AIBEA: Retirement Gratuity Ceiling hiked to Rs.20 lakh for bank employees and officers

AIBEA: Retirement Gratuity Ceiling hiked to Rs.20 lakh for bank employees and officers

Joint Ciruclar on Gratuity Ceiling

CIRCULAR TO ALL UNITS & MEMBERS

March, 2, 2017

Dear Comrades,
Improvements in Gratuity under Gratuity Act

Our units are aware that Gratuity is one of the important retirement benefits for the bank employees and officers. In all Banks ( except SBI ), Gratuity is paid as per formula under BPS/OSR or under the Gratuity Act whichever is higher. (In SBI, Gratuity is payable under the Act only).

While there is no ceiling for Gratuity under BPS/OSR, under the Act, there is a ceiling which is at present Rs. 10 lacs. (from 25-5-2010). When an employee or officer retires from the Bank, his/her Gratuity entitlement would be calculated both under the Act and under BPS/OSR and the higher of the two will be paid.

For example, a senior substaff/Daftary retiring after 40 years’ service would be eligible for ( approx.) Rs. 5 lacs under BPS and Rs. 8 lacs under the Act and hence would be paid Rs. 8 lacs as Gratuity.

A senior Clerk/Special Asst. would be eligible for Rs. 9.50 lacs under the BPS and Rs. 10 lacs under the Act and hence would be paid Rs. 10 lacs.

A senior General Manager of a Bank retiring after 40 years’ service would be eligible for Rs. 17 lacs under the OSR and Rs. 10 lacs under the Act and hence would be paid Rs. 17 lacs.

Due to continued inflationary trend and erosion in value of rupee, AITUC and all other Central Trade Unions have been demanding improvement/removal of ceiling under the Gratuity Act. Due to their effort, the ceiling was increased from Rs. 1 lac to Rs. 2.50 lacs, and then to Rs. 3.50 lacs and to Rs. 10 lacs in May, 2010. They have been demanding for removal of ceiling on Gratuity under the Act.

AITUC and Central Trade Unions have been pursuing this issue for the last more than 4 years through various programmes and struggles.

Thus AIBEA and AIBOA have been part and parcel of all these programmes and strikes on the 12 Points Charter of Demands of the Central Trade unions which includes the demand for improvement in Gratuity Act.
AITUC and Central Trade Unions have been following up these demands with the Government and as a result, recently on 23-2-2017, the Central Government called for a Tripartite meeting on the issue of revising the ceiling on Gratuity. From AITUC, its Secretary, Com D L Sachdev participated and put forth the following suggestions.

i) While there should be no ceiling for Gratuity, as an interim measure, Government’s proposal to increase in ceiling of Rs. 20 lacs can be accepted.
ii) The revised ceiling should be made effective from January, 2016.
iii) Minimum service of 5 years for eligibility for Gratuity to be removed.
iv) Gratuity to be paid at 30 days wage per year instead of 15 days wage as atpresent.
v) All factories/establishments to be covered by the Act irrespective of number of workers.

All these matters have to be finally cleared by the Labour Ministry and then by Finance Ministry and then to be brought to the Parliament for amendment to the Gratuity Act.

Units are aware that improvement in Gratuity Act has been one of the demands of our strike on 28-2-2017. We are in touch with the AITUC and will keep our units informed of any further development in this regard.
With greetings,

Yours comradely,
sd/-
S. NAGARAJAN
GENERAL SECRETARY
AIBOA

sd/-C.H. VENKATACHALAM
GENERAL SECRETARY
AIBEA

Source: AIBEA

Read More

7th Pay Commission: Central employees to get higher allowances from April 1, says FinMin

7th Pay Commission: Central employees to get higher allowances from April 1, says FinMin

New Delhi: Central government employees will get higher allowances according to the 7th Pay Commission recommendations from April 1, a senior finance ministry official said.

The employees will get their April salaries with higher allowances in accordance with the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, he told our reporter at the finance ministry on Monday.

Everything is decided. The Cabinet and the prime minister have to approve the Committee on Allowances report. The finance ministry has no reason to raise any question on the report of committee on allowances, he added.

He said the process to implement the higher allowances would be completed soon.

The central government approved the 7th Pay Commission scale for its employees in June, offering a highest basic pay of Rs 2.5 lakh and a minimum of Rs 18,000.

The new basic pay has been given in August 2016 with arrears, effective from January 1, 2016. The allowances, however, other than dearness allowance referred to the Committee on Allowances headed by the Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa in July 2016, for examination as the pay commission had recommended of abolishing 51 allowances and subsuming 37 others out of 196 allowances.

Accordingly, existing allowances are now paid to the employees according to the 6th Pay Commission recommendations until issuing of higher allowances notification.

The Committee on Allowances was initially given a time of four months to submit its report to the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

In October last year, Ashok Lavasa was quoted by some media outlets as saying he was ready with the report.

But the government gave extension to the committee up to February 22, 2017 on the pretext of demonetisation and the government said that the cash crunch was the reason behind the delay in announcing higher allowances.

The announcement of assembly elections in five states has given another excuse for the government as it cannot announce allowances hike till the model code of conduct is in place up to March 8.

The finance ministry official said the Committee on Allowances report states the current House Rent allowance (HRA) slab, which is 30 per cent of basic pay, for metros for employees. An announcement on the same is expected soon but no hike in Transport Allowance (TPTA) for central government employees in its report and the Transport Allowance will remain the same as 6th Pay Commission recommendations.
However, the pay panel had recommended that HRA be paid at the rate of 24 per cent, 16 per cent and 8 per cent of the new basic pay for Class X (metros), Y and Z cities, respectively.

TST

Read More

7th CPC Pay Matrix Anomaly: NFIR writes to Railway Board

7th CPC Pay Matrix Anomaly: NFIR writes to Railway Board

No.IV/NFIR/7 CPC (Imp)/2016/R.B./part I

Dated: 06/03/2017

The Secretary (E),
Railway Board,
New Delhi

Dear Sir,
Sub: Implementation of 7th CPC Pay Matrix - Pay fixation to staff - Anomaly resulting less pay to senior in comparison with junior - reg.

Ref: Notification issued by the Railway Ministry vide RBE No.90/2016 - Rule 10(2) therof.
NFIR desires to bring to the notice of the Railway Board, the anomalous situation arisen pursuant to sub-para (2) of Rule 10 of the Notification issued by the Railway Board vide RBE No.90/2016. A case on North Western Railway is cited below as example:-

• Mr.X and Y have been working as SSE in the Loco Workshop, Ajmer in GP 4600/- (Level 7). Mr. X is senior to Mr. Y.
• Both X & Y have been drawing pay equal to Rs.60,400/- on 1st July 2016. Both the employees are due for financial upgradation benefit under MACPS in the month of February 2017.
• Mr.X has been given financial upgradation under MACPS and his pay when fixed in Level 8 comes to Rs.62,200/-. His next increment is due on 1st January 2018 when his pay will raise to 64,100/-.
• Mr.Y has been denied financial upgradation due to 'Good ACR' for the year 2014. His pay on lst July 2017 will be Rs. 62,200/- in Level 7 which will be equal to Mr. Y's pay as on 1st July 2017.
• When Mr.Y becomes fit for financial upgradation under MACPS sometime between July and December 2017, then his pay will be 64,100/- in Level 8 which will be equal to the pay of Mr.X in January 2018. Subsequently, when Mr.Y will be given next increment in January 2019 ultimately Mr. X will lag behind by six months despite being senior.

The position mentioned above clearly reveals that senior has been put to loss by way of drop in emoluments. This needs to be remedied to do justice to senior employees.

NFIR, therefore, requests the Railway Board to examine the case in the light of above illustration and take necessary action for rendering justice to senior staff in whose case, the drop in emoluments has taken place. Federation may also be apprised of Board’s response early.

Yours faithfully,
sd/-
(Dr.M.Raghavaiah)
General Secretary

Source: NFIR

Read More

Merger of Dearness Allowance equal to 50% of basic pay w.e.f. 01/04/2004 - Reckoning as pay

Merger of Dearness Allowance equal to 50% of basic pay w.e.f. 01/04/2004 - Reckoning as pay for running staff

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
RAILWAY BOARD

No. EP&A)-II/2006/RS-28.

New Delhi, dated 22.11.2016.

The General Secretary,
National Federation of Indian Railwaymen,
3, Chelmsford Road,
New Delhi - 110 055.

Sub.:- Merger of Dearness Allowance equal to 50% of basic pay w.e.f. 01/04/2004 -Reckoning as pay for running staff.
Ref.: (i) DC/JCM Item No. 15/2009.GS/NFIR's letter No. IV/RSAC/Conl/Vol.VI dated 28/03/2016

Please refer to your letter dated 28.03.2016 under reference no. (ii) on the subject noted above. Iii this connection, it is mentioned that Board’s letter dated 21.10.2014 addressed to both the Federations highlighted that the basis for the exclusions was the Ministry of Finance's OM dated 01.03.2004 on the merger of 50% DA with Basic Pay that was adopted by the Ministry of Railways. Vide letter dt.
28.03.2016, however, NFIR. has not agreed with the reply and has reiterated that the exclusions violate the IREM provision of. Running Allowance and that the OM dt. 01.03.2004 of MoF is not relevant in this connection.

For a better understanding of the logic on which the three exclusions have been made the table given below may kindly be seen:-

Clause No.	Benefit of 30% pay element (mentioned in the clause)applicable to Running Staff	Relevant wording in MoF O.M. dated 01.03.2004 pertaining to the benefit	Remarks
a	Entitlement for pass/ PTO	LTC Specifically excluded from revision of entitlement on merger of 50% DA with Basic Pay	As Railways do not have LTC. Pass /PTO revision excluded accordingly vide RBE No.77/2008
d	Fixation in pay in Stationary Posts	Fixation of pay not included as an admisssble benefit for revision of entitlement on merger of 50% DA with Basic Pay	Counting of the benefit (of merger of DA with Basic) for Fixation of pay is an issue pertaining to all Government employees and not merely Running Staff of Railways. When this benefit has not been extended to any Government employee, it cannot be extended to Running Staff consolation. RBE No.77/2008 has been issued accordingly. As erest while Basic Pay element (without merger of 50% DA) however continued to be admissible for Fixation of pay of Running Staff in Stationary posts, there is no violation of relevant REM provision.
g	Entitlement of Quarters	Government accomadation specifically excluded from revision of entitlement on merger of 50% DA with Basic Pay	As Railway Quarters are Government accomadation, revision of entitlement has been excluded accordingly vide RBE No.77/2008

As brought out in the table above there has been no violation of the Rules.It is therefore requested that the item may be closed.
For Secretary Railway Board

Click here to View the Full Order

Read More

PFRDA: Let government staffs pension funds to invest 50% in equities

PFRDA: Let government staffs pension funds to invest 50% in equities

Hyderabad: The pensions fund regulator Pfrda wants government to more than treble investment levels in equity markets by government subscribers under the National Pension System (NPS) up to 50 per cent from 15 per cent now.

The regulator has sent a proposal to government seeking to allow government subscribers (state and Central government employees) invest up to 50 per cent in equities under the NPS, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority chairman Hemanth Contractor said here today.

The authority manages about Rs 1.70 trillion of funds belonging to 1.5 crore subscribers who come from government and non-government sectors. Of this 85 per cent are government subscribers which are managed by seven fund managers.

We have taken up very strongly with the government that government subscribers should be given the same choices as are available to the non-government subscribers who can invest up to 50 per cent in equity markets.

"So, what we are telling the government is that you give the same choices. Since government subscribers account for bulk of the fund this will mean a big change. Lot of money can start flowing in to equities," Contractor said.

The government is quite sympathetic to our view, he said, adding they had several rounds of discussions and he expects this to happen in the next couple of months.

"We are quite optimistic about this. It should happen," he added.

According to him, the non-government sector accounts for 15 per cent of the overall corpus.

Replying to a query, he said he has written to government seeking clarity on the regulation of some pension products offered by mutual funds and insurance companies as they are currently regulated by another regulator Irdai.

"Since we became a statutory body in 2013, we are the designated regulator of the pensions industry. So we’ve told government that all the other pension schemes floated by MFs, insurance companies should actually be regulated by us. The government is looking into our demand and has in fact set up a committee to look into the issues," Contractor said.

On the growth of the sector, he said the NPS recorded a growth of 35 per cent in the number of subscribers last year and a little over 40 per cent in the fund that it manages and this year also the growth would be on similar lines.

Contractor also said they have suggested to the government to raise the age-limit for subscribers of Atal Pension Yojana to 50 from 40 now and increase the pension slab from the present Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 a month.

Meanwhile, Karvy Compushare was appointed as the second central record-keeping agency (CRA) for serving subscribers of NPS by the Pfrda.

PTI

Read More

EPFO: Here are 4 points govt is working on the retirement scheme to make it more subscriber friendly

EPFO: Here are 4 points govt is working on the retirement scheme to make it more subscriber friendly

After last year's fiasco over taxing of provident fund, the government seems to be working overtime to make changes to the retirement scheme. The government has introduced a slew of measures to make the Employee provident Fund Organsiation or EPFO more subscriber-friendly, while it is reportedly proposing more steps.
Here are the steps the government has taken or has proposed to take and what they mean to you:
1) The EPFO recently simplified the norms for provident fund claims by coming out with a single one-page form for all types of claims. This means you won't need to fill forms like Form 19, Form 10C, and Form 31 anymore to make the claims. These forms were being accepted for PF Final Settlement, EPS Pension withdrawal and PF Partial withdrawal respectively in the past.

The new form called the new Composite Claim Form (CFF) are of two types called CCF (Aadhaar) and CCF (non aadhaar). Even the process has now been made simple where the form can be submitted to EPFO which bypasses the employer completely if you are Aadhaar complaint and the account is seeded with your bank details. Here you will need to fill the CCF (AAdhaar) form and for those who are not Aadhaar compliant, they will have to fill the CCF (non aadhaar), and include the employer in the process.
Even taking advances from your PF corpus has been made easy, as going forward you don't need to provide any kind of document as proof. The recent order by the government says, "submission aadhar compliant and non-Aadhar compliant form duly signed by the EPF subscriber shall be construed as 'self-certification for the above partial withdrawals for which no documents would be required to be submitted to the EPFO offices." In short, less amount of paper work for employees as well as faster resolution of claims will be set in place.
2) By May this year EPFO is planning to launch an online facility which will simplify the claim process, EPFO Central Provident Fund Commissioner VP Joy told recently. Under the proposed scheme, the claims are expected to be settled within 20 days of submitting the form. It usually take 4-5 months for the process to get done and money to credit into your bank account. The institution is working to make the entire process computerised.

3) In another move the government is considering decreasing the employers liability towards Employees Provident Fund (EPF) in the construction sector to 10 percent of the basic pay as against the current 12 percent, as reported by The Financial Express. Reducing the amount of employer’s contribution, will possibly nudge more building/construction units to extend the EPF benefits to workers. Last year, the Delhi High Court had passed an order stating that all construction workers need to be mandatorily enrolled under the EPF scheme. The Hindu Business Line had reported, "Builders had expressed concerns over "ambiguity" in the eligibility of workers, many of whom were employed on a casual or short-term basis." And enrollment of construction workers in PF was below expectations.

4) EPFO is expected to launch a special housing scheme this month, which will make life of crores of members easier if they have or plan to avail a home loan. This scheme will enable members to make down payments or pay EMIs from their EPF account to buy houses.

According to PTI, the subscribers as well as their employers would be required to form a group housing society which would further tie up with banks and builders or sellers of homes so that EPFO members can buy homes. The scheme is likely to be launched anytime after 8 March.

Explainer: The granular details are yet to be out, only time will tell if this scheme is good.

Do keep tracking this space as we bring you more information when the scheme is launched.

Read More

Biometric attendance for 100,000 locopilots and 30,000 guards in trains

Biometric attendance for 100,000 locopilots and 30,000 guards in trains

NEW DELHI: To efficiently manage crew, Indian Railways is planning to start biometric sign on and sign off for 100,000 locopilots and 30,000 guards which will also lead to effective train operations.

The railways business plan for 2017-18 says that Indian Railways would be migrating in a big way towards biometric attendance of crew which will be far more accurate and will greatly enhance crew availability.
“Efficient management of crew is fundamental to effective train operations as it is a vital and costly input. Crew management on Indian railways has already been computerized through crew management systems rolled out over Indian Railways- with sign-on and sign-off being recorded on the system,” says the plan.
At present 15 percent of the crew is covered under biometric sign on signoff and it is targeted to increase coverage of crew under biometric sign on sign off to over 50 percent during 2017-18.

According to railway ministry, this will ensure that locopilots attend to compulsory 10 hours of duty hours as there have been complaints of data being tempered with. Earlier, the attendance was marked on a duty register maintained at platforms.

Under the biometric attendance, crew will now have to punch at station before joining of duty and sign off at end of duty and the database will be centrally integrated so that they can mark the presence across any station in the country.

Biometric attendance has been started in all central government offices so that employees don’t skip office or leave before stipulated time.

Read More