Interesting Statistics from the 7th Pay Commission Report – Part 1

Interesting Statistics from the 7th Pay Commission Report – Part 1

The 7th Central Pay Commission submitted its report recently, recommending a slew of measures including fixing the minimum pay of a central government employee at Rs 18000. In a two part series, we look at some of the interesting statistics from this report.

The 7th Central Pay Commission(CPC) submitted its report recently. Among other things, it fixed the minimum pay in the central government at Rs 18,000/- and the maximum pay at Rs 2,25,000 at the apex level and Rs 2,50,000 for the Cabinet Secretary, Defence Chiefs etc. Here is a look at some of the interesting statistics from this report.

18% Vacancies in the Central Government

As per the CPC report, the sanctioned strength of all the departments of Government of India (including Railways) is 40.48 lakh as of 1^st January 2014. Out of the sanctioned strength, only 33.01 lakh are in position, while the rest of the  7.47 lakh are lying vacant. In other words, there is are 18% vacancies in the government of India.

The Ministry of Science & Technology has 47% vacancies followed by Ministry of Finance at 46%. The other ministries that have more than 40% vacancies include Power, Civil Aviation, AYUSH, Minority Affairs & Corporate Affairs. The Election Commission also has 43% vacancies.

Railways has the largest number of employees with over 13 lakh people
Of all the ministries, the Railways has the largest number of employees with over 13 lakh followed by the Ministry of Home Affairs with over 9 lakh employees, with bulk of them from the Central Reserve forces. The Ministry of Defence has close to 4 lakh employees (excluding the military personnel). The Ministry of Communications & Information Technology has close to 2 lakh employees with bulk of them from the Department of Posts. The Ministry of Finance has close to a lakh employees with bulk of them from the Central Board of Direct Taxes and Central Excise & Customs. The Delhi Police has more than 70000 employees.

The Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation has the least number of employees with just 78 followed by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj with 82 employees. This is because both the ministries are not directly implementing any scheme, but are only funding the states.

89% of all the employees are from Group C

All Central Government civil posts are categorised under the Central Civil Services Rules, 1965 into three categories- Group `A’ (including the All India Service Officers), Group `B’ and Group `C’. This classification broadly corresponds to the rank, status and the degree of the level of responsibility attached to the posts. Group `A’ posts carry higher administrative and executive responsibilities and include senior management positions in the ministries/departments and field organisations. The middle and junior levels of Group `A’ along with Group `B’ constitute middle management. Group `C’ posts perform supervisory as well as operative tasks and render clerical assistances in ministries and field organisations. As per the CPC report, close to 88% of all the employees is Group C while only 3% is Group A and 9% from Group B.
The ministry of Railways has the highest number of Group C employees (close to 99%). Only 1% of the railway employees are from Group A & B. The Ministry of Home Affairs has 92% from Group C.
There are some Ministries/Departments that defy this trend and have a large number of employees in Group A. Department of Space has 57% Group A employees and same is the case with Department of Electronics & IT.

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Reservation in promotion – Minister replied in Rajya Sabha

Reservation in promotion – Minister replied in Rajya Sabha

The DoPT Minister replied in Parliament, while answering a question about the stand of Central Government on reservation in promotion cases involving Central Government employees as follows…

“The reservation in promotion is provided to Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) at the rate of 15% and 7.5% respectively in posts and services under the Central Government. As on 1.1.2013, the representation of SCs and STs was 17.55% and 7.72% respectively.

The Hon’ble Supreme Court, on 19.10.2006, in the matter of M. Nagaraj & Ors. V/s Union of India, while upholding the validity of the Constitutional Amendments made in favour of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, inter-alia, observed that the State will have to collect quantifiable data of backwardness, inadequacy of representation before providing reservation in promotion.

In order to provide impediment free reservation in promotion to SCs and STs, the Constitutional (One Hundred and Seventeenth Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha by the Government in September, 2012. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 17.12.2012 and transmitted to the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing. The Bill could not be considered in the 15th Lok Sabha and lapsed on the dissolution of 15th Lok Sabha. The issues emanating from the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s judgment dated 19.10.2006 in M.Nagaraj case is under examination.”

Authority: Rajya Sabha Q&A

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Abolishment of the practice of interview for Group B and C posts

Abolishment of the practice of interview for Group B and C posts

The Central Government has decided to dispense with the interview for all Group ‘C’ and non-gazetted Group ‘B’ category in Central Government by 31.12.2015. If a Department considers interview absolutely necessary for any specific posts, then clearance of Department of Personnel & Training is necessary.

Further, the State Governments have also been requested on 4th September 2015 and 29th September, 2015 to undertake similar exercise in respective States in consultation with State Public Service Commissions or other agencies involved in the recruitment for junior level posts. This issue was also deliberated during a meeting held on 8th September, 2015 and in a one day workshop organized on 16th November, 2015 in which the State Secretaries of Personnel/General Administration Department were invited.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Anil Desai in the Rajya Sabha today.

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Instruction regarding simplified procedure for claiming Children Education Allowance: Revised Procedure: JCOS/ OR – PCDA(CC) Instruction

Instruction regarding simplified procedure for claiming Children Education Allowance: Revised Procedure: JCOS/ OR – PCDA(CC) Instruction

Office of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Central Command)
Cariappa Road, Cantt., Lucknow, Pin Code – 226002

No.ORs Cell/07/PAO Cir

Dated: 07/12/2015

To,
The Officer – Incharge
All LAOs/ RAOs

Sub: Instruction regarding simplified procedure for claiming Children Education Allowance: Revised Procedure: JCOS/ OR (the involvement of LAOS in the Revised audit procedure for CEA claims).

Ref: This office letter No. even dated 10.06.15 (copy enclosed).

Please take the reference of above mentioned letter which has been forwarded to your office alongwith HQrs office letter No.AT/16/Appex-J/Revised 2011/VI dated 27.05.2015 (copy enclosed), stating that after implementation of HRMS 2.0, audit procedure of payment of CEA will undergo substantial change. These instructions, inter-aha, stipulate involvement of LAOS in carring out audit of CEA claims.

2. The HRMS 2.0 has since been implemented in PAO (OR) AMC and PAO(OR) 11 GRRC, Lucknow w.e.f. November 2015. It is, therefore, requested that JCOs ORS of the units whose Pay & allowances are maintained by PAO(AMC), PAO 11 GRRC and also fall under your audit jurisdiction, the CEA claims of JCOs/ OR of the those units will be post audited by your office.

3. Further, a meeting on monthly pay system for Pay and Allowances of JCOs/ OR and Dolphin security was held on 26th October, 2015 at HQrs office. It has been decided during the conference that LAOS should also be involved, may be once in a month, to find out the ground reality and to take up the matter with Unit authority to reduce percentage of DOS-II rejection.

4. It is, therefore, directed by the Competent Authority that LAOS will provide the list of units under their jurisdiction in r/o each of the six PAOS to the respective PAO I / Cs. PAOS will provide a list of rejected DOS II along with reasons of these units to LAOS to take up the matter with Unit authority to check whether action on rejection of DOs II is being taken by unit authorities to reduce percentage of DOS-II rejection. In case of NCC units, if the DOs II of ABF are being published at higher rate vis & vis the stipulated rates, LAOs may also test check the amount from original tickets kept in units.

It may please be noted for strict compliance. Compliance report may be communicated to this office.
Asst Controller(OR Cell)

Authority: http://pcdacc.gov.in/

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Key changes to Mandatory Quoting of Pan Rules of the Income tax Act

Key changes to Mandatory Quoting of Pan Rules of the Income tax Act

Rules regarding quoting of PAN for specified transactions amended

The Government is committed to curbing the circulation of black money and widening of tax base. To collect information of certain types of transactions from third parties in a non-intrusive manner, the Income-tax Rules require quoting of Permanent Account Number (PAN) where the transactions exceed a specified limit. Persons who do not hold PAN are required to fill a form and furnish any one of the specified documents to establish their identity.

One of the recommendations of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Black Money was that quoting of PAN should be made mandatory for all sales and purchases of goods and services where the payment exceeds Rs.1 lakh. Accepting this recommendation, the Finance Minister made an announcement to this effect in his Budget Speech. The Government has since received numerous representations from various quarters regarding the burden of compliance this proposal would entail. Considering the representations, it has been decided that quoting of PAN will be required for transactions of an amount exceeding Rs.2 lakh regardless of the mode of payment.

To bring a balance between burden of compliance on legitimate transactions and the need to capture information relating to transactions of higher value, the Government has also enhanced the monetary limits of certain transactions which require quoting of PAN. The monetary limits have now been 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 hotel or restaurant bills paid at any one time, and to Rs. 1 lakh from Rs. 50,000 for purchase or sale of shares of an unlisted company. In keeping with the Government’s thrust on financial inclusion, opening of a no-frills bank account such as a Jan Dhan Account will not require PAN. Other than that, the requirement of PAN applies to opening of all bank accounts including in co-operative banks.

The changes to the Rules will take effect from 1st January, 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.
A chart highlighting the key changes to Rule 114B of the Income-tax Act is attached.

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7th CPC recommended to upgrade to Apex Scale

7th CPC recommended to upgrade to Apex Scale

National Academies : The Commission has received a number of demands from both the civilian and defence employees that the heads of National Academies should be upgraded to Apex Scale.

The Commission finds merit in upgrading only the heads of tri-services institutions of the defence forces. Accordingly, it is recommended that the heads of the following three triservices institutions should be upgraded to Apex Scale:

a. National Defence College (NDC), New Delhi
b. National Defence Academy (NDA), Khadakwasla, Pune
c. Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington

Only those officers should be posted as heads of these establishments who have minimum two years of service left before superannuation. No extension in service should be granted based on these recommendations.

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