A complete reference blog for Indian Government Employees

Friday 29 November 2019

Group D/Pay matrix Level 1 vacancies in Railways for disabled canditates (Divyangjans)

Group D/Pay matrix Level 1 vacancies in Railways for disabled canditates (Divyangjans)

  •  Total Vacancies reserved for Disabled candidates (Divyangjan) were revised upwards by Railways from 729 to over 2400 with around 600 for each of the 4 Disability categories of LD, VI, HI and MD.
  •     There were total about 1.87 crore applicants. Written Exams (Computer-based 100% objective in 15 languages)
  •     Around 1,55,000 (1.55 lakhs) Disabled candidates took the exam for the around 2400 posts notified as reserved for such candidates.
  •     Around 34000 Disabled candidates scored above this threshold qualifying limit

Ministry of Railways
Clarification by Ministry of Railways regarding Recruitment of Divyangjans on Gr-D/Level-1 Vacancies

There is recent and continuing sit-in by Disabled persons (‘Divyangjan’) at Mandi House in Delhi regarding some issues for Level-1 jobs in the Railways for Divyangajans. At the outset, on this sensitive matter, it is categorically stated that insofar as Divyangjan candidates are concerned, Railways have ensured that notification of the required number of reserved vacancies, conduct of the entire recruitment exercise, and filled up of posts meant for Divyangjan have been not only transparent and fair, but also in accordance with statutory provisions and the law of the land in this regard. Nevertheless, necessary details with regard to the whole issue are brought out below.

Background

·        A centralized notification (CEN 02/18) for around 63000 Level-1 vacancies for all Railway zones across Indian Railways was issued in Feb’18 by Railway Recruitment Boards.

·        This notification had initially 729 vacancies for Disabled in 3 Categories- Orthopaedic, Visual, and Hearing Disabled. The major chunk of vacancies was notified for Orthopaedically Disabled, based on job & suitability requirements of the posts advertised. Candidates could apply to be considered for vacancies of one of the 16 Railway zones of their choice.

·        An organization of visually impaired persons filed a PIL in Hon’ble Delhi High Court in Feb’18. In the meantime, the revised Disabilities Act, 2016 had been enacted by then and notified by the Department of Personnel & Training of the Govt. of India in Jan 2018. In terms of this Act, the total vacancies to be reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) was revised upwards to 4%, with prescribed bifurcation among Disability categories.

·         In compliance of Court hearings and directions in the case, the provisions of this revised Disabilities Act was made applicable to the CEN 02/2018 recruitment exercise as well. This meant that 4% vacancies had to be kept reserved for Disabled candidates. As specified in the Act, this was to be distributed equally as 1% each among 4 Disability Categories – Locomotor Disability (LD) that was earlier called Orthopaedic; Visually Impaired (VI), Hearing Impaired (HI), and an added Disability category of Multi-Disability (MD). MD would include candidates suffering from more than one Disability among the other three, as defined by medical benchmark standards.

·        Accordingly, total Vacancies reserved for Disabled candidates (Divyangjan) were revised upwards by Railways from 729 to over 2400 with around 600 for each of the 4 Disability categories of LD, VI, HI and MD.

·        In the meantime, a window of one month was provided on February 28, 2018 for candidates to apply because of the applicability of the revised Disability Act.

·        There were total about 1.87 crore applicants. Written Exams (Computer-based 100% objective in 15 languages) were conducted in the latter part of 2018. Around 1,55,000 (1.55 lakhs) Disabled candidates took the exam for the around 2400 posts notified as reserved for such candidates. All prescribed facilities such as scribes, extra time, careful seating arrangements etc. were arranged for Disabled candidates. Minimum qualifying/cut-off threshold scores that were 40 for General candidates and 30 for SC/ST/OBC candidates were relaxed by 2 marks to 38 and 28 respectively for Disabled candidates. Around 34000 Disabled candidates scored above this threshold qualifying limit. Based on number of vacancies and their merit position in the particular Disability category in that Railway, commensurate number of qualified candidates were called for Document Verification and medical examination, prior to being offered appointment. Against those who are either absent or have not cleared verification of Documents and meeting the medical standards as per their Disability, candidates next in line as per merit have been called. So far, around 1025 Disabled candidates have already been selected for appointment. As authenticity of certificates and determining of medical status is taking additional time in the case of some Disabled candidates, this number of 1025 will go up in the coming weeks.

Sequence of Events

·        Last month, some protesters under a banner “Toshiyas” did a sit-in in Delhi for 3 days from Oct 23-Oct 25, 2019. Apart from generic grievances regarding Government policy of reservation for Disabled categories and how this should be implemented in recruitments, they had also alleged irregularities in individual cases due to which they were aggrieved that meritorious Disabled candidates had not been selected.

·        A detailed three-way discussion with the protesters, senior Railway officers and senior officers of the Ministry of Social Justice was chaired by Secretary, M/o Social Justice on 24 Oct 2019.

·        On 25th October, the Court of Chief Commissioners of Persons with Disabilities (CCPD) heard the Petitioners and took their submissions on record. The Railways’ position and point-wise clarifications were also taken on record, following which the Court passed orders the same evening. These orders directed display of cut-offs for each Disability category not only on the respective Railway Recruitment cell websites of each Railway zone, but also on the Railway Board website. Directions to Railway zones to expedite the process, ensuring that no non-Divyangjan was appointed to a Divyangjan-reserved post, and careful consideration of any list of individual candidates’ grievances to be furnished by the Petitioner were also given.

·        The directions above were complied by Railways and compliance report also sent to the Court (CCPD), with a copy to the Petitioner.

·        After a specific request by Railway Board’s office, the Petitioner in the case at CCPD furnished a list of around 184 candidates across 10 Railway zones, who, it was claimed, had not been selected even though they had qualified as per merit.

·        The list was carefully examined by Railways Administration and it was found that around 21 of the 184 had not secured the relaxed threshold cut-off/ qualifying score of 38 (for UR) or 28 (for SC/ST/OBC). The around 163 others had crossed this minimum threshold but were far short in terms of merit score when compared to the last such candidate selected  in that Disability category by that Railway zone. This detailed position in respect of the entire list submitted by him was sent to the Petitioner.

·        On Ministry of Railways’ own initiative, a further detailed follow-up meeting with the main Petitioner and several of the original protesters was again held at Patna on 23rd November 2019 with senior officers of the Board to collect any residual grievances.

·        Again some protesters under a fresh banner have suddenly gone on a sit-in since 26th November. These protesters were part of the earlier group, but have now reportedly splintered/broken away and have sat on this dharna.

·        Two more attempts at resolving the matter through discussions with senior Railway officers have failed first at Rail Bhawan on 26th Nov evening, and the second at the protest site on 27th evening, as the protesters are sticking to their demand of being given jobs in Railways irrespective of their merit position, Disability category, and vacancies notified in the Railway zone they have chosen.

Railways’ position on issues raised by the Protesters

The demands pertaining to Level-1 recruitment cover 5 broad aspects as under:

Sl. No. Demand Position/remarks
1 Interchange/merger of all ‘Divyangjan’ vacancies across Disability categories As per the revised PwBD Act, 2016, unfilled Disabled vacancies are carried forward to next year. Only if they remain unfilled in the next year also, is interchange of vacancies across Disabled categories permissible
2 Common merit list for all Divyangjan across all Railway zones Candidates have opted for choice of Railway zone of their choice. Vacancies and merit lists are also Railway zone-specific. Thousands of candidates have already joined accordingly. Review at this stage is not feasible.
3 Regular filling up of all unfilled Divyangjan vacancies every year and through Special Drives Full complement of Divyangjan vacancies already notified in recruitments for 2018 and 2019.
4 Diversion of other quota unfilled vacancies such as  for trained Act Apprentices to Divyangjan quota Such Diversion across quotas is not permissible
5 Preference for appointment to those who have come to Delhi for the agitation Not permissible, as merit in the category alone can determine filling up of vacancies in any Railway zone

Any large competitive examination has to be conducted as per merit and as per statutory provisions. In a situation where around 2400 vacancies are reserved for Divyangjan and there are 1.55 lakh Divyangjan applicants, it is clear that the end of the recruitment exercise will unfortunately result in around 1.53 lakh Divyangjan not making the cut. As long as those selected are strictly as per merit for that Disability category and that Railway zone, the process should be accepted by all stakeholders. The point about whether the present 1% distribution of vacant posts across the 4 Disability categories is equitable considering the relative populations/number of applicants in each Disability is a larger policy issue involving other Ministries of the Government of India and other expert bodies. Railways cannot act unilaterally in the matter. As things stand, the Railways are bound to follow statutory provisions as notified. Any specific irregularities/grievances, if pointed out, will be promptly examined and corrective action, if necessitated, taken. This has been repeatedly emphasized to the protesters. The Railways continues to remain committed to the cause of Divyangjans.

It is also relevant to mention that another group of Disabled persons under a different NGO has already gone to Hon’ble Delhi High Court raising similar issues as these protesters. Matter is sub judice there. Indian Railways will respect the judicial verdict in the matter, as and when it is delivered.

Source: PIB
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Compulsory Retirement Under Section 56(J) of CCS (Pension) Rules

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Compulsory Retirement Under Section 56(J) of CCS (Pension) Rules

As per the information/data uploaded by the different Ministries/Departments/Cadre Controlling Authorities (CCAs) on Probity Portal followed by the rectification requests made by some Ministries/Departments/CCAs, during the period from July, 2014 to October, 2019 (as on 21.11.2019), FR 56(j) has been invoked against a total number of 96 Group ‘A’ officers of different Ministries/Departments.

The Government has the absolute right to retire Government officials prematurely on the ground of lack of integrity and ineffectiveness, in public interest, under the provisions of Fundamental Rules (FR) 56(j)/(l), Rule 48 of Central Civil Services (CCS) Pension Rules, 1972.  These rules lay down the policy of periodic review and premature retirement of Government servants, which is a continuous process.

Also check: VOLUNTARY RETIREMENT SCHEME FOR CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, DrJitendra Singh in written reply to a question in RajyaSabha today.

Source: PIB
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10% reservation would be provided for Economically Weaker Sections in Central Government posts and services

Benefits for Economically Weaker Sections

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Benefits for Economically Weaker Sections

In pursuance of insertion of clauses 15(6) and 16(6) in the Constitution, vide the Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 and in order to enable the EWSs, who are not covered under the existing scheme of reservations for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes,Department of Personnel and Training has notified that 10% reservation would be provided for EWSs in Central Government posts and services in direct recruitment vacancies to be notified on or after 01.02.2019.

Also check: Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota will not affect existing reservation

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, DrJitendra Singh in written reply to a question in RajyaSabha today.

Source: PIB
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Special Recruitment through SSC, Ministry of Railways and Department of Posts

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Special Recruitment Drive for Filling up of Vacant Posts

Filling up of vacant posts is a continuing process. The recruitment agencies conduct recruitment process as per vacancies reported to them by the user departments. Based on vacancies reported by the user Departments, the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has started recruitment process to fill up 1,05,338 posts during the year 2019 and 2020. During 2017-18, Centralized Employment Notifications (CENs) for 1,27,573 combined vacancies of various Group 'C' and Level-1 posts were notified by the Ministry of Railways - for new and future vacancies to arise in two yearstime. Another five CENs covering 1,56,138 vacancies of various Group 'C' and Level-1 posts were issued in 2018-19. The Department of Posts has also conducted examination/notified to fill up 19,522 vacancies, other than those to be filled up through SSC, in various grades. Thus, recruitment process to fill up 4,08,591 vacancies by just three agencies viz. the SSC, Ministry of Railways and Department of Posts, is in progress.

This information was provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, DrJitendra Singh in written reply to a question in RajyaSabha today.

Source: PIB
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Extension of CGHS Dispensaries/Hospitals

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

Extension of CGHS Dispensaries/Hospitals


The   norms   for   establishment   of   new   Wellness   Centre   under   CGHS   are   as   under:-

I. In an existing CGHS City:-

For opening of a new CGHS Wellness Centre in an existing CGHS  City,  there  has  to  be  a  minimum  of  2000  Card  holders  (serving  employees  of Central Government and Central Civil Pensioners).

Also check: NPS covered pensioners allowed to use CGHS facilities without any bar of minimum qualification service

II. Extension of CGHS to a new City:-

For extension of CGHS to a new City, there has to be a minimum of 6000 Card holders.

At present, there is no such proposal. Opening of new CGHS Wellness Centre is considered as per the extant norms in this regard, subject to availability of resources.

The Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Sh Ashwini Kumar Choubey stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha here today.

Source: PIB
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