LTC by Air to North East, Andaman and J&K extended for two more years

 "The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s O.M. No. 31011/3/2018- Estt.A-IV dated 20.09.2018 regarding relaxation to travel by air to visit North East Region, Jammu & Kashmir and Andaman & Nicobar and to say that in relaxation to CCS (LTC) Rules, 1988, the scheme allowing Government servants to travel by air to North East Region (NER), Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Union Territory of Ladakh and Union Territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands (A&N) is extended for a further period of two years, w.e.f. 26th September, 2020 till 25th September, 2022 as under:

(i) LTC for visiting NER, J&K, Ladakh and A&N in lieu of a Home Town LTC.
(ii) Facility of air journey to non-entitled Government servants for visiting NER, J&K, Ladakh and A&N.
(iii) Permission to undertake journey to J&K, Ladakh, NER and A&N by private airlines.

2. The above special dispensation is subject to the following terms & conditions:

(i) All eligible Government servants may avail LTC to visit any place in NER/ A&N/ J&K/ Ladakh against the conversion of their one Home Town LTC in a four year block
(ii) Government servants, whose Home Town and Headquarters/ place of posting is the same, are not allowed the conversion.
(iii) Fresh Recruits are allowed conversion of one of the three Home Town LTCs in a block of four years, applicable to them to visit NER/ A&N/ J&K/ Ladakh. They are also allowed one additional conversion of Home Town LTC to visit UT of J&K/ UT of Ladakh in a block of four years.
(iv) Government servants entitled to travel by air may avail this concession from their Headquarters in their entitled class of air by any airlines subject to the maximum fare limit of LTC-80.
(v) Government servants not entitled to travel by air are allowed to travel by air in Economy class by any airlines subject to the maximum fare limit of LTC-80 in the following sectors.

(a) Between Kolkata/Guwahati and any place in NER.
(b) Between Kolkata/ChennaiNisakhapatnam and Port Blair.
(c) Between Delhi/Amritsar and any place in J&K/Ladakh.

Journey for these non-entitled employees from their Headquarters up to Kolkata/ Guwahati/ Chennai/ Visakhapatnam/ Delhi/ Amritsar shall be undertaken as per their entitlement.
(vi) Air travel by Government employees to NER, J&K, Ladakh and A&N as mentioned in para (iv) and (v) above is allowed whether they avail the concession against Anywhere in India LTC or in lieu of the Home Town LTC, as permitted.
(vii) As regards the settlement of LTC cases where a non-entitled Government employee travels directly by air from his Headquarters to the destination in NER/ J&K/ Ladakh/ A&N, the clarification issued vide DoPT’s O.M. No. 31011/3/2018- Estt.A-IV dated 20.06.2019 may also be referred to.
(viii) Air tickets are to be purchased directly from the airlines (Booking counters, website of airlines) or by utilizing the service of Authorized Travel Agents viz. ‘M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company’, ‘M/s Ashok Travels & Tours’ and ‘IRCTC’ [to the extent IRCTC is authorized as per DoPT’s O.M. No. 31011/6/2002- Estt.(A) dated 02.12.2009] while undertaking LTC journey. Booking of tickets through other agencies is not permitted and no request for relaxation of rules for booking the tickets through such agencies shall be considered by this Department.

3. Efforts should be made by the Government servants to book air tickets at the cheapest fare possible. All the Ministries/ Departments are advised to bring it to the notice of all their employees that any misuse of LTC will be viewed seriously and the employees will be liable for appropriate action under the rules. In order to keep a check on any kind of misuse of LTC, Ministries/ Departments are advised to randomly get some of the air tickets submitted by the officials verified from the airlines concerned with regard to the actual cost of air travel vis-a-vis the cost indicated on the air tickets submitted by the officials.

4. In their application to the persons belonging to Indian Audit and Accounts Department, these orders are issued under Article 148(5) of the Constitution and after consultation with the Comptroller & Auditor General of India.

Order

(Courtesy : https://www.govtempdiary.com/) 

West Bengal launches portal for Online Mutual Transfer

The West Bengal government on Wednesday launched a portal through which teachers of state- run and state-aided schools will be able to apply for mutual transfer and the applicant will not require any 'no objection certificate' (NOC) from his/her current institute to make such an appeal.

Click here to log in 

Presently, a teacher needs an NOC from his/her school to apply for mutual transfer. This will simplify the procedure of mutual transfer, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said while launching the portal.

"A teacher won't have to approach the school where he/she is working for a No Objection Certificate while applying for a mutual transfer via this portal," Mr Chatterjee told reporters.

The applications will be processed in a centralised manner and this will help teachers of primary, secondary and higher secondary schools join in institutes in their home district or neighbouring district, he said.

Central offices to have at least 50% attendance

 In an office Memorandum dated 07th October 2020, DOPT issued instruction regarding attendance of Central Govt. employees.

Salient feature of this instructions are -

1. Under Secretary and above should attend office everyday as before.

2. For others, below the above rank, 50% attendance must be ensured. Head of Dept. may mandate more attendance if required in public interest.

3. The staff should follow staggered timings to avoid overcrowding as

 9 to 5.30 and 10 to 6.30.

4. Persons in the containment zone should be exempted to attend office.

5. Those who are not attending office should work from home and must be available on telephone or other electronic means of communication at all time.

6. Pregnant women and persons with disability shall continue to work from home.

Click here for the O.M.

No order to revoke suspension of D.A. : Centre clarifies

 A viral message claiming that the central government has withdrawn its earlier order to suspend dearness allowance hike is doing the rounds on social media. However, the Centre on Wednesday clarified that no new order has been passed with regards to the suspension of the DA hike.

The government’s Twitter handle, which goes by the name PIB fact check, called out the fake message saying that April’s order has not been withdrawn, though there are several claims around it.

“A headline has been morphed on a request letter written to the finance minister claiming that the Centre has taken back its order in DA cut. This headline is fake. The letter was written in May 2020. Centre has not taken any such decision," the PIB fact check handle tweeted.

XIth Bank Bipartite : Update on discussion dated 17.09.2020

 Cost of wage revision – for workmen : Rs. 3385 cr (Out of the total of Rs. 7898 crores).

Amount allocated for Basic Pay, DA, Spl. Pay, PQP : Rs. 495 crores

For other payslip components : Rs. 2890 crores

Pay Scales: Proposals on revised Pay Scales were discussed and looking to overall cost, it was decided to finetune the same and finalise the payscales. It was agreed that one more stagnation increment would be granted both to clerical and substaff.

DA: 0.07% per slab of 4 points over 6352 points of CPI

Special Pay, PQP, FPP – being revised on the same basis as revision in Basic Pay.

Special Allowance: From our side, we suggested that the existing rate of Special Allowance should be revised substantially upward but within the cost and it was decided to take a final decision in this regard in the next meeting since the same has to be synchronised with officers.

Revision in HRA, Transport Allowance and Medical Aid: After finalising the percentage of Special Allowance , these items would be finalised.

Non financial items: Most of the items as already discussed during the earlier meetings were reiterated and confirmed. Few remaining items will be finalised shortly