Railway Employees Cadre Restructuring meeting is scheduled to be held on 20.9.2011 and 21.9.2011

After the implementation of 6 CPC  recommendations with effect from 01-01-2006, subsequently cadre re structuring proposals in all the Departments would have been worked out for implementation well before.If sources are to be believed,very few Departments only asked the Federations of unions to come out with cadre review proposals for discussion.As for as settling the issues related to government servants,the railway federations are doing well comparing to the other federations. Now the General Secretaries of AIRF and NFIR are invited by railway board to attend  the meeting of Cadre Restructuring Committee,which is scheduled to be held on 20.9.2011 and 21.9.2011

AIRF News

Railway Employees Cadre Restructuring meeting is scheduled to be held on 20.9.2011 and 21.9.2011

The Railway Board has informed to the General Secretaries of AIRF and NFIR that the meeting of Cadre Restructuring Committee will be held on 20.09.2011 and 21.09.2011 at 1500 hrs in the Committee Room, 3rd Floor, Rail Bhawan, New Delhi. Board also requested to them to attend alongwith thier nominated member

source:gservants.com

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CABINET APPROVED 7% HIKE IN DEARNESS ALLOWANCE TO BE PAID FROM JULY-2011 TO ALL CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

DEARNESS ALLOWANCE  TO BE PAID FROM JULY-2011 TO ALL CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES IS 58%

The Union Cabinet committee  today decided to Enhance the Rate of Dearness Allowance by 7% to all the Central Government employees.

Dearness Allowance (DA) will be enhanced from 51% to 58% w.e.f.July -2011.

Release of additional installment of dearness allowance for this year to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief to Pensioners from July-2011 is to compensate the price hike of essential commodities.

The revised rates of Dearness Allowance from 1.7.2011 to 30.3.2011 may be paid in cash as arrears and for the month of April may be disbursed with the salary.

The enhancement of Dearness Allowance is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission.

Government Order from Finance Department will be published very soon.

gservants

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Employees of Autonomous Bodies to get Ad-hoc Bonus

Employees of Autonomous Bodies to get Ad-hoc Bonus

Earlier the Central Government has announced to grant of Non-productivity Linked Bonus (Ad-hoc bonus) to Central Government Employees for the year 2010-11. Now it may be extended with some terms and conditions to the employees of Autonomous Bodies.

An important another office memorandum[No.7/24/2006 E-III (A)] issued by the Finance Ministry today related to Non-PLB (Ad-hoc bonus). The Government has decided that the Non-Productivity Linked Bouns (Ad-hoc) may be extended to the employees of autonomous bodies, party and fully funded by the Central Government.

The detailed order is availble in the Finance Ministry website (www.finmin.nic.in).

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DA increase of 7% likely to be approved by Cabinet

The Cabinet may on Thursday raise dearness allowance (DA) for central government employees and dearness relief (DR) for pensioners by 7 percentage points to 58% of the basic pay/pension.

The last hike in DA was in March when the government increased it by 6 percentage points. The Cabinet is expected to take a decision in this regard on Thursday, sources said. The Cabinet is also expected to clear a proposal for giving productivity linked bonus to Railway employees for the year 2010-11, sources added.

With the proposed DA hike, the basic pay of the central government employees (or pensioners as the case may be) would go up by 36% over a two-year period. The hikes will be implemented from July 1, 2011. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR increase between January 2009 and January 2011 is estimated to have crossed Rs 16,000 crore. The measure is set to provide relief to a total of around 5 million central government employees and around 4 million pensioners.

The change in DA, which is linked to the consumer price index, has lead to a further change in other allowance structure since rate breached the 50% of basic pay mark in March. For instance, payments like conveyance allowance and children’s education allowance have also gone up by 25%. This hike is in accordance to the formula given in the sixth pay commission report which says: “The rates of these allowances will be increased by 25% every time the DA payable on revised pay scales goes up by 50%.” As a result, there will also be an increase in the special compensatory allowance for the central government employees posted in remote areas such as the north-east and Jammu & Kashmir. Their special allowance also goes up by 25% the moment the 50% trigger was breached. The increased DA and DR are expected to help the households of central government employees and pensioners who are already exposed high inflation.

The Cabinet is also expected to clear the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project being implemented in collaboration with Japan at Thursday’s meeting. The project was conceived five years ago and envisages setting up of industrial corridor along the Delhi-Mumbai stretch. It will comprise seven new cities, nine industrial parks, three ports, six airports and a 1,483 km high-speed rail and road line will be developed as a trading hub. The States covered by the project include Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The Cabinet will also take up for consideration the national manufacturing policy that aims at raising contribution of manufacturing in GDP from 16% to 26% by 2025 and creating 100 million jobs in next 10 years. Manufacturing sector contributes over 80% to the overall industrial production.

Source: The Financial Express

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Minister promises for 78 days bonus for Railway employees

Railways is planning to give Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days' wages to its 12 lakh employees.

In this connection, Railway Minister Mr.Dinesh Trivedi assured in a meeting with federations that 78 days’ productivity-linked bonus (PLB) would be given to employees in the grade pay ranging from Rs 1,800 to Rs 4,600.

The sanction of Bonus would result in additional burden of Rs 600-700 crore for Railways.

During previous year, Railway employees were granted bonus for 77 days. Out of total employees of 13.26 lakh railway employees, around 1.26 lakh employees will not be covered by productivity linked bonus on account of ceiling of pay received.

It is estimated that if PLB is granted as per the above calculations, the maximum amount of bonus an employee can get will be around Rs.8900 as the maxium bonus that can be sanctioned for 30 days is fixed at Rs.3500 in the bonus Act.

M Raghavaiah, General Secretary of National Federation of Indian Railwaymen, said, "We had demanded 80 days bonus this year because Railways have carried more loadings than last year. Loadings have gone up from the 876 million tonnes (MT) in 2010 to 924 MT till March 2011."

The union leader has also added that "It is true that Railways' financial position is not good. But its employees should not be deprived of their due because of that. We have suggested passenger fare hike to improve finances."

Source: Business Today

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Himachal Pradesh HC seeks progress over implementation of reservation for disabled

Himachal Pradesh HC seeks progress over implementation of reservation for disabled

2.9.2011 (UNI) The High Court of Himachal Pradesh today directed the Director (Elementary Education) to file an affidavit as to whether the policy of reservation for physically challenged persons has been implemented in the Directorate of Elementary Education. 

It has also directed to file affidavit as to how many persons have so far been appointed against three per cent quota available to the physically challenged persons under the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. 

The orders of the Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rajiv Sharma came on a petition taken up suo moto by the Court on the letter of one Mehar Singh working as a part time water carrier in a government school. 

The petitioner stated that many employees appointed after him had been regularised, but he was left out by the department. 

The Court also directed the Director (Elementary Education) to state as to why the petitioner was not granted the benefit of eservation in respect of three per cent quota available to the physically challenged persons since the petitioner was a blind person. 

The Court fixed next date for hearing on October 17. UNI

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Reservation for Ex-Servicemen

Reservation for Ex-Servicemen

There is no provision for earmarking of posts exclusively for ex- servicemen therefore the data on the actual number of reserved posts and unfilled vacancies earmarked for the Ex-servicemen are not maintained. However, percentagewise reservations ranging from 10 to 24.5% of the total available vacancies in Group C & D posts in Government jobs and Public Sector Undertakings have been provided for the willing and eligible Ex- servicemen.

It is the responsibility of concerned organization to fill the vacant posts. However the government endeavours to explore every possible avenue for increasing employment opportunities for the Ex-servicemen through various initiatives including trainings and awareness programmes. Moreover, the State Governments have also been advised to fill up the vacancies reserved for Ex-servicemen expeditiously. Since the Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare has no mandate to monitor the job reservations for Ex-servicemen, the matter has been taken up with Cabinet Secretariat in consultation with Department of Personnel & Training to empower Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare to monitor the same through appropriate changes in relevant rules. 

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri MM Pallam Raju in a written reply to Shri Ananth Kumar and Shri Devji M. Patel in Lok Sabha.

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Delhi HC reserves order on whether tax at source can be deducted from Third Party Administrator

Delhi HC reserves order on whether tax at source can be deducted from Third Party Administrator

2.9.2011 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today reserved its order on the petition filed by TPA (Third Party Administrator) challenging the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)'s decision for asking them to deduct tax at source from the patients who get cashless treatment under the Medical Insurance Policy scheme. 

The TPAs are bodies acting on behalf of the insurance companies in connection with the settlement of medical insurance policies issued by them. 

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjeev Khanna after hearing the arguments from both sides reserved its order. 

Senior advocates S Ganesh, Yasobant Das, Amol Sinha and Anshuman Jain appearing for TPA Vipul Medicorp and others argued that the hospitals are exempted from Tax Deduction at Source (TDS )under section 194J of IT Act as they come under the business income category. 

The TDS is only applicable on individuals and professionals, and the Income Tax under this category cannot be charged from hospitals, Mr Ganesh argued. 

Mr Kamal Sahani, appearing on behalf of the CBDT, argued that the hospitals render professional medical services, therefore, they come under the professional income and TDS can be charged from them. 

Mr Ganesh, however, argued that any payment made by the TPAs to the insurance companies includes overwhelming large amount of bill which includes number of items like room rent, sale of medicines, use of equipment such as ventilator, oxygen tank, food charges, diagnostics which cannot by any process of logic and reason ever be considered to be fees for professional services. 

The entire amount paid to the hospital bill is covered under business income and cannot be treated as professional fees,' the petitioners argued. UNI

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Armed Forces Tribunal

Armed Forces Tribunal

The Armed Forces Tribunal has directed the government to constitute an expert committee to look into the issue relating to pension of ex-servicemen with less than 15 years of service in the armed forces.

AFT Kochi passed an order on 4.4.2011 on the TA No.41/2010 of Ex-Servicemen Non-Pensioners Association directing the respondents i.e. UOI & Ors to have the above issue raised by the petitioners, considered by an Expert Committee. 

AFT`s order is at deliberative stage. 

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri MM Pallam Raju in a written reply to Shri M.B. Rajesh in Lok Sabha today. 

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One Rank One Pension

One Rank One Pension

Pension improvement is an ongoing process. Considerable improvements have been made in the pensions of armed forces personnel.

A Committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary to look into the issue of `One Rank One Pension and other related matters`. After considering all aspects of the matter, the Committee did not find it feasible to recommend One Rank One Pension. However, keeping in mind the spirit of the demand, several other recommendations to substantially improve pensionary benefits of Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBOR) and Commissioned Officers were made, which have been accepted by the Government and orders in implementation of all the recommendations have been issued. These are available at www.pcdapension.nic.in. Implementation of these orders has not only significantly reduced the gap between the past and the current pensioners but has also considerably improved the pension of ex-servicemen including disabled ex-servicemen. 

As per yearly statement of booking of Defence Pension Expenditure during year 2009-10 & 2010-11, the entire amount allotted for Defence Pension Expenditure has been booked in full and no amount is lying unspent. 

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Shri MM Pallam Raju in a written reply to Shri Jyoti Mirdha and others in Lok Sabha today. 

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