Granting relief to Government employee who was placed under suspension on the day of his superannuation.
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Thursday 16 May 2024
Tuesday 14 May 2024
The Madras GPO beginnings
The Madras GPO beginnings
Searching for information about one subject has often led me to information about another. This time, I was tracking the Anglo-Indian connections of St. George's School and Orphanage on Poonamallee High Road and discovered that Madras got its General Post Office 225 years ago this year. The link was Governor Sir Archibald Campbell (1786-1790) who established the Male and Female Orphan Asylums (that developed as St. George's School) as well as the Madras G.P.O. that made the postal service a Government facility.
The Madras G.P.O. started functioning from June 1, 1786 and the first Postmaster-General was Sir Archibald's secretary, A.M. Campbell. Robert Mitford was appointed the Deputy Postmaster-General. The G.P.O. was served by one Writer (clerk), five sorters, a head peon and ten postmen. They worked out of a building that was “at the beach in (by?) Fort St. George square.” In October 1837 the post office moved to “the old Bank” building inside the Fort, what is now the Fort Museum. And then in 1856 to Garden House , Popham's Broadway, near the Kothawal Chavadi market. Eventually, in 1884, it moved into its own building, the handsome one by Chisholm that it still occupies.
The Madras Post Office, as it was generally called, began expanding its services when it opened receiving offices (as opposed to full service offices that also delivered mail) in March 1834 at Hunter's Road in Vepery and what is now Westcott Road in Royapettah. In February 1845, four more receiving offices were opened, on Mount Road, in Triplicane, and two in Black Town (yet to become George Town). Receiving offices were added in San Thomé and in Teynampet, near St. George's Cathedral, in 1855. Not long afterwards, six more receiving offices were opened.
All this expansion warranted a large main post office for receipt of mail and distribution and the Madras Chamber of Commerce urged the Governments of India and Madras in 1868 to build a large General Post Office in a central place. Only Rs. 2,00,000 was sanctioned for this purpose by the two Governments in response to the proposal, construction of GPOs in Calcutta and Bombay being cited by the GoI for its inability to contribute more. Eventually, the present site — where the Abercrombie Battery had once been — was selected in 1873, but there was no money to proceed with the work till 1880. The Chamber then urged that both the Post and Telegraph Departments be housed in one building and that, as this would necessitate an even bigger building, the Abercrombie Battery site not be divided between the Bank of Madras and the Post Office as had been intended.
The three-storied building, 352 feet long, 162 feet broad, and with 125-foot tall towers, was inaugurated in 1884. Besides a high ceilinged central hall, the ground floor provided space for stores, kitchen, servants etc. The first floor was used for offices. And the second floor served as accommodation for officers. The Postmaster-General moved in on March 1, 1884 from space he was occupying in the Mercantile Bank building further down the road, and the Broadway staff moved in on April 26. The new building had cost Rs. 6,80,000 against an estimated Rs. 6,92,000. Those were the days when such things could happen!
Tailpiece: The Government Medical Department, with a Physician-General in charge, was also started in 1876 by Sir Archibald Campbell.
source : http://www.thehindu.com/ 31/10/2011
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| Chennai GPO - Latest Picture |
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Monday 13 May 2024
Request for Clarification on CCS Leave Rules, 1972 regarding Conversion of Half Pay Leave upto 03 days without Medical Certificate to Commuted Leave: BPMS writes to MoD and DoP&T
Request for Clarification on CCS Leave Rules, 1972 regarding Conversion of Half Pay Leave upto 03 days without Medical Certificate to Commuted Leave: BPMS writes to MoD and DoP&T
(AN ALL INDIA FEDERATION OF DEFENCE WORKERS)
(AN INDUSTRIAL UNIT OF B.M.S.)
(RECOGNISED BY MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, GOVT. OF INDIA)
REF: BPMS /MOD /Leave /57 (7/3/L)
Dated: 04.05.2024
To,
The Secretary,
Govt of India, Min of Defence,
South Block, New Delhi — 110011
{Kind attention: Shri A S Rathour, US (Civ-I])}
Subject: Request for Clarification on CCS Leave Rules, 1972 regarding Conversion of Half Pay Leave upto 03 days without Medical Certificate to Commuted Leave.
Sir,
I am writing to bring to your attention a practical issue faced by employees governed by the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972 concerning the conversion of Half Pay Leave (HPL) upto 03 days into Commuted Leave.
As per Rule 19 (6) of the CCS Leave Rules1972, employees can avail leave for a period not exceeding three days at a time without the requirement of a medical certificate. However, such leave is not treated as leave on medical grounds and is debited against leave other than leave on medical grounds. On the other hand, Rule 30(1) allows for the grant of Commuted Leave on medical certificate, wherein twice the amount of such leave is debited against the half pay leave due.
The practical problem arises when an employee wishes to avail up to three days of HPL without a medical certificate and desires it to be converted into Commuted Leave. Currently, there is no provision in the rules for this specific scenario, leading to confusion and inconvenience for employees.
Therefore, I kindly request your intervention to issue necessary clarification or consider amending the relevant portion of the rules. Specifically, it is proposed that the authority competent to grant leave may, in its discretion, waive the production of a medical certificate for applications for leave for a period not exceeding three days at a time. Such leave should be treated as Commuted Leave without the need for a medical certificate, and twice the amount of such leave should be debited against the half pay leave due, in accordance with Rule 30(1) of the CCS Leave Rules, 1972.
This clarification or amendment would streamline the leave application process and alleviate the practical difficulties faced by employees. It would also ensure consistency and fairness in the application of leave rules across government departments.
Thank you for considering this request. Your attention to this matter is greatly appreciated, and I look forward to a favorable response.
Sincerely yours
(MUKESH SINGH)
General Secretary/BPMS &
Member, National Council (JCM)
Copy to: The Secretary,
Deptt of Personnel & Training
Min of Pers, PG & Pensions
Govt of India, North Block, New Delhi — 110001
{secy-mopr[at]nic.in}
– With request to take appropriate action.
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No invalidation or VRS to the disabled employees? Will they be kept till retirement?
No invalidation or VRS to the disabled employees? Will they be kept till retirement?
Video Link : http://dlvr.it/T6q0sT
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Sunday 12 May 2024
Request for Reiteration of Guidelines &Reintroduction of Dedicated Day for Pensioners’ Grievances Redressal
Request for Reiteration of Guidelines &Reintroduction of Dedicated Day for Pensioners’ Grievances Redressal
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Clarification regrading NPS to OPS to Retired Employees Clarification
Clarification regrading NPS to OPS to Retired Employees Clarification
No. 57/05/2021-P&PW(B)/8860
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare
3rd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market,
New Delhi, Dated the 09.04.2024
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Options for inclusion under the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 in accordance with DoPPW OM dated 03.03.2023 to those employees who have since been retired- reg.
The undersigned is directed to say that the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare administers pension related policy matters in respect to Central Government civil employees. This Department has issued instructions vide OM No. 57/05/2021-P&PW(B) dated 03.03.2023 giving one time option to the Central Government civil employee for inclusion under the CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972 ( now 2021) who has been appointed against a post or vacancy which was advertised/ notified for recruitment/ appointment prior to notification for National Pension System i.e. 22.12.2003. As per para 7 of this OM, it is for the appointing authority of the post against which such option has been exercised to examine and decide applicability of these instructions.
2.Further, instructions were issued vide OM No. 57/03/2022-P&PW(B)/8361(1) dated 20.10.2023 on the question of applicability of aforesaid instructions dated 03.03.2023 to the Central Government employees who have since retired from service before issue of these instructions.
3.Further, references were received seeking clarification with respect to applicability of aforesaid instructions dated 03.03.2023 to the Central Government employees who have since retired from service before issue of these instructions. Accordingly, following FAQs are being issued to deal with these matters :
Clarification regrading NPS to OPS
| S. No. | Points on which clarification sought | Comments of DoPPW |
| (i) | The OM dated 20.10.2023 requires refund of two elements viz. (a) Government contribution and return thereon under NPS and (ii) interest thereon. While the amount of Government contribution and the return thereon in the accumulated corpus of wealth under NPS account of the subscriber at the time of his exit on retirement would be ascertained from NSDL, the rate and manner of recovery of interest (simple or compound and the’ rates at which compounding is to be done) from the date of exit to the date of refund by the employee is not clear. | In the DoPPW OM dated 20.10.2023, it was clarified that there is no restriction on applicability of aforesaid OM dated 03.03.2023 to Central Government employees who are otherwise eligible for the coverage under OPS and who already retired from service. Since, in this case, employee has already availed benefits under NPS, the Government contribution and return thereon under the NPS would require to be refunded along with interest thereon by the Government servant in order to avail the benefit under the CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972, in case, he is found eligible for coverage under old pension scheme in terms of DoPPW OM dated 03.03.2023. The rate and manner of calculation of interest on the amount to be refunded would be in accordance with the instructions issued by this Department vide O.M. No. 38/34/2001-P&PW(F) dated 29.04.2002 i.e. the interest would be calculated at the same rate and in the same manner as in the case of GPF deposits, applicable from time to time for the period from the date of receipt of pensionary benefits to date of refund to the Government. |
| (ii) | (ii) The OM is silent on the date upto which the return on the Government contribution Is to be recovered. Whether it is upto the date of Superannuation/ retirement or date of conversion from NPS to pension under CCS (Pension) rules. If the date of recovery of return is upto the date of superannuation/ retirement of the employee, then whether any adjustment or recovery from the annuity availed by the employee after the date of retirement is required to be made or not and if so, the manner of recovery/ adjustment. | |
| (iii) | The order does not indicate the date from which the pension is to be given to the retired employee. As the retire Government contribution along with interest is to be recovered from the retired employees, apparently the pension may become payable from the date of their retirement on superannuation. This may be got clarified. | The pension is to be granted from the next date of superannuation/retirement of the Government employees i.e. if the employees had superannuated or retired w.e.f. 31.01.2023, the pension would start from next date 1.e. 01.02.2023. |
| (iv) | In case of serving employees, GPF account is opened on their migration from NPS to old pension scheme under CCS (Pension) Rules. The OM is silent on opening of GPF account in this case. As the employee’s contribution and return thereon is not being recovered, there is nothing to credit to their GPF account. So GPF account of the employee may not be opened. This may be got clarified. | There is no question of opening of any GPF account in respect to retired officers for their inclusion under OPS. |
| (v) | Those retired Government employees who have not yet withdrawn the benefit under NPS, the OM its not clear on whether (a) their entire corpus is to be withdrawn from NSDL and their share along with return thereon in the accumulated corpus on the date of exit from NPS is to be returned to them directly or his contribution is to be deposited in the GPF account to be opened and then closed with interest | In case, the accumulated corpus has not been withdrawn by Government servant on his retirement, then the NPS account would be closed and the Government contribution along with return thereon in the corpus at the time of exit would be transferred into the Government account and there is no question of any interest on such amount. |
| (vi) | In respect of cases mentioned in (v) above, as far as the government contribution and return thereon is concerned, the same may be credited in the Government account. No interest is involved in this case. This may be got clarified. |
(S. Chakrabarti)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India
To
All Ministries/Departments/Organizations,
(As per standard list)
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Interest Eligibility for POSB Claim cases in short:-
Interest Eligibility for POSB Claim cases in short:-
SL No | Type | Option |
1. | SB | Up to the month till the end of the month preceding the month in which the account is closed. |
2. | RD | Up to 11 months deposit made will be refunded 12 months and above upto 59 as per table. After maturity, maturity amount be paid if whole installments have been made as like normal maturity of RD accounts. If partially made, proportionate of maturity amount be paid. |
3. | TD | TD rate of interest for completed years (Not beyond the type of TD years) Note: - No deduction of 2% from applicable TD interest. Completed months SB rate of interest (SI). |
4. | MIS | Up to the month preceding the month in which refund is made If claimed after maturity bonus/PMI is eligible. |
5. | PPF | Up to the month preceding the month in which refund is made |
6. | SCSS & SSA | Up to date of death Scheme interest applicable after that SB interest is applicable. |
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