Monday, March 14, 2016
Special CL for central govt employees-DOPT ORDER
No.6/3/2015-Estt(Pay-I)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public
Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training
New Delhi: 29th February, 2016
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Participation by Central Government servants in sporting events and tournament of National or International importance.
The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s OM No.6/1/85-Estt(PaY-1) dated 16th July, 1985 wherein special casual leave is granted to Central Government employees for a period not exceeding 30 days in any one calendar year for participating in the sporting events as mentioned under para 1 of the OM ibid. it has been decided to extend the provision of special casual leave to Central Government employees who participate in programme of adventure sports/ similar activities conducted by Central Civil Services Cultural & Sports Board (CCSCSB).
(A.K.Jain)
Deputy Secretary(Pay)7th Pay Commission expressed its regret about transition from OPS to NPS
7th Pay Commission expressed its
regret about transition from Old Pension Scheme to New Pension Scheme in its
report.
2004-2011 Entrants : Government
employees who have joined service between 2004 and 2011 have suffered due to
delay in finalizing the structure of the NPS and the issue of detailed
instructions. Although they have made regular contributions, in many cases, this
money and/or counterpart contributions were not deployed in the market. In the
case of AIS officers, some states are yet to release counterpart
contributions or pay interest on delayed contributions. This has led to a
situation where the accumulated corpus even after 11 years of service could be
meagre. It is necessary that this situation which arose during the transition
from OPS to NPS be addressed.
The Commission therefore recommends
that Central Governments and State Governments should, in a time bound manner,
ensure that all the due contribution along with compounded interest, where
contributions have been delayed, be deposited in the accounts of the
beneficiaries. Advisories should be issued to the State Governments to deposit
amounts, if not already done, in respect of NPS beneficiaries belonging to All
India Services.
Many Association have pointed out
that unlike the facility under GPF, it is not possible to make withdrawals
under NPS, even to meet obligatory social expenditure. This forces employees
towards increased indebtedness as they have to borrow from elsewhere.The Commission notes that under the
NPS Tier-I account, a subscriber is permitted to make partial withdrawal of
twenty five percent of the contributions made to his/her individual pension
account for certain specified purposes. Such withdrawals are permitted a
maximum of three times during the entire tenure of subscription and a period of
at least five years should have elapsed between two such withdrawals.
The Commission further notes that
there exists a voluntary Tier-II account. Under this account, a subscriber can,
at any time, withdraw the accumulated wealth either in full or part and there
is no limit on such withdrawals provided the account has sufficient balance of accumulated
pension wealth to cover the amount being withdrawn. However, the Tier-II
account is yet to be made operational. The Commission therefore recommends that
PFRDA should take steps to make the Tier-II accounts operational as early as
possible to enable the NPS subscribers the facility of withdrawals from their
accounts in case of requirement.Transparency under NPS : Many
associations and individuals have complained that the information relating to
the NPS is inadequate, resulting in high degree of uncertainty in the minds of
contributors about post-retirement benefits. The Commission noted that PFRDA
sends a communication to every participant each month with the current pension
wealth and the latest contribution that has been credited. The Commission
recommends that focused efforts be made to capture email addresses and mobile
numbers of subscribers so that seamless communication is ensured for all
subscribers. The Commission recommends that consultation with stakeholders
should also be held periodically in different parts of the country.
The Commission notes that no
department of Government of India is taking ownership of the NPS. The
Commission recommends that a Committee consisting of Secretary, Department of
Financial Services, Secretary, Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare and
Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances may be
constituted to review the progress of implementation of NPS. The Commission
also recommends that steps should be taken for establishment of an Ombudsman
for redressing individual grievances relating to NPS.
Tax Treatment under the NPS : NPS is
under the Exempt–Exempt – Tax (EET) regime while the General Provident Fund
under the OPS is under Exempt–Exempt–Exempt (EEE) dispensation. Under the NPS,
while the contributions and the accumulations are tax-exempt, withdrawals are
taxable. As such, this is an inferior tax treatment when compared to other
pension programmes such as General Provident Fund, Contributory Provident Fund,
Employees Provident Fund and Public Provident Fund wherein contributions,
accumulations and withdrawals are tax-exempt.The Commission feels that tax
neutrality should be ensured across various avenues for long term savings for
post retirement incomes so that the employees covered by NPS are not at a
disadvantage. The Commission therefore recommends that withdrawals under the
NPS should be tax-exempt to place NPS at par with other pension schemes. The
Commission also recommends that the service tax levied at the time of annuity
purchase by NPS subscribers should be exempted.
National Pension System(NPS): Clarifications on Settlement of Claims Relating To Exits, Involving Purchase of Annuities
PENSION FUND REGULATORY
AND DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
B-14/A, Chhatrapati Shivaji Bhawan
Qutab Institutional Area,
Katwaria Sarai, New Delhi – 110 016
Phone: 011 – 26517503
Fax: 011 – 26517507
Website: www.pfrda.org.in
Circular No. PFRDA/2016/5/Exits/01
dated 03.03.2016
Subject: Clarifications on Settlement of Claims Relating To Exits, Involving Purchase of Annuities
1. Whereas the authority has notified the PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals from National Pension System) Regulations, 2015 on 11th May, 2015 and is in force.
2. Number of claims have been received post the notification of the regulations covering pre-mature exits and also pertaining to claims arising out of the death of the subscriber under NPS. It has been brought to the notice of the Authority that as default annuity schemes mentioned under Regulation 3 of the PFRDA (Exits and withdrawals from National Pension System) Regulations, 2015 have not been made available by the Annuity Service Providers yet, these claims could not be settled and thus there exists a difficulty in settling claims in accordance with the aforesaid Regulations.
3. The Authority having considered and upon being satisfied that the claims of the subscribers are not being able to be processed and settled in accordance with Regulation 3 of the PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals from National Pension System) Regulations, 2015 and to ensure that the interest of the subscribers are protected in this regard, has decided that till the time the default annuity schemes as mentioned under aforementioned Regulation 3, are made available to the subscribers, the claims both present and future shall be settled in the following manner;
1
|
Existing Provisions
|
Removal of difficulty
|
Regulation 3 (b) applicable in
case of pre-mature exit (to extract proviso from regulations)
In place of default annuity scheme
|
Any annuity scheme provided by the
Annuity Service Provider such that scheme shall mandatorily cover the spouse
of the subscriber.
|
|
2
|
Regulation 3 (C) applicable in
case of death (to extract proviso from regulations)
|
The entire accumulated pension
wealth (100%) would be paid to the nominee/legal heir of the subscriber and
there would not be any purchase of annuity/monthly pension
|
4. The above provisions for removal
of difficulty shall be in force till the default annuity schemes are devised by
the Annuity Service Providers and made available to the subscribers, and shall
cease on a date notified by the Authority, whereafter settlement of claims
shall be in accordance with the applicable provisions of the regulations. All
other provisions of settlement including settlement of lump sum pension wealth
shall be continued to be governed by the applicable provisions of the
regulations.
5. This clarification for removal of
difficulty is issued by the Authority in exercise of its powers under Section
14 of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 read with
Regulation 39 of the PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals from National Pension System)
Regulations, 2015.
Yours faithfully
Sd/-
(Subroto Das)
Chief General Manager
Don't take action on anonymous graft complaints: CVC to departments
In
its directive to all ministries and public sector undertakings, the Commission
said that such complaints only needed to be filed.
The
directive to all ministries and public sector undertakings comes after CVC
received references from departments and organisations seeking clarification on
the action to be taken on anonymous or pseudonymous complaints, which were
acted upon."No
action should be taken on anonymous or pseudonymous complaints in line with
Commission's present instructions dated November 25, 2014 and such complaints
should be filed," it said.
The
anti-corruption watchdog has been clarifying on the issue since 1999. In its
guidelines issued yesterday, the CVC said the action pursued on anonymous or
pseudonymous complaints prior to the issue of 1999 circular can be
"pursued further to its logical end".Material
or evidence gathered during the investigation or verification of anonymous
complaints when the action was prohibited on such complaints, or when such
enquiry was initiated without the approval of the CVC, can be utilised for
further initiation of disciplinary proceedings on misconducts noticed in such
verification or enquiry, it said.
The
Commission usually gets a number of complaints against a government employee
when he or she is being considered for a senior level post or for some
important assignment, a senior CVC official said."The
intention behind filing such a complaint is intended to delay the process of
granting vigilance clearance to an employee. People have been asked to give
verifiable details of corruption charges along with their details so that
prompt action can be taken against guilty and to ensure that honest officers
are not harassed," he said.
The
CVC gives vigilance clearance to senior government officials being considered
for foreign postings, central deputation or other appointments.All
Chief Vigilance Officers--who act as distant arm of the CVC--have been asked to
follow these latest guidelines while processing anonymous and pseudonymous
corruption complaints, the official said.
Issue of revised Recruitment Rules of PS Gr. B Cadre -GS writes to Director(DE)
No. CHQ/AIAIPASP/CRC/2012
Dated : 10/3/2016
To,
Shri S.
V. Rao,
Director (DE),
Department
of Posts,
Dak
Bhavan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi
110 001.
Subject :
Issue of revised Recruitment Rules of PS Gr. B Cadre and to reduce share of General
Line officials from 6% to 3%…regarding
Ref. : Dte No.
A.34012/01/2015-DE
dated 15th January 2015
Respected
Sir,
Your kind attention is
invited to this Association’s letters of even number dated 15/7/2013, 19/11/2013,
6/1/2014, 17/4/2014, 16/5/2014, 21/6/2014, 29/8/2014, 9/3/2015 and 7/11/2015 on
the above captioned subject.
In this regard it is to
intimate that this Association has been perusing through above cited letters to
conduct LDCE
for PS Gr. ‘B’ for the year 2013, 2014 and 2015 separately only after revision
of Recruitment Rules of PS Gr. B cadre and also reducing share of General Line
officials from 6% to 3% in the examination quota.
As per clause 3.1.5 of DoPT
OM No. AB-14017/48/2010-Estt (RR) dated 31st December 2010 revision
in the Recruitment Rules once in 5 years with a view to effecting such changes
as are necessary to bring them in conformity with the changed position,
including additions to or reduction in the strength of the lower and higher
level posts”. It is learnt that approval from Nodal Ministry/UPSC is awaited
for issue of revised recruitment rules of PS Gr. B cadre.
Sir, this vital issue is
pending for more than 2 years, and therefore it is requested to bestow your personal
attention and conduct the above said pending LDCEs at the earliest and that too separately after reduction
of share of General Line officials from 6% to 3% in the examination quota and to
avoid further litigation's etc.
With regards,
Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(Vilas
Ingale)
General
Secretary
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Ms Kavery Banerjee Secretary (Posts) and Ms Arundhaty Ghosh CPMG WB Circle
