India Post Payments Bank

India Post Payments Bank, which is in a hurry to appoint a head, could get its first chief executive officer from the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI). The bank’s board comprising the CEO, chairperson, besides government nominees and five independent directors is expected to be in place by September. India Post had written to top five government banks including SBI, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda among others in identifying the chief. Sources said that SBI chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya has already responded and proposed a name. However, at a later stage, the payments bank is likely to have a search and select committee in place for the appointment of a CEO. “We are in a hurry to put everything in place as soon as possible, we sought suggestions from the top public sector banks to help us in finding a CEO,” SnK Sinha, secretary, department of post, told HT. The government set aside an initial corpus of ₹ 800 crore for the bank. While the bank will roll out 650 bank branches by September 2017, it will also use the 154,000 existing post offices to sell a host of its products and the new bank could hire about 2,000 people. Source : Hindustan Times

Irregularities and misuse in availing Leave Travel Concession Guidelines to be followed Posted: 23 Jul 2016 06:36 AM PDT Irregularities and misuse in availing Leave Travel Concession Guidelines to be followed No.31011/3/2013-Estt.(A.IV) Government of India Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Department Of Personnel and Training Establishment A-IV Desk North Block, New Delhi – 110 001 Dated July 12, 2016 OFFICE MEMORANDUM Subject: Irregularities and misuse in availing Leave Travel Concession Guidelines to be followed. The undersigned is directed to enclose a copy of draft O.M.on the subject noted above for comments within 15 days to the undersigned (email address:jha.sn@nic.in) (Surya Narayan Jha) Under secretary to the Government of India No.31011/3/2013-Estt(A.IV) Government of India Ministry Of personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Department of Personnel and Training Establishment A-IV Desk North Block, New Delhi – 110 001 Dated: , 2016 OFFICE MEMORANDUM Subject: Irregularities and misuse in availing Leave Travel Concession – Guidelines to be followed. The undersigned is directed to say that some instances where some Government servants colluded with private travel agents to submit LTC claims showing inflated airfare to clandestinely obtain undue benefits like free boarding/lodging/transport of cash refunds have come to notice of the Government. 2. In order to curb these malpractices the following steps may be taken: (i) As per instructions reiterated from time to time, in all cases whenever a Govt. Servant claims LTC by air, he/she is required to book the air tickets either directly through 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’. Proposals from different Ministries/Departments for relaxation continue to be received on the plea that the Government servant was not aware of this requirement. Vide the OM dated No.31011/3/2015-Estt (A.IV) dated 18th February, 2016 detailed guidelines on submission and processing of claims were circulated These guidelines are required to be made available to Government servants whenever they apply for LTC. Plea of ignorance of the instructions therefore cannot be used by such Government Servants. The nodal Ministries of M/s Balmer Lawrie & Co. (Ministry of petroleum and Natural Gas), M/s Ashok Travels & Tours (Ministry of Tourism) and IRCTC (Ministry of Railways) shall issue instructions to these organisations to ensure compliance to the instructions issues vide O.M.dated 18th February, 2016 on issue of air tickets. Any violation of these instructions shall invite blacklisting. (ii) Vide the Department of Expenditure’s O.M.No.19024/1/2009-E.IV dated 04.03.2011, it was clarified that reimbursement of air fare lower than LTC-80 fare of Air India is admissible for the journey(s) performed by Air India under LTC-80. LTC-80 fare is to be used as the ceiling beyond which no claim will be entertained. It has now been decided that in accordance with the canons of financial propriety, Government servants should purchase tickets at the lowest rate available at the time of booking for the date and time of scheduled journey. Government servant will be required to submit the print out of the tickets showing date and time of booking in addition to the fare charged. It may, however, be kept in mind that in some cases of cancellation/rescheduling, a refund fee may be applicable. This will be borne by the employee unless the journey had to be rescheduled/cancelled due to exigencies of work. The Authority which has approved the LTC will have the powers to cancel or reschedule it. (iii) While submitting the LTC claim after completion of the LTC journey, the Govt. Servant will be required to submit a self-certificate on plain paper as follows: (1) I certify that the airfare claimed by me is in respect of the fare charged by the Airline for the air journey only and does not include any charges for any facility/undue benefit including boarding/lodging/local transport. (2) I also certify that I have booked the ticket at the lowest fare available for the destination at the time of booking for the scheduled date and time of departure. I am aware that suppression of any information or furnishing wrong information will render me liable to disciplinary action. 3. The Administrative Ministries/Department may also from time to time do random checks from airlines whether the tickets were booked at the lowest fare available on that date. Attention of the Ministries/Departments is also invited to Rule 3(1)(i) of the Central Civil services (conduct) Rules, 1964 which requires the Government servants to maintain absolute integrity at all times. In addition, cheating/fraud also attract various sections of the India Penal code 1860. Ministries/Departments should therefore not hesitate to take severe action against employees guilty of deliberate malpractices, particularly in collusion with travel agents etc. 4. All the Ministries/Departments of Government of India are requested to bring the contents of this O.M. to the notice of all concerned. (Surya Narayan Jha) Under secretary to the Government of India

Gazette Notification for implementation of 7th CPC Posted: 23 Jul 2016 06:33 AM PDT Gazette Notification for implementation of 7th CPC Comrades, There are lot of discussions about the date of Gazette Notification for implementation of 7th CPC & Office Memorandum, It usually takes about 15 to 20 days after cabinet approval of the pay commission report .Let us examine the 6th CPC dates. The union cabinet gave its approval for implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission on 14th August 2008. Gazette Notification for implementation of 6th CPC was issued on 29th August 2008 & Office Memorandum was issued on 30th August 2008, after 16 days after cabinet approval. The 7th CPC : The union cabinet gave its approval for implementation of the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission on 29th June 2016. Hence the Gazette Notification for implementation of 7th CPC & Office Memorandum is likely issued in next week. Comradely yours (P.S.Prasad) General Secretary