Central Govt. is considering payment of gratuity for employees who joined Central Govt. service after 31.12.2003 and covered under National Pension System (Popularly known as New Pension Scheme). Till now they are not covered under the existing gratuity scheme. Only in exceptional cases like death in service, retirement on invalidation etc., provisional gratuity is being paid vide order dated 05.05.2009 as an additional benefit.
Minister of State for Finance, Mr Jayant Sinha informed in parliament that Govt. is considering the benefit of gratuity to extend for the NPS subscribers too.
Bar on use of Indian Postal Order for fee payment.
The State Information Commission’s (SIC) order that Indian Postal Orders (IPO) are not a valid mode of payment for submitting Right to Information applications has irked RTI activists.
RTI activists say the SIC’s order on December 2 dismissing a complaint against the rejection of an RTI application defeats the very objective of the legislation. The SIC held that IPOs are not a valid mode of payment under the RTI rules of the State government.
The case relates to an RTI application submitted by Shikha Chibbar of the Delhi-based Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) to the Home Department of the State in January. The Public Information Officer (PIO) of the department returned the application stating that the IPO attached with the application as payment of the fee was not a recognised mode of payment. Under the RTI rules of the State, the fee should be paid in cash or through bank draft or court fee stamp.
Allegation
“The SIC’s dismissal of the appeal against the return of the application is the latest instance of a trend of the SICs adding their weight to the problems that are increasingly preventing effective implementation of the RTI Act," says Venkatesh Nayak, programme coordinator, CHRI. Section 7(1) of the RTI Act permitted a PIO to reject an RTI application only by invoking the exemptions specified in Sections 8 and 9 of the Act and no other reason would be valid or legitimate, he said. The Central government and several State governments accept IPOs for fee payment, he adds.
The order issued by the Chief Information Office Siby Mathews says “there is nothing improper or illegal in rejecting the application submitted by the petitioner,” as payment of an application fee of Rs.10 by IPO is not an approved method in the State.
Director General of Prosecutions T. Asaf Ali, who was actively involved in popularising the RTI Act, says postal orders should be accepted as an approved mode of payment. Rejection of an application on such a ground will defeat the very purpose of the legislation, he said.
2)The Lok Sabha has approved amendments to the Payment of Bonus Act that seeks to make more workers eligible for bonus by raising the monthly pay eligibility limit of employees to Rs 21,000 from Rs 10,000.economictimes.indiatimes.com
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3)Ratio of minimum and maximum pay in 7th Pay Commission
1)Scheme for engagement of a dependent of deceased GDS on compassionate grounds-review of existing point based system of assessing indigence order dt17/12/2015
You will have to flash your permanent account number (PAN) for any transaction of over Rs 2 lakh regardless of mode of payment. The government has issued a notification to give effect to the budget proposal, intended to check domestic black money, apart from modifying the rules for PAN requirement for other transactions as well.
The monetary limits for quoting PAN has raised to Rs 10 lakh from Rs. 5 lakh for sale or purchase of immovable property, to Rs 50,000 from Rs 25,000 in the case of one time hotel or restaurant bills and to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 50,000 for purchase or sale of shares of an unlisted company.
This was one of the measures proposed by the government in the budget to curb domestic black money.
The budget had proposed a Rs 1 lakh limit. "Quoting of PAN is being made mandatory for any purchase or sale exceeding the value of Rs1 lakh," FM had said in his budget speech.
A higher limit has been notified following representation from various quarters.
"Considering the representations, it has been decided that quoting of PAN will be required fortransactions of an amount exceeding Rs.2 lakh regardless of the mode of payment," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.
Persons who do not hold PAN are required to fill a form and furnish any one of the specified documents to establish their identity, the statement said. The new rules will come into effect from January 1, 2016.
"The above changes in the rules are expected to be useful in widening the tax net by non-intrusive methods. They are also expected to help in curbing black money and move towards a cashless economy," the statement said.
There will not be any requirement of PAN for Jan Dhan accounts as well.
Revised Recruitment Rules for AMM & Deputy Manager MMS
As part of cadre restructuring of MMS Cadres & one of the Departmental council item of staff side. Now Department of Posts prepared draft Revised Recruitment Rules for AMM & Deputy Manager MMS, after formalities it will send to Nodal Ministry & UPSC for approval colleagues are aware MMS Driver Revised Recruitment Rules already released by the Department.
1)In 7th CPC Real increase on account of Pay & DA will be only 5% (16% – 11% = 5%). It is clearly evident that financial implications will be very marginal on account of implementation of 7th CPC recommendations.
Pay Commission implementation gazette to be issued in April
The gazette to put into effect the Seventh pay commission recommendation will be issued in April before the announcement of West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu states assemblies’ election in May 2016, which will benefit 50 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners including dependents, Sources of Finance Ministry said Sunday.
Branch/Division/ Circle secretaries requested to hold DEMONSTRATIONS on 19th, 20th, and 21st January 2016 at work places and hand over the copy of the NCA letter to the Head of Division on 30/01/2016 for onward transmission to Cabinet Secretary demanding immediate settlement of the issues.
NJCA will meet on 8th February 2016 to decide of commencement of indefinite strike.