time chart of how many people are at work. It is also possible check when an individual checks in and logs out of the system.
The programme is currently being implemented in the central government offices located in the national capital and will eventually expand to all central Government employees across the country.
Wall mounted bio-metric attendance terminals have been installed in government buildings. Government employees can mark their attendance in any of the buildings where biometric terminals are installed.
So far, over 50,000 employees have registered on the site, he said, adding that around 10,000 more are expected to join this month.
The system will start with tracking attendance of central government employees stationed in the national capital, he said.
According to the information available on the attendance web portal, as many as 148 central government organisations have registered themselves for the same.
So far, about 50,027 employees have registered on the portal, of the total 66,353 employees. Out of the registered users, 47,644 employees are Aadhaar verified
source : indianexpress.com

Is Interim Relief Likely for Central Government Employees?


Is it really possible for Central Government employees to get an interim relief this time? Let us look at it in detail.
 
‘Interim Relief’ may be defined as the temporary relief given to employees before the new Pay Commission’s recommendations are implemented. ‘Interim relief will be treated sui generis’, most of the Finance Ministry orders included the sentence when sanctioning interim relief.
 
If one looks at the interim relief granted in 1983 and 1993, it can also be inferred that interim relief is granted in order to correct the errors in salary revision once every ten years. One gets the feeling as if an entire Pay Commission was lost simply for the sake of a small hike.
 
During the previous Pay Commission, particularly in 5th CPC, since 50% DA Merger was granted, there was no interim relief.
Here are some of the reasons why interim relief is normally granted :
 
* It has been granted a number of times before, in the past.
* DA Merger hasn’t been sanctioned this time
* Prices have touched the skies
* Some errors in the formulation of once-in-a-decade Pay Commission…etc.,
 
Reasons cited for the Government’s refusal to sanction DA Merger/interim relief:
* 7th Pay Commission was constituted at the justify time.
* There was no recommendation for DA Merger in the 6th Pay Commission
* There was a recommendation against DA merger in the 6th Pay Commission (the Commission is, therefore, not recommending merger of dearness allowance with basic pay at any stage).
* In the event that the Price Index is taken as 115.76 instead of 306.33 for the DA calculations.
 
All the Central Government Employees Unions and Federations are functioning with the intention of getting the DA merged with the basic pay. If that doesn’t happen, these federations are hoping that interim relief will be offered through the 7th Pay Commission’s interim report.