Grant of arrears of pay on pay fixation under
No.F.7(1)-EIII/60
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
(Department of Expenditure)
New Delhi-2, dated the 19th November, 1960,
Subjects- Grant of arrears of pay on pay fixation under
In the Weekly meeting of the Heads of Divisions and officers of and above the rank of Deputy Secretaries held on 23.12.59, the following decision was taken in regard to grant of arrears in cases where pay was fixed under the “guiding principles” formulated in 1951 :-
“It was noted that where pay was fixed in accordance with the “guiding principles” adopted in 1951 for the fixation of pay of temporary Government servants transferred from one post to another, arrears were generally allowed except in a few cases where there was inordinate delay in taking up the cases and the delay was not satisfactorily explained. Secretary further clarified that if the 1 ‘Administrative Ministries/Departments pressed in such cases that pay should be refixed with retrospective effect and arrears allowed the Finance Ministry would be justified in asking that the Administrative Officers who were responsible for the delay should be suitably punished before the cases were considered, It was also considered that where a higher pay was not normally admissible, but was granted by the issue of a special Government sanction after examining the merits of the case, the fixation of pay should generally be only from a prospective date and that arrears could not be claimed for the past period. It was also noted that the question of putting the general principles enunciated in 1951 on a formal basis had been taken up in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Comptroller and Auditor General and that the principles might have t0 be reviewed in the light of the recommendations of the Pay Commission. Pending issue of general orders in this connection, it was decided that- no change in the existing practice was necessary.”
2. In a concrete case now under consideration in the Establishment Division an official who was appointed to officiate in Grade III of the Central. Secretariat Service with effect from 2.6.1958, represented for the fixation of his pay in Grade III after allowing him the benefit of previous service in equivalent and higher posts outside the Central Secretariat Service. This came up for consideration of the Finance and the Homo Ministries in July, 1958.At that time the Ministry of Home Affairs were reviewing the Question of granting the benefits of ex-cadre service in p cadre post. The case was therefore, kept pending The ultimate decision reached in August, 1959 on the General review, was that no benefit could be given for ex-cadre service unless justified by the fulfilment of the conditions of the ’next below rule1. However, it was decided that an exception could be made in the case of the officer referred to above and also in the case of five officers whose cases had been referred to this Ministry and the Ministry of Home Affairs before this decision was reached, As, previously, such a benefit was not ruled out, all the six officers were accordingly given the benefit of their past ex-cadre service as a special case but without payment of arrears in respect of -periods prior to 1.1.59.
3. There was no inordinate delay .on the part of the officers or the Ministries concerned in sponsoring their cases. Arrears were, therefore, not barred on the score of delay. But after a general decision not to grant the benefit of ex-cadre service in a cadre-post had been taken in August, 1959 the decision to grant such benefits to a few could be considered to be an ad-hoc concession and, there are, denial of arrears would not appear to be unjustifiable. The retrospective effect from 1.1.59 was given only as a gesture, the date having been chosen presumably because it was the ‘beginning of the year,
4. The, administrative Ministry concerned with one of the cases is pressing for full arrears which will amount to about Rs.900/-. The arrears that will be due in the other five cases-will amount to a total Rs.11230/- of which one officer’s share ’alone’ would be about Rs.7,700. The decision in respect of a single officer shall have to be applied’ to the others as well.
5. The policy that should be’ followed in the natter of payment of arrears in such cases is proposed to be discussed at a Weekly Meeting of the Heads of Divisions in accordance with the decision taken in the meeting of Heads of Divisions held on 11.12.58.
Sd/-
( V. DORAISHAMY )
DEPUTY SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
Source: http://finmin.nic.in/the_ministry/dept_expenditure/notification/payfixation/19-11-1960.pdf