Imposition of un-warranted quantum of minor penalty – Railway Board to NFIR

No.E(D&A) 2012 RG6-17

New Delhi, 5.11.2012

The General Secretary

National Federation of Indian Railwaymen,

3, Chelmsford Road,

New Delhi – 110 055.

Sub: Imposition of un-warranted quantum of minor penalty – reg.

Sir,

I am directed to refer to your Federation’s letter No. II/5 dated 2/7/2012 on the above subject and to stae that as per Western Railway’s report no instance of withholding of 100 sets of Passes and 100 sets of PTOs have come to notice on Bhavnagar Division. In so far as withholding of 30 sets of Passes and 40 sets of PTOs of a PWI on Vadodara Division is concerned, the application authority has already reduced the penalty to ‘withholding of three sets of pass’ on 1.3.2012.

 The federation will appreciate that existing rules already have provisions to look into orders of Disciplinary authority withholding a large number of Pass/PTOs. Guidelines (extracts enclosed) laying down that withholding of a large number a Passes/PTOs is not in keeping with the spirit of rules have also been issued under Master Circular No. 66 on “Penalties and Disciplinary Authorities” (Item No. 12 (iii)- Withholding of Passes/PTOs). (Pages 7&8). Any amendment in the rules is neither considered feasible of acceptance nor appears to be necessary.

DA: Extracts of Master

Cirucular No.66

(Pages 7&8)

Yours faithfully,

sd/-

For Secretary, Railway Board

9. Censure :

If at the end of the proceedings, it is found that some blame attaches to a Railway Servant, warning/Govt. Displeasure/Counselling which are not recognised penalties, should not be imposed, In such cases, at leastr the penalty of Censure should be imposed. (Board’s letter No.E(D&A)92 RG 6-149(A)/(B) dt 21.1.93.)

10. Withholding of promotion :

Even though withholding of promotion is a specified penalty under Rules 6, non promotion during the currency of the penalty of withholding of increment etc., will not amount to imposition of two penalties. A denial of Promotion in such circumstances is not a further penalty but a necessary consequence of his conduct.

(Board’s letter No.E(D&A)91 RG 6-68 dt. 22/29.10.91)

11. Recovery of Loss :

(i) In cases of loss caused to the Government by negligence, breach of orders, etc., on the part of an employee, it would be open to the competent authority to inflict, in addition to the penalty of recovery from pay of the loss caused, any one of the penalties specified in clauses 1 (i), (ii) and (iv) and clauses 2 (i) and (ii) of Rules 1707-RI (1959 Edition) (equivalent to the penalties specified in Rule 6 (i), (ii), iii(a), iii(b), (iv) and (vi) of RS(D&A) Rules, 1968), by way of one and the same order and in pursuance of one and the same proceddings, It would not amount to double punishment.

(Board’s letter No.E(D&A)62 RG 6-26 dt. 17.5.62).

(ii) In the case of large sums of recovery of losses, the instalments can be so fixed as not to cause undue hardship to the Railway Servant and his family.

(Board’s letter No.E(D&A) 2000 RG6-64 dt. 30.1.2001)

12. Withholding of Passes/PTOs

(i) The penalty of withholding of Passes/PTOs for a period of less than one year should be restricted to very minor offences as it may not prove to be an effective punishment, except for the slight inconvenience that may be caused during the period of the punishment since the employee can avail of all the Passes/PTOs due in the calendar year as soon as the period of punishment expires.

(Rly. Board’s letter No. E(D&A)61 RG 6-34 dt. 27.7.61).

(ii) In order to make the penalty of withholding of Passes/PTOs effective, the penalty should be imposed in terms of sets instead of for a specified period. In cases where the employee has already taken all the Passes/PTOs due in the calendar year, the withholding may be against the next year’s account

(Rly. Board’s letter No. E(D&A)66 RG 6-57 dated 14.12.1966).

iii) Though no ceiling has been laid down in RS(D&A) Rules with regard to number of sets of Passes/PTOs which can be withheld, withholding of a large number of Passes/PTOs is not in keeping with the spirit of Rules as also the fact that this is a minor penalty which can be imposed without regular inquiry.

(D.O letter No.E(D&A)97 RG 6-6 dt. 19/25.3.97 to N.E. Rly.)

(iv) Post-retirement complimentary Passes cannot be withheld as a penalty under the RS(D&A) Rules for offences committed during the service. The only penalty in such cases is a cut in the pensionary benefits under Rule 2308-RII (now incorporated as Rule 9 of Railway Servants (Pension) Rules, 1993).

(Rly. Board’s letter No.E(D&A)89 RG-56 dt. 29.5.89)

However, post-retirement complimentary passes can be disallowed in accordance with the provisions and procedure laid down in the Railway Servants (Pass) Rules for unauthorised retention of Railway quarter. For this purpose, provisions of RS(D&A) Rules need not be invoked.

(Rly. Board’s letter No.E(W)99 PS-5I/41 dt. 3.11.99)

13. Withholding of Increment :

(i) If a Railway Servant becomes due for promotion after the penalty of withholding of increment is imposed, he should be promoted only after expiry of the penalty. However, where the penalty of withholding of increment is to become operative from a future date, the employee should be promoted in his turn and the penalty imposed in the promotional grade for a period which would not result in a grater monetary loss.

(Rly. Board’s letter No.E(D&A)92 RG6-149(A) dt. 21.1.93 in respect of non-gazetted staff and No.E(D&A)92 RG-185 dt. 12.2.93 in respect of officers).

Source : NFIR