Allowances for holding Additional Charge – 7th Pay Commission recommendation

Allowances for holding Additional Charge – 7th Pay Commission recommendation

Allowances which fall in this category are Acting Allowance, Dual Charge Allowance,
and Fixed Monetary Compensation.

Acting Allowance is granted to JCOs (other than those holding honorary ranks as commissioned officers) of Defence services who are appointed in Officers’ vacancies caused due to shortage of officers, but not caused by leave, temporary duty or courses of instructions.The allowance is admissible only so long as the JCO performs the duty of an officer. The present rates are as under:

Dual Charge Allowance, at the rate of 10 percent of Basic Pay, is granted to an officer in Indian Railways when he is required to hold charge of a post in addition to his own post.

Fixed Monetary Compensation is granted in Department of Posts to Postmen for performing the duties of an absentee postman. The present rates are as follows:

The Commission has received representations regarding increase of rates and parity in the payment of these allowances.

Analysis and Recommendations

In general, Central Government employees are governed by FR-49 for regulations concerning combination of appointments. If formally appointed to hold dual charge of a higher post, they are entitled to the pay admissible in the higher post. However, no additional remuneration is admissible if the employee is appointed to hold dual charge of a post carrying a scale of pay identical to his own.

Railway servants are governed by Paras 645-649 of Indian Railway Establishment Manual (Vol.I). For holding formal charge of a higher post, they are also entitled to draw the pay admissible in the higher post. In addition, they are eligible to draw a Dual Charge Allowance at the rate of 10 percent of their Basic Pay for holding formal charge of an identical level post, which is not permissible to employees governed by FR-49.

JCOs in the Defence Services are granted Acting Allowance, while Postmen are entitled to Fixed Monetary Compensation for holding additional charge.

The Commission is of the view that there is a case for uniformly compensating employees if they perform additional duty in addition to their own. Also, this compensation should be a percentage of the Basic Pay of the employee since the value of time devoted for this “second” job differs with the rank of employee. At the same time, proper safeguards should also be put in place so that such arrangements, are not continued for extensive lengths of time.

As such, we recommend that the allowances mentioned above should be covered under a new Additional Post Allowance, to be administered as under:

Additional Post Allowance

a. An employee formally appointed to hold full charge of the duties of a higher post, in addition to the duties of his own post, will be entitled to draw the pay that would be admissible to him if he was appointed to the higher post on regular basis OR 10 percent of his present Basic Pay per month, whichever is higher, as Additional Post Allowance,
provided the sum total of his Basic Pay and Additional Post Allowance does not exceed the Apex Pay.

b. An employee formally appointed to hold full charge of the duties of a post on similar level as his own, in addition to the duties of his own post, will be entitled to draw 10 percent of his present Basic Pay per month as Additional Post Allowance, provided the sum total of his Basic Pay and Additional Post Allowance does not exceed the Apex
Scale.

c. No Additional Post Allowance should be paid to an employee who is appointed to hold current charge or the routine duties of an additional post, irrespective of the duration of the current charge.

d. The allowance will be admissible only if the duration of additional charge exceeds 45 days.

e. This arrangement cannot continue for a particular vacant post for more than 1 year, and for a particular employee for more than 6 months at a stretch. In addition, there shall be a minimum gap of 1 year between two such successive appointments of a particular employee.

f. The above provisions will not be applicable for postman/postmen who perform the duty of an absentee postman. For one postman performing the duties of an absentee postman, he shall be paid 10 percent of his Basic Pay per month as Additional Post Allowance, while for two postmen sharing beats to perform the duties of an absentee postman, each shall be paid 5 percent of his Basic Pay per month as Additional Post Allowance.

Allowances for Performing Extra Duty:

Sometime the employees are required to perform certain extra duties, in addition to their core duty list, for which they are duly remunerated. This remuneration is in the form of various allowances as follows:

Extra Duty Allowance is granted to regular ranks of Naik and Havaldar in the Indian Army holding certain appointments in peace and war establishments. The present rates are:

Flight Charge Certificate Allowance is granted to Senior Air Artificers/Mechanicians of ship borne helicopter flights in Defence forces, for discharging higher responsibilities of maintaining and clearing aircraft for air worthiness in the absence of a Technical Officer. The existing rates of this allowance are:

Rajbhasha Allowance is payable to officers in Indian Railways who handle additional charge of Rajbhasha Adhikaris. The existing rates are:Flag Station Allowance is granted to commercial staff of Indian Railways who are in charge of flag stations. The current rate of the allowance is ₹120 pm.

Library Allowance is granted to teachers in various ministries, who are assigned to library duties. The current rates of this allowance are:

Special Appointment Allowance is granted to certain CAPF personnel holding special appointments, in addition to their core activity. The rates are:
(₹ per month)

Caretaking Allowance, at the rate of 10 percent of Basic Pay, is paid to Group `C’ staff on regular establishment in various ministries who are deployed for caretaking duties.

The Commission has received various representations regarding these allowances. There is a general demand for increasing the rates.

Analysis and Recommendations

Similar to the allowances granted for holding additional charge, here also the Commission is of the view that the compensation should be uniform, and as a percentage of the employee’s Basic Pay. Accordingly, it is recommended that these allowances should be covered under a new Extra Work Allowance, which shall be governed as under:

Extra Work Allowance

a. Extra Work Allowance will be paid at a uniform rate of 2 percent of Basic Pay per month. b. An employee may receive this allowance for a maximum period of one year, and there should be a minimum gap of one year before the same employee can be deployed for similar duty again.

c. This allowance should not be combined, i.e., if same employee is performing two or more such duties, and is eligible for 2 percent allowance for each add-on, then the total Extra Work Allowance payable will remain capped at 2 percent.

Others

There are a few other allowances that fall under this grouping but are not covered above. Their nomenclature and the Commission’s recommendations in their regard are detailed below:

Special DOT Pay–This allowance, at the rate of ₹400 pm, is granted to DOT officers for shouldering higher responsibility. No demands have been received regarding this allowance.

Analysis and Recommendations

The Commission does not find the continuation of this allowance justified. Hence, it is recommended that this allowance should be abolished.

Air Despatch Pay, Air Steward Allowance, Shorthand Allowance – Air Despatch Pay is granted to PBORs of Defence services who are employed for air dropping of supplies in forward areas. The current rate is ₹360 pm. Air Steward Allowance is granted to Group “Y” tradesmen of the Indian Air Force who are employed on board VVIP flights for steward duties. The existing rate is ₹900 pm. Shorthand Allowance is payable to PBORs of Indian Air Force and Indian Navy employed on shorthand duties. The present rate is ₹360 pm.

There are demands to abolish these allowances and grant alternative compensation to the affected employees.

Analysis and Recommendations

These allowances are paid to very few personnel of the Defence forces. The Commission is of the view that these kinds of duties are intrinsic to the related job profile and additional allowance is not justified. Accordingly, it is recommended that these three allowances should be abolished