Friday, September 26, 2008

Goa govt to appoint financial consultant for 6th pay commission.

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Goa government has decided to appoint a financial consultant who will tell the state how to mop up funds for implementing the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations. T

he state will have to bear a liability of Rs 700 crore initially and an additional Rs 300 crore annually once it implements the pay commission recommended wages for its employees from this November onwards.

Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat had yesterday announced that the state would implement the Sixth Pay Commission.

"The financial consultant will guide us on how to implement some savings or enhance the tax further so that the revenue can be generated," Goa Chief Secretary J P Singh said. "We will curtail the expenditure by identifying some schemes where we can cut down. We will also create sinking fund...The financial consultant will help us to manage our finances better," Singh said.

He added that the savings would attain more importance. Earlier briefing about the cabinet decisions, Kamat on Thursday told reporters that that state will work out modalities to share liability with the centre.

Source The Economic Times
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GOA: Revised salary from Nov, but Uncertainty over arrears.

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The Goa Cabinet today took the much-awaited decision to implement the 6th Pay Commission recommendations.The actual payment through monthly salary under the revised pay scales will commence from November 2008.

Addressing a press conference in the city, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat said, “the Government in principle decided to implement the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission from November 2008”.

The revised pay scales will be implemented in respect of all the Government employees and those serving in aided-institutions (teaching and non-teaching staff) with effect from January 1, 2006.

Replying to queries, Kamat couldn’t give a clear picture over payment of arrears.Sources in the Government, however, told Herald that the arrears for the period 1-1-2006 to 31-8-2008, for employees appointed prior to August 5, 2005, will be credited to their GPF Account in three equal installments with a lock-in period of three years.

In the process, this will become a loan to the State Government carrying interest applicable to GPF (presently it is 8% per annum).There are nearly 7,000 new employees appointed on or after August 5, 2005 who are covered under the New Defined Pension Contribution Scheme and they do not have a separate GPF account, the sources said.For them, a separate account would be opened under the Public Account to deposit their arrears in three equal installments with a lock-in period of three years.

Kamat announced that the arrears for September and October will be disbursed later after making a budgetary provision in the Supplementary Demand for the current year.The total financial implication including the two years arrears would be around Rs 700 crore.The additional expenditure this year itself would be around Rs 150 crore, he claimed adding the additional burden would be approximately Rs 25 crore per month.

Asked how the Government intends to pay the arrears, Kamat said that his officers are working out the modalities.He also looked non-committal when asked whether the arrears would be credited to GPF.

To a question whether the recommendations would be accepted with effect from January 1, 2008, he said, “Let us see we are still working on it.”Asked what he means by word “in principle approval” here, Kamat said that the recommendation has various minute things which are being studied by the Government.“The recommendations were for Central Government employees and the State is examining whether those things can be implemented here,” he said.

When asked whether the State had the finances to pay or would go in for a loan, Kamat replied we have not decided on that as yet but ruled out taking any loans for the purpose.“We will have to take ‘some saving’ measures by curtailing expenditures”, he maintained.We have taken some measures in this regard like the fixation of land rates for stamp duty etc and are trying to get in some more revenue, he added.

Meanwhile, sources told Herald that modalities would be worked out for which a meeting will be held next week.Directorate of Accounts will be asked by the Government to compile arrears for the period from 1-1-2006 to 31-10-2008 by end of the year.

Sources said the 6th Pay Commission will not be made applicable to employees governed by UGC and AICTE scales.

TA: The employees will also be entitled to traveling allowance in place of CCA (City Compensatory allowance).

PARITY: The sources said that there’s a high possibility that pay fixation for those employees who enjoy upgraded pay scales (excluded) will be done corresponding to their pre-upgraded scales.

With this, the Government intends to bring parity in pay scales as it has been a long-pending demand of Goa Government Employees Association.

However, sources say, this will not be an easy task as strong lobbies are working to retain the upgrades scales.

Source Herald
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Sunday, September 21, 2008

Antony: Remove pay anomalies for armed forces.

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Defence Minister A. K. Antony has written to Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram seeking early resolution of the anomalies affecting the armed forces in the Sixth Pay Commission report.
Mr. Antony took up cudgels on behalf of the armed forces after the issue did not figure in two Cabinet meetings despite service chiefs indicating their disinclination to implement the recommendations till the anomalies were corrected.

Four issues highlighted

In his letter to Mr. Chidambaram, Mr. Antony has highlighted four issues that have caused concern in the armed forces. The failure of a high-level committee to resolve them led to the three service chiefs sending a joint representation to the government. The Chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, also wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pointing out the anomalies.

Mr. Antony has touched upon the incorrect fixing of grade pay of officers up to the rank of Brigadier (and equivalent in the other two services), lower pay band for Lieutenant Colonels as compared to their civilian counterparts, reinstating pensionary weightage for personnel below officer rank and same status to Lt. Generals who are not commanders.

A Lt. Col. was equal in pay to NFSG (non functional selection grade) Director of the IAS and a commandant of the paramilitary forces.

All the three had an annual increment of Rs. 400. But now, the IAS director will get over Rs. 11,000 more per month than the Lt. Col and a commandant nearly Rs. 10,000 more.
Even if the military pay of Rs. 6,000 is added, the paramilitary forces, the IAS and the IPS would draw a higher salary.

Service officers said they were not asking for more pay than others but at least equal to them.
This has had two major ill-effects. First, civilian officers working under Lt. Col.s (such as superintending engineers or commandants in paramilitary services) would become senior requiring an organisational overhaul. Second, paramilitary and central police organisations would become for the youth.

Mr. Antony has also sought retention of the existing 70 per cent pensionary weightage for personnel below the officer rank (PBOR) when seeking lateral entry for the retired men in the paramilitary and the Central police forces or re-employment.

Lateral entry

The Sixth Pay Commission proposes lateral entry for PBORs into the paramilitary and Central police forces but they would forego 50 per cent of their pension. As the government is yet to approve the proposal for lateral entry, which has led to a situation where the PBORs lose out both on re-employment and pension fronts.

Mr. Antony has also sought removal of grade pay disparities for the ranks of captains to colonels as compared to civilian counterparts and creating of a new pay band of Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) plus for all Lt. Generals (and their equivalents) as has been done for all the Director General level officers of civil services and the paramilitary forces

Friday, September 19, 2008

Clarification issued by Govt on Increment and promotions after 1-1-2006.

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Clarification 1:
The date of next increment

(i) As per Rule 10 of CCS (RP) Rules, 2008 there will be one uniform date of annual increment, viz. 1St July of every year. Government servants completing 6 months and above in the revised pay structure as on 1St of July will be eligible to be granted the increment. Accordingly, all Government servants who earned their last increment between 02.01.2005 and 01.01.2006 would get their next increment on 01.07.2006.

(ii) For those employees whose date of next increment falls on 01.01.2006, the instructions already provide for granting an increment in the pre-revised pay scale as on 01.01.2006 and then fixing their pay in the revised pay scales. Such Government servants would also get their next increment on 01.07.2006.Clarification 2: The method of fixation of pay on promotion after 01.01.2006 On promotion from one grade to another/ financial upgradation under ACP, a Government servant has an option under FR 22(I)(a)(1) to get his pay fixed in the higher post either from the date of his promotion, or from date of his next increment, viz. 1st July of the year.
The pay will be fixed in the following manner in the revised pay structure:-

a) In case the Government servant opts to get his pay fixed from his date of next increment, then, on the date of promotion, pay in the pay band shall continue unchanged, but the grade pay of the higher post will be granted. Further re-fixation will be done on the date of his next increment i.e. 1St July. On that day, he will be granted two increments; one annual increment and the second on account of promotion. While computing these two increments, basic pay prior to the date of promotion shall be taken into account. To illustrate, if the basic pay prior to the date of promotion was Rs.100, first increment would be computed on Rs.100 and the second on Rs.103.

b) In case the Government servant opts to get his pay fixed in the higher grade from the date of his promotion, he shall get his first increment in the higher grade on the next 1St July if he was promoted between 2nd July and 1st January. However, if he was promoted between 2nd January and 30th June of a particular year, he shall get his increment on 1St July of next year.

Clarification 3:
Use of fitment tables for cases of pay fixation under Rule 11 of CCS (RP) Rules, 2008 Rule 11 of CCS (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008 provides for fixation of pay in the revised pay structure subsequent to the 1st day of January, 2006. When the pay of a Government servant will be fixed as per Rule 11 on a date subsequent to 01.01.2006, the fitment tables annexed with this Department's O.M. of even number dated 30.08.2008 will be used as prescribed in the relevant provisions contained in para 2 of the O.M. The pre-revised pay to be reckoned in such cases will be the pay of the Government servant on the day of such fixation.Clarification 4: Fixation of pay of government servants who were on deputation and got promoted in the cadre subsequently while still on deputation

(i) In case the Government servant was on deputation on 1.1.06 and got promoted to a higher post in his cadre after 1.1.06, but was not granted proforma promotion under the 'Next Below Rule', his pay will get fixed w.e.f. 1.1.06 in the grade which he was holding on 1.1.06.

(ii) In case the Government servant had been granted proforma promotion under the 'Next Below Rule', his pay will be fixed using the provisions of the 'Next Below Rule' as explained in below

(iii) In the revised pay structure , the pay of a government servant would be regulated in the following manner on grant of proforma promotion to him under 'Next Below Rule':

(a) In case a Government servant on deputation to a post gets promoted in his cadre to a post in a higher grade, his pay in the pay band will be fixed with reference to the pay in the pay band of the employee immediately junior to him in the cadre of his service. However , the government servant in question would continue to draw the grade pay attached to the deputation post for the remaining duration of the deputation.

(b) In case a Government servant on deputation to a post in PB-4 gets promoted in his cadre to a post in HAG+, his basic pay will be fixed with reference to the basic pay of the employee immediately junior to him in the cadre of his service , but the total of pay in the pay band and grade pay of the deputation post will not exceed Rs.79,000.

(c) In case a Government servant on deputation to a post in PB-4 gets promoted in his cadre to a post in the apex scale, his basic pay will be fixed with reference to the basic pay of the employee immediately junior to him in the cadre of his service, but the total of pay in the pay band and grade pay of the deputation post will not exceed Rs.79,000.

(d) In case a Government servant on deputation to a post in HAG+ gets promoted in his cadre to a post in the apex scale, his basic pay will be fixed with reference to the basic pay of the employee immediately junior to him in the cadre of his service.Clarification5: Fixation of pay of government servants who go on deputation to a lower post

(i) In case a Government servant goes on deputation to a post carrying a lower grade pay, his pay in the pay band would continue unchanged, but he will be granted the grade pay of the lower post for the entire duration of the deputation.

(ii) In case a Government servant in HAG+ scale goes on deputation to a lower post in PB-4 , his basic pay in the deputation post will be fixed at a stage equal to his basic pay in the cadre of his service , but the total of pay in the pay band and grade pay of the deputation post will not exceed Rs.79,000.
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Thursday, September 18, 2008

Sixth Pay Commission Summary and Highlights.

With so much discussion around the 6th Pay Commission report and implementation - I thought of sharing some highlights of the sixth CPC report and how it actually makes a difference to your monthly salaries and the taxes.

Most of the central government employees are very eager to know the new salary details and have been using the new Salary Calculator to compute their new salaries.Other highlights of the Pay commission report and how the states and different sectors are interpreting and implementingBig raise on cards for university teachers.Judge’s Salary set to go up Three-Fold.30-50% hike for Rajasthan state staff.Orissa sets up panel to study Sixth Pay Commission report.

Rajasthan Govt to take up Pay Commission proposal next week.Pondicherry to seek grants from Centre.Madhya Pradesh Govt to implement Sixth Pay Commission from Sept 1.Group `D` staff may not require to pay tax on Arrears.Working Mothers get a well-deserved break.How this Sixth Pay Commission change your take home salary and the taxes that you pay - read below1. Full pension only after 20 years: You are entitled to full pension after completing 20 years of service.

This offer is really attractive to those government employees who joined at an early age and now want to enter the private sector. Pension will act as a cushion after they give up the secure government job. The government has tried to attract young talent by incorporating this flexibility.
2. Gratuity limit enhanced: Gratuity cap has been raised to Rs 10.00 lakhs from the present Rs 3.5 lakhs – a cool jump of approximately 300 percent! Of course gratuity is a function of the service put in by the employee and the last salary drawn. But it will provide adequate relief to employees retiring in the near future in the context of the scorching inflation of over 12 percent ruling for sometime now. They can invest this lump sum in any bank and generate over 10 percent by way of interest. It is a double bonanza for those on the verge of becoming senior citizens.

3. Enhanced pension cap and floor limit: Government has raised the minimum pension of its employees from Rs 2,813/- to Rs 4,060/-. The upper ceiling has been raised to Rs 52,200/- from Rs 33,075/- at present.

So the cap has been raised by a whopping 58 percent while the floor (minimum) has been raised by an impressive 44 percent. So employees in the higher salary bracket will benefit more when they retire.4

. Live long and enjoy more: A new and unique dimension has been added to the new pension scheme. If you remain healthy post-retirement and hence live longer, your pension will increase proportionately. So once you turn 80, your pension will rise by 20 percent; similarly if you turn 85, your pension will rise by 30 percent; each additional five years there from will entitle you to a rise of over 10 percent.

5. Arrears will not be taxed in the same year: Some confusion prevails with regard to computation of income tax in respect of arrears. Arrears would be released in two installments of 40 percent and 60 percent in two financial years, viz., 2008-09 and 2009-10. Earlier it was reported that even though the arrears would be released in two installments, the employee should reckon the arrears fully as income in financial year 2008-09.It spoiled the employees’ party since most of the first installment of arrears released would have been gobbled up by the taxman this year.

But the Finance Minister has reportedly clarified that only the arrears released this year, viz., 40 percent will be taxed.6. Benefits enhanced if employees dies while on duty: Ex gratia paid to the family of an employee killed in terrorist attacks or attacks by anti-social elements has been enhanced to Rs 10.00 lakhs. The family will be paid Rs 15.00 lakhs by way of ex-gratia if the employee dies fighting a war or battling militants or working at high altitudes characterized by hostile weather.
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Sixth Pay Commission Summary and Highlights.

With so much discussion around the 6th Pay Commission report and implementation - I thought of sharing some highlights of the sixth CPC report and how it actually makes a difference to your monthly salaries and the taxes.

Most of the central government employees are very eager to know the new salary details and have been using the new Salary Calculator to compute their new salaries.Other highlights of the Pay commission report and how the states and different sectors are interpreting and implementingBig raise on cards for university teachers.Judge’s Salary set to go up Three-Fold.30-50% hike for Rajasthan state staff.Orissa sets up panel to study Sixth Pay Commission report.

Rajasthan Govt to take up Pay Commission proposal next week.Pondicherry to seek grants from Centre.Madhya Pradesh Govt to implement Sixth Pay Commission from Sept 1.Group `D` staff may not require to pay tax on Arrears.Working Mothers get a well-deserved break.How this Sixth Pay Commission change your take home salary and the taxes that you pay - read below1. Full pension only after 20 years: You are entitled to full pension after completing 20 years of service.

This offer is really attractive to those government employees who joined at an early age and now want to enter the private sector. Pension will act as a cushion after they give up the secure government job. The government has tried to attract young talent by incorporating this flexibility.
2. Gratuity limit enhanced: Gratuity cap has been raised to Rs 10.00 lakhs from the present Rs 3.5 lakhs – a cool jump of approximately 300 percent! Of course gratuity is a function of the service put in by the employee and the last salary drawn. But it will provide adequate relief to employees retiring in the near future in the context of the scorching inflation of over 12 percent ruling for sometime now. They can invest this lump sum in any bank and generate over 10 percent by way of interest. It is a double bonanza for those on the verge of becoming senior citizens.

3. Enhanced pension cap and floor limit: Government has raised the minimum pension of its employees from Rs 2,813/- to Rs 4,060/-. The upper ceiling has been raised to Rs 52,200/- from Rs 33,075/- at present.

So the cap has been raised by a whopping 58 percent while the floor (minimum) has been raised by an impressive 44 percent. So employees in the higher salary bracket will benefit more when they retire.4

. Live long and enjoy more: A new and unique dimension has been added to the new pension scheme. If you remain healthy post-retirement and hence live longer, your pension will increase proportionately. So once you turn 80, your pension will rise by 20 percent; similarly if you turn 85, your pension will rise by 30 percent; each additional five years there from will entitle you to a rise of over 10 percent.

5. Arrears will not be taxed in the same year: Some confusion prevails with regard to computation of income tax in respect of arrears. Arrears would be released in two installments of 40 percent and 60 percent in two financial years, viz., 2008-09 and 2009-10. Earlier it was reported that even though the arrears would be released in two installments, the employee should reckon the arrears fully as income in financial year 2008-09.It spoiled the employees’ party since most of the first installment of arrears released would have been gobbled up by the taxman this year.

But the Finance Minister has reportedly clarified that only the arrears released this year, viz., 40 percent will be taxed.6. Benefits enhanced if employees dies while on duty: Ex gratia paid to the family of an employee killed in terrorist attacks or attacks by anti-social elements has been enhanced to Rs 10.00 lakhs. The family will be paid Rs 15.00 lakhs by way of ex-gratia if the employee dies fighting a war or battling militants or working at high altitudes characterized by hostile weather.
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