Retirement in the month of April 2016

Following officers are retiring from Govt. Service on superannuation on 30/4/2016

Sl. No.	Name of Officer	Designation	Circle
1	Ms Kavery Banerjee	Secretary (Posts)	Directorate
2	Shri P C Sharma	ADG (BD) Postal Directorate	Directorate
3	Shri C Karuppasmy	AD (Admin) CO Chennai	Tamil Nadu
4	Shri Golak Chandra Mohanty	Dy Manager Postal Printing Press Bhubaneshwar	Odisha
5	Shri A Nataajan	SSP Vellore Division	Tamil Nadu
6	Shri Chandan Goswami	SSP Jalpaiguri Division	West Bengal
7	Shri Narasimhan	Supdt. PSD Bagaluru	Karnataka
8	Shri V. Sampath	SSP Ooty Division	Tamil Nadu
9	Shri Sarbeswar Bala	SSRM Kolkata RMS	West Bengal
10	Shri Hari Pada Kora	SSP Behrampur Division	Odisha

CHQ wishes them a very happy, healthy and long retired life. 

Shri Natarajan, SSPOs, Vellore Division 

Appointment of the Secretaries to the Government of India.

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

DoP seeks Cabinet nod for payments bank proposal

New Delhi, Apr 27 (PTI) The Department of Posts (DoP) has sought Cabinet approval for its payments bank proposal involving a project cost of Rs 800 crore.

The Public Investment Board (PIB) has recommended that the payments bank may be set up as a public limited company under the Department of Posts with 100 per cent government equity.

"With a project cost of Rs 800 crore (Rs 400 crore equity and Rs 400 crore grant) and the draft cabinet note has been forwarded to Cabinet Secretariat seeking the approval for the project," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The Reserve Bank of India granted in-principle approval to DoP for setting up payments bank on September 7, 2015, with a stipulation to complete all formalities for setting up the bank with 18 months.

The present proposal is that the India Post Payments bank (IPPB) may set up one headquarter and up to 650 branches co-located in district headquarter post offices.

"...more than 60 large companies have approached the Department of Posts for collaboration with the prospective IPPB," the Minister added.

Prasad said the project may be rolled out in a phased manner and the bank may complete its nation-wide rollout in five years.

"All the post offices in a district may be linked to the respective IPPB branch and may become the access point for the services of payments bank and will coordinate with the payments bank branches to which they are mapped," the Minister said.

He further said services available through the payments banks will be basic banking services like acceptance of demand deposits such as current and savings accounts up to a balance of Rs 1 lakh, various kinds of payments, including social security payments like DBT payments, person to person remittances (both domestic and cross-border).

"Apart from these, financial products like insurance, mutual funds, pensions, credit etc may be distributed through third party tie ups with banks and other financial service providers especially in rural areas and among the under banked segments of the society," he added.

Regarding International Finance Corporation, a member of World Bank, has shown interest in picking up stake in the business, Prasad said some preliminary discussions had taken place but no formal proposal to this effect has been received.

OBC representation

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
27-April-2016 13:57 IST

OBC representation

As per the information received from 65 Departments/Ministries, there were 7,183 OBCs in Group ‘A’ and 21,085 OBCs in Group ‘B’ in the Central Government Departments/Ministries, as on 01.01.2014.

Other Backward Class candidates appointed prior to 1993 are generally not included in the representation. The representation of OBCs with respect to total number of employees in Central Government Departments/ Ministries was 19.63%, as on 01.01.2014. There has been an increasing trend in the representation of Other Backward Classes over the years.

A Committee constituted in July, 2013 under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, made an in depth analysis of the reasons for non-filling up of the backlog reserved vacancies and suggested measures to enhance the employability of reserved category candidates. Based on the report submitted by the Committee in May 2014, and Action Plan for study of reasons for non-filling up of backlog reserved vacancies, review of prescribed standards, if required, concluding special recruitment drive and conducting pre-recruitment training programme was communicated to the Departments/Ministries concerned on 20.11.2014.

Since, 1st  April, 2012, 21771 of backlog reserved vacancies for OBCs have been filled up. This was stated by the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Dharmendra Yadav in the Lok Sabha today.

Income tax department to pay interest on TDS refund

The Income Tax department will now add interest amount to a delayed refund made on excess TDS deductions and will also not litigate with the deductor on this issue in the future, a latest directive has said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has issued a directive in this regard to the assessing officers of the IT department based on a 2014 Supreme Court order where the apex court had made it clear that the taxman is "bound" to pay interest on refund made under the tax deducted at source (TDS) category.

TDS is primarily deducted by the employer from the salary paid to an employee.

"In view of the judgement of the apex court it is settled that if a resident deductor is entitled for the refund of tax deposited under Section 195 (other sums) of the Act (Income Tax Act), then it has to be refunded with interest under section 244A (where refund of any amount a becomes due to the assessee they shall be entitled to receive simple interest), from the date of payment of such tax," the CBDT communication issued on Tuesday said.

The CBDT has further directed that "accordingly, it is advised that no appeals may henceforth be filed on this ground by the officers of the department and appeals already filed on this issue may not be pressed upon."

The clarificatory note has been issued by the policy-making body (CBDT) of the IT department as it has been a subject matter of "controversy and litigation."

"While the tax department duly gives interest in case an individual's refund is delayed, there was some grey area in the TDS category. This has been settled now. This is yet another area where the taxman is cutting don on litigation," a senior IT official said.

The basis of the latest communication is a Supreme Court order that had ruled in favour of the deductor of a company on February 26, 2014 stating that "refund due and payable to assessee is debt-owned and payable by the revenue.

"The government, there being no express statutory provisions for payment of interest on the refund of excess amount/tax collected by the revenue cannot shrug of its apparent obligation to reimburse the deductors lawful monies with the accrued interest for the period of undue retention of such monies.

"The state having received the money without right and having retained and used it, is bound to make the party good, just as an individual would be under like circumstances. The obligation to refund money received and retained without right implies and carried with it the right to interest," the apex court had said in the 2014 order. 

Source:-The Times of India

Passenger Reservation System in Indian Railways

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Railways

27-April-2016 16:15 IST

Passenger Reservation System in Indian Railways

At present, computerised reservation facility is available at approximately 3337 reservation centers, which are working satisfactorily. Till March 2016, 134 Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendra (YTSK) licensees have been engaged. They are also working satisfactorily. Next Generation e-Ticketing (NGET) which was launched on 28.04.2014, now has a capacity of booking 15000 tickets per minute and is working satisfactorily.

Adequate safeguards have been kept in the computerised Passenger Reservation System (PRS) and internet booking system to prevent its misuse by unscrupulous elements.

For the benefit of different categories of travelling public, the Railways have introduced ticketing facilities at Non-Railhead locations and India Post Offices so that the ticketing system can be accessed by people living in smaller towns and villages. This is in addition to e-ticketing which provides access to reservation system from the comfort of the home/office.

In addition to the provisions made in the computerised PRS and internet ticketing system to prevent misuse of reserved ticketing system, various other steps have been taken, some of which are as under: (i) Condition of carrying original proof of identity by any one passenger booked on a reserved ticket. (ii) Agents are debarred from booking tickets during first thirty minutes of opening of booking, i.e., from 0800 to 0830 hours for general booking, 1000 to 1030 hours and 1100 to 1130 hours for Tatkal booking on AC class and Non-AC class respectively. (iii) In case of booking of reserved tickets through internet, only one booking in one user login session except for return/onward journey between 0800 and 1200 hours. (iv) The monthly limit of booking of tickets through internet by an individual user has now been revised to 6 tickets in a month instead of 10 tickets.

This Press Release based on information given by the Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on 27.04.2016 (Wednesday). 

Updation of joining / declination in PS Gr. B promotion memo dated 10.11.2015

Directorate vide memo No. 9-02/2015-SPG dated 18/4/2016 has called for the information from circles as to whether the officers promoted through memo No. 9-02/2015-SPG dated 10/11/2015 has joined or declined the promotion. Most of the circle are said to be not submitted correct information to Directorate. Directorate has requested to circles to submit report on joining or declination of promotion by 22/4/2016, but on inquiry it is revealed that till date many circles information is yet to receive at SPG Division of Directorate. 

This information is required to update the PS Gr. B list and also to calculate the correct vacancies for supplementary DPC for the vacancies of 2015-16. GS has already requested to all CS to look into and give report through whatsApp CHQ group. 

Acknowledgement received from Directorate regarding informal meeting with Hon'ble Secretary (Posts)

Circle Conference : Andhra Pradesh Circle

It has been reported by Shri S. Prasad Rao, Circle Secretary, All India Association of Inspectors and Assistant Superintendent Posts Andhra Pradesh Circle Branch that Circle Conference of Andhra Pradesh branch will be held at Warangal on 4^th and 5^th June 2016.  Details of the conference will be posted soon. 

Govt. looking to axe 52 out of 200 allowances

NEW DELHI, April 25, 2016 : The Seventh Pay Commission found inadequate the justifications offered by the Ministries for these allowances. 

Secret allowance, family planning allowance, desk allowance, cash handling allowance, metropolitan allowance and headquarters allowance are among 52 of the nearly 200 allowances which the government could scrap soon. 

The Seventh Pay Commission found inadequate the justifications offered by the Ministries for these allowances. The government was asked to suggest rationalisation of a variety of allowances. A committee is examining the Commission’s recommendations. 

The Commission found the entire system of nearly 200 allowances “haphazard”. There are 13 for travel, 14 for additional duty, 51 for risk and hardship, nine for uniform, 4 for good services, 5 sumptuary allowances, 2 for training and 3 for knowledge update. Many were meagre cash payments and lost significance, it concluded. Rejecting the demand for doubling the family planning allowance — ranging from Rs. 210 to Rs.1,000 a month depending on grade pay — for those who adopt family planning norms after one child, the Commission recommended that it be abolished as a separate allowance was no longer needed. 

Also to be abolished is the “meagre and outdated” Rs. 90 a month cycle allowance to postal officials. The briefcase allowance, paid once in three years and covering expenditure of up to Rs.10,000 on handbags, could be enhanced. 

Allowances are paid to employees — both in civil and defence jobs — over and above the basic pay, either as a percentage of it, or as a specified amount, which usually varies with employees’ “level or status”. Children education allowance is an exception for which the absolute amount is the same across all ranks. Besides recommending that 52 allowances be abolished, the Commission suggested that another 36 be subsumed in an existing allowance or in new allowances it proposed. 

While allowances for newspapers, Internet and mobile phones are paid in the private sector, government employees seem to be receiving a whole bunch of top-up payments, including in cash, for simply carrying out their job. 

Arguing that responding to emergencies is part of the duties of any government servant, it recommended the scrapping of breakdown allowance given by the Ministry of Railways. Similarly, it found no need for secret allowance paid every month as a flat sum for dealing with ‘Top Secret’ in the Cabinet Secretariat or metropolitan allowance for Delhi Police personnel on account of “hardship faced in a metropolitan” area. The present rates are Sub-Inspector Rs.180 a month and Constable, Head Constable and Assistant Sub-Inspector Rs. 120. 

The axe could also fall on headquarters allowance (Rs. 225 a month) paid to officers of Organised Group A Service in the Department of Telecom and some other Ministries for postings at the headquarters. 

With growing emphasis on banking, it recommended abolishing cash handling allowance for cashiers working in Central government departments. It is paid at rates starting from Rs. 230 for disbursing sums less than Rs. 50,000 on an average in a month and goes up to Rs. 900 for sums in excess of Rs. 10,00,000. 

Investigation allowance to attract talent from other Ministries to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is another such example. 

Source :  http://www.thehindu.com/

Employees Contributions to EPF

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Labour & Employment

25-April-2016 15:20 IST

Employees Contributions to EPF

As per the Audited Consolidated Annual Accounts of Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) for the year 2014-15, the closing balance of Funds managed by EPFO is Rs. 6,34,174.33 crore.

Regarding EPFO being the eleventh largest pension fund in the world, no such information is available with EPFO.

The fresh accruals in 2015-16 in the three Schemes framed under the Employees’ Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions (EPF & MP) Act, 1952 as per the revised estimates is Rs. 1,01,538.54 crore.

The revised estimates for the year 2015-16 are projected to be 13.81 per cent higher than the Budget estimates. The details of revised estimates of the three Schemes are as under:

(i) Employees’ Provident Funds (EPF) Scheme, 1952 : Rs. 71,398.25 crore

(ii) Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995: Rs. 29,000.00 crore

(iii) Employees’ Deposit-Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme, 1976: Rs 1,140.29 crore.

This information given by Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Good news: Over 2 lakh new central government jobs to be created by 2017

Good news for government job seekers.

In a good news for people seeking government jobs, over two lakh posts are estimated to be created by the Central government in its various departments.

The Central government has projected in the budget estimates for 2016-17 an increase of about 2.18 lakh in the existing workforce of 33.05 lakh, as in 2015, by 2017.

The Home Ministry will add 5,635 new jobs to take its strength to 22,006 in 2017. Similarly, there will be 47,264 new posts in police departments to take its total to 10,75, 341 in 2017 from 10,28,077 (its strength in 2015), it said.

There will be increase of 10,894 in staff strength of the Defence Ministry to take the manpower count to 51,084 in 2017, according to the budget estimates presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh on Monday said the projection has been made after due consideration and keeping in mind the futuristic vision of the government.

“The government, wherever required, takes into consideration creation of new posts. The budget estimates on the strength of Central government establishments will help provide good governance,” he told.

The Civil Aviation Ministry will have 1,080 more posts to reach a total of 2,140 by 2017. The Ministry’s staff strength as in 2015 is 1,060, according to the budget estimates.

Similarly, the Department of Atomic Energy will add 6,353 new jobs to take the total of manpower to 38,025. There will be an estimated increase of 2,072 posts in 2017 in the External Affairs Ministry as against the actual strength of 8,913 in 2015, it said.

Mines Ministry will have 4399 new jobs by 2017. The staff strength of the ministry is 8,503, as in 2015. Similarly, the Personnel Ministry will see a jump of 1,796 new posts from 8,568 in 2015, as per the budget estimates.

The Cabinet Secretariat has already asked all ministries to mention “employment generation potential” in each scheme while seeking approval of the Union Cabinet and its Committees.

Similarly, all proposals seeking approval of appraisal bodies like Foreign Investment Promotion Board and Core Group on Disinvestment need to mandatorily mention employment generation potential, the Cabinet Secretariat has said.

Source : DNAINDIA

Filling up of Posts of Instructors at Postal Training Centre, Mysuru-570010

To view, please CLICK HERE. 

Government approves 8.7% interest on EPF for 2015-16

The finance ministry has approved 8.7 per cent interest on PF deposits for over 5 crore subscribers of retirement body EPFO, lower than 8.8 per cent decided by the Central Board of Trustees (CBT).

"The (EPFO's apex decision-making body) CBT, at its meeting held in February 2016, has proposed an interim rate of interest at 8.8 per cent to be credited to the accounts of Employees' Provident Fund subscribers for 2015-16. The ministry of finance has, however, ratified an interest rate of 8.7 per cent," labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Monday.

This is probably the first time that the finance ministry has not given concurrence to the rate of interest on EPF as decided by CBT, which is headed by the labour minister.

EPFO had provided 8.75 per cent rate of interest in 2013-14 and 2014-15, which was higher than 8.5 per cent in 2012-13 and 8.25 per cent in 2011-12.

EPFO's estimates, which were worked out in September, projected that the body can easily pay 8.95 per cent rate of interest as it would leave a surplus of Rs 100 crore.

The EPFO pays rate of return to its subscribers on the basis of returns it generates from its investments.

However, despite the employees representatives' demand for 9 per cent rate of interest for the fiscal, the CBT at its meeting held on February 16 decided to provide an interim interest rate of 8.8 per cent for 2015-16.

Later, Dattatreya had assured that the Employees' Provident Fund Organization will not revise its interim interest rate of 8.8 per cent downward for 2015-16.

"We will not revise it (interim interest rate) downwards. The revision will be keeping in view of the economic trend in the country, interest rates of various schemes as well as the 7th Pay Commission," Dattatreya had said.

Asked about the interim announcement, he had said the prevailing situations need to be analysed and after that, CBT will again meet in future to decide the interest rate.

Source:-The Times of India

Payment of CHQ Quota .....

39th Biennial Conference of our Association was held in grand success at Jaipur on 13th and 14th February 2016. 

During Biennial Conference following circles are not paid their due CHQ quota. Many Circle Secretaries assured that they will remit the same after returning to HQ, but till date CHQ has not received a single rupee from them.  

1. Andhra Pradesh 2. Assam  3. Bihar  4. Delhi   5. J&K    6. Jharkhand  7.  Kerala  8. North-East  9. Madhya Pradesh   10. Rajasthan and 11. Uttarakhand. 

Rajasthan Circle is exempted for paying CHQ quota, as they conducted Biennial Conference in 2015-16. 

All are requested to deposit their CHQ quota immediately in CHQ account and photocopy of the counterfoil of the pay-in-slip may be sent through CHQ whatsApp group. 

The details of CHQ account is as under:

Name of PO            : Dadar Head Post Office, Mumbai 40014

Name of A/c holder : Vilas S. Ingale and Yadagiri G. Nyalapelli

SB Account No.       : 3049419758

SOL ID No.             :40001400

Hoping for positive response from above circles. 

Holding of DPC for promotion to the cadre of Dy. Manager MMS

No. CHQ/IPASP/DPC-Dy MMS/2015                                    Dated :  25/4/2016

To,                                                                                 

Ms Manju Pandey,

Dy. Director General (P),

Department of Posts, 

Dak Bhavan, Sansad Marg, 

New Delhi 110 001. 

Subject : Holding of DPC for promotion to the cadre of Dy. Manager MMS.

Ref.        : Directorate Memo No. 6-7/2015-SPG dated 7^th December 2015

Respected Madam,

       IP/ASP Association would like to invite your kind attention to Directorate’s above captioned memo vide which vigilance clearance and attested copies of ACRs/APARs of last seven years of the following 10 officers who have completed the prescribed service as Inspectors / Head Clerks of MMS with 8 years regular service in the grade or Assistant Managers in MMS were called for from concerned circles for holding of DPC for promotion to the cadre of Dy. Manager MMS by giving target date 31/12/2015.

Sl. No.	Name of the official	Name of Circle
1	Shri Gautam Rudra	West Bengal
2	Aninda Chakraborty	West Bengal
3	Ms. Jarna Dutta	West Bengal
4	Shri M. Balakrishanan	Tamil Nadu
5	Ms. Namita Namdeo Padave	Maharashtra
6	Shri Prasanta Mondal	West Bengal
7	Shri Prem Shankar Sharma	Maharashtra
8	Shri D. Venkateswarlu	Andhra Pradesh
9	Shri Ramesh Kapoor	Delhi
10	Shri M. Kumar	Tamil Nadu

   It is further bring to your kind notice that last DPC was held two years back i.e. on 8/1/2014 in which following 4 officers promoted to the cadre of Dy. Manager MMS and posted them against the temporarily downgraded post of Manager (MMS) at Guwahati / Chandigarh / Pune and Bhopal.  Thereafter Directorate has changed the postings of 3 officers and posted them against the sanctioned posts except Shri Gautam Rudra.

Sl. No.	Name of the officer	Date of Birth	Circle
1	Shri Pranab Chakraborty	27-06-1955	West Bengal
2	Shri Satya Prakash Sharma	20-06-1954	Delhi
3	Shri Madan Banduji Dapse	19-02-1962	Maharashtra
4	Shri Gautam Rudra	28-10-1963	West Bengal

          S/Shri Satya Prakash Sharma posted as Dy. Manager MMS Delhi and Pranab Chakraborty posted as Dy. Manager MMS West Bengal circle have retired from Government service on superannuation on 30/6/2014 and 30/6/2015 respectively.  Shri Gautam Rudra (West Bengal) posted as Dy. Manager MMS Bhopal against the downgraded post has declined to accept the promotion. Therefore there are 3 clear vacancies in the cadre of Dy. Manager MMS at Kolkatta / Delhi and Chennai.

          It is confirmed from AP / Delhi / Maharashtra / Tamil Nadu and West Bengal circle that they have already submitted the requisite information before target date to Directorate.

          In view of the above submission, it is earnestly requested to bestow your personal attention in this long pending issue and convene the DPC for promotion to the cadre of Dy. Manager MMS by end of this month.

          A positive action will be appreciated.

                                                                                 Yours sincerely,

 Sd/-

(Vilas Ingale)

General Secretary