Sunday, 28 December 2014

Removal of Difficulties in Declaration of assets by Public Servants under Lokpal



Declaration of assets by Public Servants under Lokpal: Removal of Difficulties Order Notification by DoPT





MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS


(Department of Personnel and Training)


ORDER


New Delhi, the 26th December, 2014





S.O. 3272(E).- Whereas the Central Government, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of


section 62 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (1 of 2014) (hereinafter referred to as the said Act), made the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2014 (hereinafter referred to as the said Order) with effect from the 15th February. 2014 for the purpose of carrying out modifications and amendments in all existing rules regulating the filing of property returns and making of declaration of assets by public servants so as to bring them in conformity with the provisions of the said Act. within a period not exceeding one hundred and eighty days from the date on which the provisions of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 came into force, i.e., the 16th January, 2014;








And whereas, the central Government initiated the process of modifications and amendments of all existing rules dealing with the subject matter of filing of annual returns and making of declaration of assets by public servants in consultation with various authorities, such as, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Election Commission, the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, the Ministry of Law and Justice (Department of Legal Affairs and Legislative Department), the Department of Financial Services, the Department of Public Enterprises and the State Governments;





And whereas, the comments and suggestions received from above said authorities had been under consideration of the Central Government and the completion of the procedure of finalising the rules under the said Act was likely to take some more time and the process of harmonisation of the existing rules with the provisions of the said Act and the rules made thereunder was taking time beyond the period notified under the said Order, and, therefore, the Central  Government amended the said Order on 14th July, 2014, extending the said period of one hundred and eighty days to a period of two hundred and seventy days;





And whereas, the Central Government, after consulting the Ministries/Departments. including the Department of Financial Services, the Department of Public Enterprises, the Ministry of Law and Justice and the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, made the Public Servants (Furnishing of Information and Annual Return of Assets and Liabilities and the Limits for Exemption of Assets in Filing Returns) Rules, 2014 (hereinafter referred to as the said rules), in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) read with clause (k) and clause (l) of sub-section (2) of section 59 read with section 44 and section 45 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, and notified the said rules on 14th July, 2014, prescribing therein the forms in which information and annual returns are to be filed by every public servant;





And whereas, the Central Government forwarded the Copies of the notification containing the said rules to all Ministries and Departments of the Central Government requesting them to take the follow-up action in terms of the said rules. and for ensuring compliance with the said rules by all officers and staff in the respective Ministries, Departments and organisations and public sector undertakings under their control;





And whereas. the Central Government also forwarded the copies of the notification containing the said rules to the Chief Secretaries of all State Governments and Union territories, requesting them to take the follow-up action in terms of the said rules requiring all officers of the All India Services working in connection with the affairs of the State Governments and the officers and staff working in various organisations and public sector undertakings under their control so as to ensure due compliance with the said rules by all of them;





And whereas, concerns and apprehensions were raised by some Ministries and Departments, Organisations and individuals about the posting of every information provided by the public servant on public domain and the complexities involved in posting such details in the prescribed formats and also about exacerbation of vulnerabilities of the public servants after filing such details. specifically of movable property and their publication on the websites of respective Ministries and Departments giving rise to the apprehension of the safety and security of the members particularly children of the public servant;





And whereas, keeping in view the genuine concerns and apprehensions aforesaid, the Central Government constituted a Committee on 28th August, 2014 to simplify the forms and the process in which public servants shall make declaration of assets and liabilities as required under the said Act and the rules made thereunder and the Committee was required to examine the forms prescribed under the said rules and suggest changes therein as may be considered necessary within a period of forty-five days;





And whereas, the exercise of reviewing the existing rules relating to various services and posts with the provisions of the said Act and the rules made thereunder, the process of completion of follow-up action by various Ministries and Departments of the Central Government and the State Governments and the exercise of simplification of forms and the process in which public servants shall make declarations of assets and liabilities, was likely to take time beyond the period of two hundred and seventy days as specified in the said Order (as amended by the Order, dated 14th July, 2014), it had become necessary to extend the said period of two hundred and seventy days and, accordingly, the Central Government amended the said Order on 8th September, 2014. extending the said period of two hundred and seventy days to a period of three hundred and sixty days for the purposes of section 44 of the said Act;





And whereas, the Committee constituted by the Central Government on 28th August, 2014 to simplify the farms and the process in which public servants shall make declaration of assets and liabilities as required under the said Act and the rules made thereunder, submitted its first Report to the Government on 1st October, 2014, wherein the Committee suggested simplification of form prescribed for submission of statement regarding movable assets and the form prescribed for submission of statement regarding debts and liabilities by public servants, under the aforesaid rules;





And whereas, the processing of necessary amendments to the aforesaid rules so as to incorporate the revised forms for filing statement regarding movable properties and the statement regarding debts and liabilities and the circulation of the revised formats, after their due notification in the Official Gazette, to all Ministries and Departments of the Central Government and the Chief Secretaries of all State Governments and Union territory administrations and the further process of follow-up action in terms of the said rules requiring all officers of the All India Services working in a connection with the affairs of the State Governments and the Offices and Staff working in various Organisations and Public Sector Undertakings under their control so as to ensure due compliance with the revised rules by all of them, is a time consuming process and as such the said process cannot be completed within the limit of three hundred and sixty days as contemplated in the principal order as amended by the order dated 8th September, 2014;





And whereas, Central Government has decided to amend the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, to address various deficiencies noticed in the said Act and, in that context, a need has also been felt to amend the provisions of section 44 of the said Act so as to harmonise the provisions of the said section with the relevant provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and rules framed thereunder, the All India Services Act, 1951 and rules framed thereunder, the rules framed by the Central Government in pursuance of article 148 and article 309 of the Constitution and also various statutes setting up autonomous bodies and Public Sector Undertakings and the rules framed thereunder; 





And whereas, the introduction of a Bill to amend the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, and its passing by Parliament and enforcement is also likely to take time; and hence it has become necessary to extend the said period of three hundred and sixty days to a period of eighteen months and the Central Government has accordingly decided to extend the period to complete this process;





New. therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 62 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 (l of 2014). the Central Government hereby makes the following amendment further to amend the Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2014, namely-





In the said Order, in paragraph 2, in sub-paragraph (1), for the words “within a period not exceeding three hundred and sixty days”, the words “within a period not exceeding eighteen months” shall be substituted.





[R No. 407/ 12/2014-AVD-1V(B) l]


JlSHNU BARUA, Jt. Secy.





Note : The Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2014 was published in the Gazette of India Extraordinary, vide notification number 8.0. 409(E), dated 15th February, 2014 and amended by Order, dated 14th July, 2014 published vide notification number 8.0. 1840(E) dated lSth July, 2014; and by Order dated 8th September. 2014 published vide notification number 8.0. 225605) dated 81h September, 2014.





Source:www.persmin.gov.in


Grant of Special Allowance @ Rs.1000/-p.m. to staff of Cash & Pay Department (Senior Cashier/Head Shroff)



Grant of Special Allowance @ Rs.1000/-p.m. to staff of Cash & Pay Department (Senior Cashier/Head Shroff)





GOVERNMENT OF INDIA


MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS


RAILWAY BOARD


RBE No. 144/2014.


No. E(P&A)I-2011/SP-1/AC-1


New Delhi, dated 16.12.2014.


The General Managers,


All Indian Railways and Production Units.





Sub: Grant of Special Allowance @ Rs.1000/-p.m. to staff of Cash & Pay Department (Senior Cashier/Head Shroff) on their posting as Accounts Stock Verifiers in GP Rs. 4200/- on passing Appendix IV -A (IREM) Examination.






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Residency period for promotion - Railway Board Orders


Residency period for promotion - Railway Board Orders




GOVERNMENT OF INDIA


MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS


(RAILWAY BOARD)


NO.E(NG)I-2014/PM7/5


New Delhi, dated:10.11.2014

The General Manager(P)

North Western Railway,

Jaipur



(Kind attn: Shri Karan Singh. CPO)




Sub: Residency period for promotion from Goods Driver to Sr. Goods Driver, Passenger Driver to Sr. Passenger Driver, Goods Guard to Sr. Goods Guard and Passenger Guard to Sr. Passenger Guard.





Ref: (i) Railway Boards letter No.E(NG)I-94/PM1/9 dated 02.09.1994


(ii) Railway Board's letter No.E(NG)I-2004/PM7/16 dated 22.03.2005





This bears reference to North Western Railway’s D.O. letter No.875/E/O/Selection dated 03.09.2014 and letter No.655ई/ मैक्नी/ टैक्नी/ जोधपुर मंडल भाग.1/उपरे dated 21.10.2014, wide which the. issue of promotion from Assistant Loco Pilot (ALP) to Sr. Assistant Loco Pilot, without observing two years residency period can be made or otherwise, has been raised.






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Change in date of birth/age of family pensioners for payment of additional pension



Change in date of birth/age of family pensioners for payment of additional pension.





No. 1(11)/2009-D (Pen/Pol)


Government of India


Ministry of Defence


Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare


New Delhi – 110011


Dated : 23rd December 2014


To


The Chief of the Army Staff


The Chief of the Naval Staff


The Chief of the Air Staff





Subject: Change in date of birth/age of family pensioners for payment of additional pension.





Sir,


In accordance with the instructions issued vide GOI, MOD letter no. 17(4)/2008(1)-D (Pen/Policy) dated 11.11.2008 and GOI, MOD letter No. 1(11)/2009-D (Pen/Policy) dated 18th Aug 2009, additional pension/ family pension is allowed on the basis of the date of birth/age recorded in the Pension Payment Order/Discharge Certificate or other office records. Only in cases where the details regarding date of birth/age are not available in the PPO/Discharge Certificate or Office records, additional pension/family pension to old pensioners/family pensioners has been allowed on the basis of following documents :-






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Friday, 26 December 2014

Fresca Mexican Restaurant @ Avenue K

Fresca Mexican and Grill recently opened in Avenue K and it is located conveniently at the side entrance of the mall. It is connected to Dolly Dim Sum, which is a halal dim sum restaurant and I have been patronising it a couple of times because finally, there is a place to have dim sum for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I will write about Dolly Dim Sum on the next post.

My family and I decided to try Fresca as our Christmas lunch. Given that Dolly Dim Sum's quality was good, we had hope for Fresca too :)

Mum and I were famish upon arrival that we just grabbed the menu and started ordering. 

What we had:
Nachos Grande- 

It was so delicious because they were generous with the amount of melted cheese and warm nachos! It was much more satisfying eating it here than in Chillis and TGIF.

Mixed chicken and beef Fajitas -

It came with three pieces of fajitas wrap which I think was not enough. They should have given 5 pieces instead. Nevertheless, the chicken and beef was tender, juicy and tasty.

Alambre - Grilled beef tacos -

Tacos is always a must when eating at a Mexican restaurant. I had my first taco from Taco bell when I was in USA and I had another taco dish recently at Sunrise Tacos in Bangkok. Sunrise Tacos was amazing with their crispy corn tacos. The tacos in Fresca were soft and not the crispy kind. I prefer the crispy ones. Beef, I would stick to beef fajitas :)

We finished those three dishes before my brother and girlfriend arrived as we were so hungry. Second round of orders were necessary:

Beef Fajitas - My parents and I loved Fresca's beef fajitas so we recommended my brother to get that. True enough, he loved it but again, the dish could come with about five pieces of the fajitas wrap instead of just three pieces. I know there is an option to order more pieces but five pieces on the first order would have made the meal 100% satisfying.

Chicken Quesadilla - 

Another favourite dish to order in a Mexican restaurant. This was pretty good because there was enough cheese and the entire meal fit together really well. 

Churros with chocolate -

 We are still on the lookout for amazing churros we had in Disneyland USA! Unfortunately, the churros in Fresca did not make the cut. It was the oily kind like 'you tiao'. But dipping with the chocolate sauce helps give the sweetness. 

All in all, the food is good. I would go back for the Nachos Grande and Beef Fajitas. I would also try the burritos next time :)




La Risata @ Ampang

A nice, cosy restaurant I went to called La Risata, located near the Ampang Lake. Its an Italian restaurant. The ambience was very nice for a night out with friends and family. I liked that the restaurant was brightly littled and the ceiling was high so it didnt feel too stuffy or crowded. 


Opening hours for dinner was 6.30pm. I was there at 6.30pm and most of the tables were reserved already. Reservations were necessary. By the time it was 7.30pm, the crowd came and all the restaurant was full before I knew it. This was how popular La Risata was and It has been around for quite awhile.


Pizzas were one of their specialty. I was torned between their Christmas specials, pizza or pasta. In the end, I caved in on their lobster spaghetti, which was a bit too salty to my liking and the speaghetti was a tad soggy. I personally preferred the spaghetti at The Loaf, Pavillion.


For starters, we had garlic bruschetta. It lacked the strong garlic flavour.


Tiramisu to end the night. Not too bad.


I wouldn't go back there to try the same dishes. But I would return to try their pizza and meat dishes.


Monday, 22 December 2014

Expected AICPIN for Nov 2014 – Will the AICPIN rise?











Expected AICPIN for Nov 2014 – Will the AICPIN rise?





It looks as if there is scarcely any curiosity among Central Government employees to know about the next DA hike percentage. With just about everybody trying to predict the percentage hike, the topic has lost its novelty. Moreover, with DA increase not amounting to anything much, the curiosity to know has also nosedived.






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