Imposition of un-warranted quantum of minor penalty – reg: Railway board reply to NFIR

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(RAILWAY BOARD) 

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 state
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

Circular No.66

(Pages 7&8)

Yours faithfully,

sd/-

For Secretary, Railway Board

Extracts of Master Circular No. 66 issued by M/O Railways

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-5-1/41 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