Bank D.A. to increase 32 slabs, Central D.A. @10%

Ministry of Labour and Employment,Govt.of India has released the All India Consumer Price Index (Industrial Workers)Base 2001=100 For the month of June’13 today which stood at 231 points with an Increase of 3 points compared to last month figure.

Thus the confirmed All India Average Consumer Price Index(IW)for Base

1960=100  for the quarter ended June’13 are as follows:

                       Base(2001=10                        (1960=100)

APRIL                226                                        5158.65

MAY                  228                                        5204.31

JUNE                  231                                        5278.78

Average Index  -5211

As such DA payable to Bank Officers/Workmen for next quarter   August ’13 to October 2013 would be  for 593 slabs with an increase of 32 slabs @  88.95   %(from existing level of  84.15%)

Dearness Allowance for Central Government employees to increase @ 10% with effect from 1st July 2013 and it will be 90% of pay.

(We are grateful to Mr Mohan P and Mr Debashis Das for sharing the information with us)

Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) June 2013

According to a press release issued today by the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour & Employment the All-India CPI-IW for June, 2013 rose by 3 points and pegged at 231 (two hundred and thirty one). On 1-month percentage change, it increased by 1.32 per cent between May and June compared with 0.97 per cent between the same two months a year ago. 

Bank and Central D.A. will be exactly known today

The labour bureau will release the AICPIN No. for June 2013 today and consequently the exact increase of Dearness Allowance for Central Govt. employees (also for the state employees, as sooner or later, most of the states follow the central pattern) with effect from 1st July 2013. With the index no. of June 2013, the exact slab increase of bank employees for the next three months, Aug, Sep, Oct 2013 can also be calculated.
As of now, we can speculate Central D.A. hike @ 10% and Bank D.A. as 30 to 32 slabs.

West Bengal increases bonus, salary advance, exgratia

The Bengal government yesterday raised its employees’ Puja bonus by Rs 100 and salary advance by Rs 500, prompting a buzz at Writers’ that the move was a “gift” from Mamata Banerjee after her party’s panchayat election success.

Finance minister Amit Mitra, who announced the decision, added that the ex-gratia for retired state employees would be raised from Rs 900 to Rs 1,000.

"Telengana" - the 29th state of India from 2014 ?

Update at 8 P.M. : 

• UPA favours creation of Telangana
• The creation of a separate state of Telangana today received the stamp of approval of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) which unanimously endorsed the move.
  "The UPA unanimously decided in favour of Telangana," RLD leader and Union minister Ajit Singh told reporters after a meeting of the constituents of the ruling coalition at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Salient features of CBEC cadre review

The cadre review proposal of CBEC is currently being considered by the committee of secretaries. forr their approval, it is likely to be approved by a group of ministers and finally to be approved by the cabinet. A few days ago F.M assured about early discussion in the cabinet.
Meanwhile let's have a look at the salient features of the cadre review proposal :

Paramilitary forces in naxalite area likely to get enhanced allowance

New Delhi, Jul 26 (PTI) Paramilitary personnel fighting Maoists may soon get enhanced allowances on a par with those serving in Jammu and Kashmir and northeastern region.

The Home Ministry has submitted a proposal to the Finance Ministry in this regard and if it is cleared, more than 80,000 paramilitary personnel fighting the Maoists menace in nine states will be financially benefited.

Tamilnadu issued order for implementation of Pay Grievance Redressal Cell

Grade Pays increased in different pay band
Based on the recommendation of Pay Grievance Redressal cell, Tamilnadu Govt. issued order for enhancement of Grade Pay in different pay band for a large section of Govt. employees.
The revision of scale of pay will be notionally fixed on 01.01.2006 and monetary benefit will accrue with effect from 01.04.2013

Tamilnadu withdraws controversial guideline on pay revision of PSUs.

Protest and agitation from union leaders compelled Tamilnadu Govt. to withdraw it's earlier order G.O. (MS) No. 224 Finance (BPD) Dept. dated 02.07.2013 regarding wage settlement of Public Sector Undertakings / Statutory bodies.

View G.O Ms No. 234 Dtd 13.07.13 (Withdrawal of earlier order)

Army rank pay case now referred to law ministry

The army rank pay case which was sent to A.G. for considering legal points for implementation of Supreme Court  judgement, is now learnt to have been referred to ministry of law for their opinion.
Read details in India Today

I.T. Return - Income below 5 lac : No exemption this year

Every salaried person with income above the taxable limit will have to file his/her return of income. Filing of return is mandatory this year even if total income is below Rs 5 Lac. Earlier there was a confusion whether an assessee will get the exemption of filing return if his income from salary is below 5 Lac. But CBDT cleared the air and stated that

Retirement age, pay scale fixed by UGC not binding on state university: SC

 The Supreme Court has held that retirement age and pay scale fixed by University Grants Commission(UGC) for professors are not binding for universities run by the states. 

A bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir(since retired) held that there would be no automatic application of UGC recommendations for state universities and it is for a state government to take a decision. 

Punjab considering retirement age hike

The Punjab government is considering raising the retirement age of its employees to 60. The proposal is likely to go up before the cabinet on July 23.

The salary, wages and pension bills are eating up a bulk of the state's revenue receipts. The primary motive behind suggesting increasing the superannuation age is containing the fast deteriorating fiscal health, even if temporarily. By the decision, the cash-strapped government hopes to save about Rs. 1,000 crore a year.

Promotee I.T. officers not satisfied with cadre review

"ITGOA", the promotee Income Tax Officers Association is not at all convinced with the recently sanctioned cadre review and restructure of the department. As per their understanding, it will neither improve the taxpayer service, nor the revenue collection as promotion of officers will be stuck.
The association consists of about 9000 promotee officers reasoned that as half of the newly created posts of ACIT will be filled in a phased manner which is time consuming, the posts will remain vaccant for three to five years and thus will jeopardize the motive . The body suggested to fill all these posts in one go and by way of promotion from the existing ITOs as done in the previous restructuring in 2001.
The department has got 20751 additional posts with an aim to collect another 25000 crores in a year with better taxpayer service and cover allmost all districts of the country with at least one office in each.
Click here to view ITGOA Press Statement

Tamilnadu union leaders object Govt. order on pay revision of PSU/Stat. bodies

A Government Order passed on July 2 against frequent revisions of pay and allowances of employees of State public sector undertakings (PSUs), on the basis of wage settlements entered into by them and employees under the Industrial Disputes (ID) Act - 1947, has created a furore with trade union leaders demanding immediate withdrawal of the G.O.

Click here to view the G.O. Ms No. 224 Dated 02.07.2013

F.M. assures CBEC cadre review to be taken in cabinet soon

“The government is taking steps to address manpower issues with a proposal for cadre restructuring of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) to be taken up in the Cabinet soon. The government has to fill almost 700 vacancies above the assistant commissioner level in CBEC” The Finance Minister P Chidambaram said at a press briefing after meeting the chief commissioners and directors general of customs, central excise and service tax.

CBEC to target 12 lakh non-filers of service tax: FM

In a stern message to indirect tax evaders, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the Revenue Department will target 12 lakh service tax assessees who have stopped filing returns.

"We are targeting 12 lakh non-filers and stop-filers of service tax," he told reporters after inaugurating the 28th conference of chief commissioners and director generals of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

Latest Finance Ministry guideline on Air Travel for tour/LTC

Ministry of Finance recently issued fresh guideline regarding air travel on official tour and LTC. In the earlier order two travel agents were authorized for purchase of tickets through them. In this fresh guideline, IRCTC is also included in the list.
View the O.M. dated 9th July issued by Finmin.

BSNL issues IDA increase order with effect from 01.07.13

In line with the IDA increase order of Dept. of Public Enterprises, BSNL Corporate Office also issued IDA hike order with effect from 01.07.13.
With this hike, revised IDA stands at 78.9% from 1st July 2013
Click here for order

Majithia wage board : Hearing posted on 6th August

The Supreme Court on Tuesday posted for final hearing on August 6 a batch of petitions newspaper managements had filed to challenge the Justice Majithia Wage Board’s recommendations for journalists and non-journalists. A new Bench of Justices C.K. Prasad and Ranjana Desai took the decision after senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), submitted that it would require at least five weeks for completion of the hearing.

Tripura announces 5% D.A. hike

Agartala, July 9 (PTI) Left Front government today announced five per cent increase in the dearness allowance (DA) for its employees and pensioners in Tripura, a minister said.

The decision to hike the DA was taken today in the meeting of the council of ministers, Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury told reporters.

"We would be happy if we could have paid DA in Centre's rate," Chowdhury said.

BSNL issues order for 78.2% IDA merger with fixation table

BSNL issued order for allowing the benefit of merger of 50% D.A. effectively amounting to 78.2% as on 01.01.2007 earlier on 10.06.2013.
Accordingly it has published table for fixation today.
Click here for revised table for fixation of pay
(Order courtesy : BSNL Employees' Union) 

PSU IDA from July 2013 : Order released

As calculated in this blog earlier, Dept. of Public Enterprises has issued order revising IDA for it's employees with effect from 01.07.2013.
Click here to view the order.
BSNL and other PSU will issue matching order accordingly.

Kerala High Court stays Kendriya Vidyalaya fee hike

The Kerala High Court on Monday stayed the decision of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) enhancing fees in the Kendriya Vidyalayas from the next academic year.

Justice P R Ramachandra Menon issued the interim order on a petition filed by Kendriya Vidyalaya Parents Association secretary George Felix Antony challenging the decision.

View more in The Indian Express

Central employees threat strike for 7th CPC and merger of D.A.

All India Railwaymen Federation, Confederation of Central Government Employees’ Association and All India Defence Employees Association have threatened to go on strike if the Centre fails to meet their charter of demands, including constitution of the Seventh Pay Commission.

Addressing a meeting of Southern Railway Mazdoor Union members here, its zonal president C.A.Raja Sridhar said the three trade bodies will wait till August for a positive response from the Centre, and will go on a nation-wide strike if they did not get any.

Around 25 lakh employees will join the agitation, he noted. Among the demands are merger of dearness allowance with basic pay, regularisation of services of gramin dak sevaks, rolling back of new pension scheme, scrapping of ceiling on bonus and appointment on compassionate ground.

Read More in The Hindu.

SC refuses to change the dates of West Bengal Panchayat polls

In a setback for the West Bengal Government, the Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the Panchayat elections dates in the state. The elections are scheduled to be held in five phases from July 11 in the state.

An NGO had moved the Supreme Court seeking a change in West Bengal panchayat poll dates arguing that elections will take place within the month of Ramzan. Members of the Muslim community on Monday took a procession in Kolkata demanding that panchayat election dates be rescheduled so that they do not coincide with the fasting month of Ramzan.

Source : IBNlive

Rajasthan issued orders related to pay anomalies

Based on the Govt. decisions of PSF committee recommendations of pay anomalies for Rajasthan employees, Govt. issued order for implementation.
Click here to view the orders in Rajasthan Govt. Finance Website

CBEC cadre review submitted to Committee of secretaries

As per information available from HRD, CBEC, cadre review proposal has been submitted to Committee of Secretaries after obtaining necessary approvals from DOPT, Dept. of expenditure and Finance Minister.
After approval from the secretaries it is likely to go to Group of Ministers and finally to Cabinet for approval.