Orders of Hon'ble CAT, Ernakulam Bench in OA No.381/2010

 The judgment in our Grade Pay case OA No.381/2010 has been published and is available on the CAT website with the following link    

      http://judis.nic.in/judis_cat/CaseNo_Cat_Result.aspx

  

  In the judgement, the Hon'ble CAT has categorically stated in the second last  para  No.33 that 

    ".....the case has been considered and the Tribunal is of the considered view that there is no justification in denying the Inspector (Posts) the higher Grade Pay of Rs 4600 when the same is admissible to Inspectors of other Departments with whom parity has been established by the very Sixth Pay Commission vide its report at para 7.6.14 extracted above........"

Extract of some paras of the judgement are reproduced below:

Para 26.    From the perusal of the Recommendations of the Pay Commissions it could be easily discerned that the Pay Commissions have suggested certain measures relating to introduction of element of direct recruitment which was conspicuously absent earlier and without which comparison with the Inspectors in other Departments/Ministries could not be made. Once direct recruitment has been introduced, it was to the full satisfaction of the Pay Commission, which had in fact commented, "The Commission is recommending the merger of pre-revised pay scales of Rs 5500 - 9000 and Rs 6500 - 10500 which will automatically bring Inspector (Posts) on par with Assistants in CSS/Inspectors and analogous Posts in CBDT and CBEC."

The import of this observation of the Pay Commission is that the Pay Commission was very much interested to ensure pay parity of Inspector (Post) with Assistants of CSS and Inspectors and analogous posts in CBDT and CBEC. This recommendation of the Pay Commission is in tune with the observations of the Apex Court in the case of State of West Bengal v. West Bengal Minimum Wages Inspectors Association, (2010) 5 SCC 225 wherein it has been stated as under:-

"23. It is now well settled that parity cannot be claimed merely on the basis that earlier the subject post and the reference category posts were carrying the same scale of pay. In fact, one of the functions of the Pay Commission is to identify the posts which deserve a higher scale of pay than what was earlier being enjoyed with reference to their duties and responsibilities, and extend such higher scale to those categories of posts."

GRAMIN DAK SEVAKS (GDS) DA ORDERS ISSUED

No.14-01/2011-PAP

Government of India

Ministry of Communications & IT

(Establishment Division)

Dak Bhawan, New Delhi-110001

Dated 18^th October, 2011

To

           

            All Chief Postmaster General

            All GMs (PAF) Director of Accounts (Postal)

Subject: Payment of Dearness Allowance to Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) at revised                  rates w.e.f. 01.07.2011 onwards-reg.

            Consequent upon grant of another installment of Dearness allowance , with effect from 1^st July, 2011 to the Central Government Employees vide Government of India , Ministry of Finance , Department of Expenditure, OM No. 1(14)/2011-E-II(B) dated 3^rd October,2011, the Gramin Dak Sevaks(GSD) have also become entitled to the payment of dearness allowance on basic TRCA at the revised rate with effect from 01.07.2011. It has, therefore, been decided that the dearness allowance payable to the Gramin Dak Sevaks shall be enhances from the existing rate 51% to 58% on the basic Time Related Continuity Allowance with effect from the 1^st July, 2011.

2.         The additional installment of dearness allowance payable under this order, shall be paid in cash to all Gramin Dak Sevaks. The payment of arrears of dearness allowance for the months of July to September, 2011, shall not be made before the date of disbursement of TRCA for the month of September, 2011.

3.         The expenditure on this account shall be debited to the Head" Salaries" the relevant head of account and should be met from the sanctioned grant.

4.         This issues with the concurrence of Integrated Wing vide their Dairy No. 123/FA/II/CS dated 18^th October, 2011.

Sd/-

(Kalpana Rajsinghot)

Director  (Estt.)

Tele o11-23096036

Amendments to Indian Post Office Act soon

Paving way for over 1.5 lakh post offices to offer banking and insurance services, especially in the hinterland, the government will soon make amendments to 'The Indian Post Office Act, 1898'

"The draft amendment bill to make necessary changes in 'The Indian Post Office Act, 1898' has been circulated by the Department of Post for enabling post offices to enter banking and insurance sector," a source privy to the development said.

He further said, "The Planning Commission is vetting the proposal to convert post offices across the nation into full fledged banks and provide insurance service."

Besides mail service, post offices in the country have broadly confined their business to offer financial services like savings bank, postal life insurance, pension payments and money transfer services.

The Department of Posts (DoP), which has the largest reach in the country, has diversified in recent times with providing facilities like rail reservation and telephone recharge coupons, but this move will substantially improve its basket of services.

The government, according to the source, wants to completely give a new dimension to the way post offices do business in the country and this Bill is a step towards that goal.

With this initiative, the Department of Post (DoP) wants to tap the vast rural market with modern banking facilities through post offices.

"We want to commercialise the department. We will seek a licence from the RBI to convert all our post offices into banks," Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal had recently said.

The lack of modern banking facilities in rural areas and dependence of villagers on informal sector for their credit requirements have prompted the government to work on financial inclusion by way of setting up 'postal banks'.

"The State Bank of India can't build branches all over India, but there are post offices across India. The branches are already there, so infrastructure expenditure is not required. So you can actually give banking facilities at relatively lower costs, which would be extremely beneficial to people," he had said.

This will also pave the way for the DoP to offer ATM services and debit cards to its customers.

LAUNCH OF INTERNATIONAL MONEY TRANSFER SERVICE IN POST OFFICES IN ASSOCIATION WITH MONEYGRAM

The Department of Posts has entered into an International Cooperation Agreement with MoneyGram Payment Systems, Inc., USA to offer to the general public the MoneyGram International Money Transfer Service through selected Post Offices in India. This service has been launched on 29^th September 2011 by Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development, Communications & IT in the presence of Shri Sachin Pilot, Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications & IT.

Salient features of this IMTS are furnished below:-

1.  The MoneyGram International Money Transfer Service is a fast, simple and convenient method to transfer money from one place to another.

2.  In India, a person can only receive money from abroad through this service.

3.  This service operates as per the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India.

4. Only personal remittances such as remittances towards family maintenance and emittances favouring foreign tourists visiting India are permissible under this service.

5. Trade related remittances, remittances towards purchase of property, investments or credit to NRE Accounts, etc. or donations/contributions to charitable organizations are not (NOT) permitted to be routed through this service.

SB ORDER NO. 21/2011 - Attestation of Annexure-II and Annexure-III in case of deceased claim case preferred where there is no nomination- a clarification regarding.

Attestation of Annexure-II (Affidavit) and Annexure-III (Disclaimer on Affidavit) in case of deceased claim case preferred where there is no nomination- a clarification regarding.

SB ORDER NO. 21/2011

No. F.No.113-07/2008-SB

Government of India

Ministry of Communications & IT

Department of Posts

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi-110001, Dated: 12.10.2011

To

All Heads of Circles/Regions

Addl. Director General, APS, New Delhi.

Subject:- Attestation of Annexure-II (Affidavit) and Annexure-III (Disclaimer on Affidavit) in case of deceased claim case preferred where there is no nomination- a clarification regarding.

Sir / Madam,

The undersigned is directed to say that after issue of new procedure for payment of amount of Savings Bank/Certificates in the name of deceased depositor/holders circulated vide SB Order No.25/2010 dated 24.12.2010, this office was receiving many references from the field units regarding attestation of Annexure-II and III by the Notary Public. The matter was referred to Min..of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs for clarification.

2.             Min. of Finance (DEA) has now clarified that the matter was referred to Min. of Law and Justice who opined that Annexure-II and III may be attested either by Oath Commissioner or by Notary Public. Therefore, it is requested that necessary amendment may be made in these forms accordingly. Amendment to the forms notified by Min. of Finance in respect of PPF and Sr. Citizen Savings Scheme will be made by the ministry shortly.

3.             It is requested that this clarification may be circulated to all all field units and all deceased claim cases kept pending for this reason should be settled urgently.

4.             This issues with the approval of DDG(FS).

Yours faithfully,

(Kawal Jit Singh)

Assistant Director (SB)