LTC TO JAMMU KASHMIR BY AIR

            On 25th May 2010 ,a news on LTC to Jammu Kashmir published in gservants.com website. Now DOP&T issued an Office Memorandum dated 18-6-2010, which enables all Central Government Employees to go to Jammu Kashmir by Air availing LTC.

           According to the Office Memorandum dated 18-6-2010, it has been decided by the Government to permit Government employees to travel by air to J&K as per the following Scheme:-

(i) All officers/employees of Government of India will be allowed to avail LTC to visit J&K against conversion of one block of their Home Town LTC.

(ii) Officers/employees of Government of India entitled to travel by air can avail this LTC in their entitled class.

(iii) All other employees of Government of India can travel by air in economy class from Delhi and Amritsar to any place in J&K by any airlines subject to their entitlement being limited to LTC-80 fares of Air India. Journey from their place of posting up to Delhi Amritsar will have to be undertaken as per their entitlement.

(iv) Restriction of air travel only by Air India on LTC to other places shall continue to remain in force.

(v) This scheme shall be effective from the date of issuance..

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Risk Allowance Extended

              The Staff side National council JCM demanded in the recently held National Council JCM meeting, as per the recommendation of the 6th CPC, all the allowances to be doubled. Regarding the Risk Allowance, they insisted that The Risk Insurance Scheme should be implemented at the earliest, until then the Risk Allowance too should be doubled till such time the Risk Insurance Scheme is introduced.

             Now the DOP&T issued an Office Memorandum Yester day regarding Risk Allowance, and it has been decided with the approval of Ministry of Finance to extend payment of Risk Allowance up to 30.9.2010 or till such time the Risk Insurance Scheme is introduced, whichever is earlier. All the Ministries/Depts. are requested to ensure implementation of Risk Insurance Scheme before 30.9.2010. No further extension will be considered thereafter
source:gservants.com

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Tax slab revision after consultations: Finance Minister

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said the government will take a view on new tax slabs after receiving inputs from different stakeholders on the revised draft of the Direct Taxes Code (DTC).

“The government will take a final view (on tax slabs) after receiving all the inputs,” he said when asked whether the government was likely to retain the tax slabs suggested in the original DTC draft.

The first DTC draft, released in August, had proposed 10 per cent tax on the income of Rs 1.6 lakh-Rs 10 lakh, 20 per cent on Rs 10 lakh-Rs 25 lakh and 30 per cent beyond Rs 25 lakh in a year. At present, 10 per cent is levied on income between Rs 1.6 lakh-5 lakh, 20 per cent on Rs 5 lakh-8 lakh and 30 per cent over Rs 8 lakh.

The revised draft, on which the Finance Ministry has invited comments from the public till June 30, is silent on tax slabs. However, it did mention that tax slab and rates proposed in the first draft would be revised.

“The proposal in this Revised Discussion Paper would lead to a reduction in the tax base proposed in the DTC. The indicative tax slabs and tax rates and monetary limits for exemptions and deductions proposed in the DTC will, therefore, be calibrated accordingly while finalising the legislation,” the revised draft had said.

Mr. Mukherjee declined to give any clear indication about the new tax slabs saying “these are only discussion papers. How will I comment?”

The Minister said the tax structure would be revealed in the legislation to be introduced in Parliament.

source:The Hindu

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Amendments to the Central Educational Institutions(Reservation in Admission)

                The Union Cabinet today approved certain amendments to Sections 2,3,4 and 5 of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission ) Act, 2006. The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) (Amendment ) Bill 2010 will be introduced in the coming session of Parliament.

             The proposed amendments to the Act aim at safeguarding interests of the tribal population in far-flung and remote areas of the North-Eastern States by providing a balance between the local policy at the State level and the national policy on reservation. The Amendments would ensure equity and inclusiveness and meet the regional aspirations.

           The Central Educational Institutions (CEIs) are facing certain practical difficulties in implementing the provisions of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act 2006. These difficulties emanate from the fact that their Statutes already provide for reservation of higher percentage than 15% of the seats for SCs or 7.5% of the seats for STs, owing to the composition of population served by it. In some cases the CEIs which were State Universities earlier, have adopted the norms followed by the respective State Governments which require them to reserve more than 7.5 per cent of seats for STs.

            In order to address these problems, the Government has now proposed to amend certain provisions of the Act.

These proposed amendments envisaged are as follows :

• State seats (viz. The seats earmarked to be filled from amongst the eligible students of State in which the Central Educational Institution is situated), if any, in a CEI situated in the tribal areas referred to in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution shall be governed by the reservation policy of the concerned State Government in the matter of admissions of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes to that CEI.

• If the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or both taken together in a CEI exceed 50% of the annual permitted strength, that CEI shall be exempt from making any reservation for the other Backward Classes. Further, if such a CEI is situated in the north-eastern States, including Sikkim but excluding the non-tribal areas of Assam, the percentage of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes shall not be reduced from the level obtaining on the date immediately preceding the date of the commencement of the Act; while in case of CEI situated in other areas the percentage of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in that CEI shall stand reduced to 50%.

• If the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or both taken together in a CEI fall short of 50% of the annual permitted strength, the percentage of seats reserved for the Other Backward Classes shall be restricted to such shortfall.

• The period for giving effect to the provisions of sections 3,4 and 5 of the Act shall stand enhanced to six years from three years, as some of the CEIs are finding it difficult to adhere to the said time limit for creation of the requisite physical and academic infrastructure due to a variety of reasons beyond their control and have been requesting for the increase in the time limit.

• The number of seats in a branch of study or faculty in a CEI shall be increased with reference to the number of seats in that branch of study or faculty available for the academic session immediately preceding the date of the coming into force of this Act or with reference to the number of seats actually filled in that session, whichever be less, mainly with a view to avoiding wastage of resources.

Background :

           All the Central Educational Institutions ( other than those exempted under section 4 of the Act, ) are, presently, required to reserve 27% seats for the OBCs (excluding “creamy layer”), in addition to 15% seats for the SCs and 7.5 % seats for the STs as also to expand their capacity, over a maximum period of three years, from the academic session 2008-09. Difficulties experienced by some of the CEIs, particularly those situated in the north-eastern States inhabited significantly, in some cases predominantly, by tribal population, and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, which has been reserving 50% seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in keeping with the objectives specified in their respective Acts have led to the amendments.

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Army Chief Inaugurates New Building of ECHS Polyclinic at Gurgaon

           Shaping the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme infrastructure and procedures to meet the aspirations of the ex-servicemen, Army Chief General VK Singh inaugurated the new building of ECHS polyclinic at the military station Dundahera, Gurgaon today. The polyclinic constructed at the cost of 49.07 lakh will provide quality OPD services to 22000 ECHS beneficiaries dependent on the polyclinic.

           The government had recently approved establishment of 199 additional new Polyclinics alongwith 15 New Regional Centres. The National Capital Region which at present has six polyclinics functional will see the addition of eight more polyclinics under this expansion plan. In addition to the present polyclinic at Dundahera, Gurgaon, one additional polyclinic at Sohna Road, Gurgaon will be operationalised soon.

          The ECHS was started in Apr 2003 to meet long standing demand of the Armed Forces Veterans for a comprehensive medical scheme covering all diseases modeled on the lines of CGHS. The ECHS endeavours to provide best Medicare available in the country to the Armed Forces Veterans. Today approx 11 lakh veterans have joined the scheme. Together with their dependents the beneficiary base of the scheme has crossed 34 lakhs. A total of 1355 hospitals and diagnostic centres are empanelled in the country for providing cashless treatment to the ECHS beneficiaries

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Grade Pay Rs.4200/- for MCM in Ministry of Defence

           A decade long demand of the Defence Civilians, granting Grade Pay Rs.4200/- for MCM at par with railway artisans, come to an end yesterday. Ministry of Defence issued an order granting Grade pay 4200 to the MCM, with the approval of DOP&T U.O.No.5358/10/CR dated 25.2.2010,and Ministry of Finance I.D.No.2(16)E.III Desk/2008 dated 10.06.2010 and concurrence of Ministry of Defence(AG/08) vide their U.O.No 164/AG/PB dated 14.06.2010.

         According to this, here after, there will be four grade structures for Industrial Employees in Ministry of Defence.

2. The Four Grade Structure will be as follows

i) Grade pay Rs.1900 to Skilled Workers

ii) Grade pay Rs.2400 to Highly Skilled –II Workers

iii) Grade pay Rs.2800 to Highly Skilled –I Workers

iv) Grade pay Rs.4200 to Master Craftsman

3. (a) Wherever the grade structure in the Industrial as well as Non Industrial trades is already existing in the ratio of 45:55,the erstwhile Skilled, and 25% of Highly Skilled in the grade of Master Craftsman the following will apply:

* 45% of the posts may be granted the pay scale of Skilled Worker (Grade pay of Rs.1900 in the Pay Band PB-I)

* 25% of the remaining 55% may be granted the pay scale of MCM(Grade pay of Rs.4200 in the Pay Band PB-2)

* The remaining posts may be divided in a ratio of 50:50 and re designated as Highly Skilled Worker Grade-II(Grade pay of Rs.2400 in the Pay Band PB-I)and Highly Skilled Worker Grade-I(Grade pay of Rs.2800 in the Pay Band PB-I)

(b) The placement of the individuals in the posts resulting from the restructuring shall be made w.e.f.1.1.2006, in relaxation of the conditions, if any,i.e,trade test etc, as one time measure.

(c) Highly Skilled Grade-I shall be en-bloc senior to Highly Skilled Grade-II

4 (i) The post of Master Craftsman Shall be part of the hierarchy and the placement of Highly Skilled Grade-I in the grade of Master Craftsman will be treated as promotion.

(ii) In the case of Defence Establishment where there is no category of Skilled Workers and direct recruitment is made 100% at the level of Highly Skilled, the posts of Master craftsman existing as on 1.1.2006 will be placed in PB-2+GP-4200 and the remaining posts of Highly Skilled Workers may be bifurcated in HS-I and HS-II in the ratio of 50:50

(iii) In view of the above restructuring the artisan staff may be allowed to give revised option for pay fixation w.e.f.1.1.2006 with in three months from the date of issue of orders in this regard.

(iv) The existing recruitment rules for the Tradesman may be amended and RRs for the post of MCM may be framed accordingly

SOURCE:gservants.com

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DEARNESS ALLOWANCE (D.A) FOR JULY 2010

             All India Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) on base 2001=100 for the past four month have been published in Labour Bureau website. According to these results we can expect that July 2010 will witness at least 9% increase in Dearness Allowance That is from the Existing 35% to 44%

            All India Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) on base 2001=100 for the month of April, 2010 remained stationary at 170 (one hundred and seventy).For the past three months from February 2010 to April 2010, the All India Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) remained stationary at 170.The consumer Price Index Number(CPI-IW) for the month of January 2010 was 172.and the CPI-IW for the month of May and June yet to be announced.

          Hence it is very much earlier to predict the D.A hike for the period of July 2010 to December 2010.But it is expected that for the remaining two months (May and June) the CPI-IW Number will be at 170 to 171.If the official CPI-IW index published by Labour Bureau, Department of Statistics, goes along with our expectation for the remaining two months, then we can say that there will be at least 9% hike in Dearness Allowance from July 2010.

SOURCE:gservants.com

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Exemption from Tax for Gratuity Payments Enhanced from Rs. 3.5 Lakh to Rs. 10 Lakh

               The Central Board of Direct Taxes has approved notification of ten lakh rupees as the maximum amount of gratuity entitled to exemption under sub-clause (iii) of clause (10) of section 10 of the Income Tax Act 1961.

             The notification will be applicable to employees who retire, or become incapacitated before retirement, or expire, or whose services are terminated, on or after the 24th May 2010.

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