GOVT. UNVEILS MEASURES TO CHECK BUREAUCRATIC CORRUPTION

Mere retirement will not be a ground for dropping proceedings against corrupt government servants who will now face a 10 per cent cut in pension in case of minor penalty.

The present major penalty of compulsory retirement with full benefits will be changed hereafter with a cut of 20 per cent in pension.

The new rules will be effective under decisions made in the first report of the group of ministers on corruption headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.

In a bid to tackle corruption and to fast track cases of public servants accused of graft, the GoM has decided to eliminate certain tiers in consultation process.

These steps are part of a series of measures accepted by the government for immediate implementation following the recommendations made.

The government's decisions come in the wake of Anna Hazare's anti-corruption campaign for a Lokpal Bill that would also cover bureaucratic graft.

Until now, a government servant on the verge of retirement can escape proceedings for minor penalty. The GoM has now decided mere superannuation should not be a ground for dropping proceedings for minor penalty.

A cut in pension upto 10 per cent may be imposed in case of minor penalty. This cut will have a ceiling of five years as a life-long reduction in pension would come under the category of major penalty.

The existing major penalty of compulsory retirement with full benefits may be changed to compulsory retirement along with a provision that the competent authority may impose upto 20 per cent cut in pension.

However, there would be no cut in pension in those cases of compulsory retirement of officers being weeded out for non-performance.

The GoM has also decided to make the departments and ministries to primarily use serving officers as Inquiry and Presenting Officers in one of the steps towards speeding up the inquiry proceedings.

In important cases, the officers may request the central vigilance commission to appoint their commissioner of direct inquiries as IO.

The GoM is also of the opinion that CVC may also maintain a panel of IOs and POs from among retired officers after screening and empanelment. They could also be engaged on the advice of the CVC.

Taking into account that delays in sanction of prosecution of public servants, the GoM says that it was imperative that sanction should be decided expeditiously and within the prescribed time-frame of three months.

The GoM has recommended that in all cases where the investigating agency has sought sanction for prosecution and submitted a charge sheet along with it, the competent authority will have to take a decision within three months from the receipt of the request and pass a 'speaking order' with reasons.

If the permission is refused by the competent authority, the request should go to the next higher authority and if it is the minister and he too refuses he should submit the order within seven days to the Prime Minister.

The secretary of each ministry and department will monitor all cases where a request has been made for permission to prosecute and submit a certificate every month to the Cabinet Secretary to the effect that no case is pending for more than 3 months. Reasons for pendency of a case for more than three months should be explained.

Times of India, 11.09.2011

SB ORDER NO. 17/2011 : Admissibility of Commission to SAS agents- Clarifications

SB ORDER NO. 17/2011

No.116-01/2007-SB

Government of India

Ministry of Communications & IT

Department of Posts

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi-110001, Dated: 09.09.2011

To

All Heads of Circles/Regions

Addl. Director General, APS, New Delhi.

Subject:- Admissibility of commission to SAS Agents.

Sir / Madam,

The undersigned is directed to say that there are lot of audit paras raised by teams of DG P&T Audit in many circles regarding irregular commission paid to SAS agents where the investment was made exceeding the limit of Rs.50,000/- by cash at a time. One Draft Audit Para relating to Delhi and NE Circles has become CAG Para.

2. As per agency rules, prior to issue of SB Order No.3/2011 dated 11.3.2011, limit for acceptance of cash at a time from SAS agents was Rs.50,000/- which has now been reduced to Rs.10,000/-. In 2004, Regional Director, National Savings Institute, New Delhi vide letter no. Misc/2004 dated 3.11.2001 had intimated the Delhi Circle that agents are not entitled for commission on cash deposits of more than Rs., 50,000/- at a time. CAG Para was also referred to Min. of Finance (DEA) which opined that commission if paid in such cases is irregular and recovery of commission paid cannot be waived.

3. It is therefore requested that where any SAS agent deposited cash more than Rs.50,000/- at a time in any post office and commission was paid to him, the commission paid has to be recovered from the concerned agent if his agency is active and action should be taken against the officials responsible for accepting cash deposits exceeding the prescribed limit. Where the agent is inactive but his agency is not lapsed, his appointing authority may be asked to recover the amount from his security deposit. In case the agency of agent is expired and not further renewed or agent has already expired, such cases may be referred to this office.

4. In future, it may be ensured that no cash more than the prescribed limit of Rs.10,000/- at a time should be accepted from the SAS agents as no commission is payable on such irregular deposits.

5. It is requested that necessary action may be taken immediately to circulate this letter to field units and any violation of these orders by postal staff should be viewed seriously.

6. This issues with the approval of DDG(FS).

Yours faithfully,

(Kawal Jit Singh)

Assistant Director (SB)

Original Order Copy

For information: Criminal complaint can't hold up pension benefits

Mere registration of an FIR or filing of a charge sheet under the Prevention of Corruption Act is not enough to withhold the release of pension benefits due to a government servant. The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has ruled that final pension, gratuity, leave encashment or other such benefits due to a government servant on retirement cannot be held back in the event of a criminal complaint against him/her.

The ruling came from a bench of CAT chairman VK Bali and member Ramesh Chandra Panda, which ordered the ministry of finance and the Central Board of Direct Taxes to restore forthwith the full pension of VB Bansal, Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, and make payment of all arrears due within six weeks.

Invoking rule 69 of the Central Civil Service (Pension) Rules 1972, the government had withheld Bansal's final pension, gratuity, leave encashment and some other post-retirement benefits on the ground that a case of disproportionate assets registered against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation on February 2005 was still pending.

Bansal had contended that after investigation, the CBI sent a report to the court for cancellation of the FIR in 2007, and he could not be made to suffer if the court had not taken any decision even after four years. The government argued that if no decision had been taken by the Magistrate concerned, on the cancellation report sent by CBI, it shall be deemed that judicial proceedings were pending.

But the CAT rejected the government's arguments, saying: "It is only after the Magistrate may not accept the cancellation report and may order further investigation in the matter, and on such investigation, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) collects sufficient evidence, which may sustain conviction and the Magistrate may take cognisance, that judicial proceedings can be said to be pending against the applicant (Bansal)."

While ordering payment of full pension and post-retirement benefits to Bansal, the bench did not agree to payment of interest on the amount due.

"However, if the arrears as mentioned above and the withheld post-retiral dues are not released to the applicant within the time mentioned above, the applicant will be entitled to interest thereon at the rate of 9% per annum from that date till the date of actual payment," it added.

Courtesy: - Hindustan Times, 11.09.2011

Concessional rate of interest for Education Loan obtained by SC Students

Download Full Details

NSFDC is an institution under Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India for financing, facilitating and mobilizing funds for the economic empowerment of persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes families living below Double the Poverty Line. NSFDC finances income generation schemes for the target group through the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) nominated by respective State/UT Governments

Education Loan:

NSFDC provides education loan to students who are pursuing full time Professional/Technical courses. Educational Loan is meant to cover Admission Fees & Tuition Fees, Books, Stationery and other instruments required for the course, Examination Fee, Boarding Lodging expenses, Insurance premium for policy for insuring loanees against loan in case of death or permanent disability, Travel Expenses/Passage Money for studying abroad and Caution Money, Development Fund etc.

Eligibility:

Student(s) should be from the Scheduled Caste Community. The annual income of the student’s family should be below Double the Poverty Line i.e. Rs 40,000/- p.a. in rural areas and Rs 55,000/- p.a. in urban areas.

What is the procedure to apply for NSFDC loan?

The applicants should contact the SCAs if they wish to avail NSFDCs loans. The SCAs have officers in every District/Region. The applicants are required to submit application in NSFDC's format with details of business and copies of caste, income, experience at the district office. Offices of these agencies exist in every district where details of business and caste, family income, professional experience and documents related to activity are to be filled in NSFDC's format and submitted at the District Office. Name and contact numbers of State-wise SCAs is given at the end of FAQ.

List of NSAs: Click Here

Quantum of Assistance and Interest Rate:

Student	Loan Amount	Interest Rate per annum		Recovery/Repayment Period
		SCAs	Student
For student within India	Upto Rs 10.00 Lakh	1.5%	4%	Within 5 years in quarterly installment, including moratorium period. The moratorium period will be considered as six months after completion of the course or getting employment, whichever is earlier. However, the total currency of loan shall not exceed 10 years from the date of first disbursement.
For Abroad students	Upto Rs 20.00 Lakh	1.5%	4%	Within 5 years in quarterly installment, including moratorium period. The moratorium period will be considered as six months after completion of the course or getting employment, whichever is earlier. However, the total currency of loan shall not exceed 10 years from the date of first disbursement.

(0.5% rebate for Female Students)

Professional/technical courses covered by NSFDC Educational Loans:

Birth and Death of Greats - Study Materiel for various Departmental Examinations

Published by : http://rmssa.blogspot.com/
The Greats	Year of Birth	Year of Death
DR B R Ambedkar	1893	1956
George Washington	1732	1799
Joseph Stalin	1879	1953
Lal Bahdur Shastri	1904	1966
Alfred Einstein	1879	1955
C V Raman	1888	1970
Winston Churchill	1874	1965
Mother Teresa	1910	1998
Louis Pasteur	1822	1895
Christopher Columbus	1451	1506
Marco Polo	1254	1324
Bankim C Chatterjee	1838	1894
George Bernard Shaw	1856	1950
Leo Tolstoy	1828	1910
Rabindranath Tagore	1861	1941
Napoleon Bonaparte	1769	1821
Ramakrishna Paramahansa	1836	1886
Guru Nanak	1469	1539
Swami Vivekanda	1863	1902
Chandra Shekhar Azad	1905	1931
Pablo Picasso	1881	1973
Sarojini Naidu	1879	1949
Alexander Graham Bell	1847	1922
Shriniwas Ramanujan	1887	1920
Alexander Graham Bell	1847	1922
Martin Luther King	1929	1968
Mary Shelly	1797	1851
Isaac Newton	1642	1727
Vincent Van Gogh	1853	1890
Gandhi	1869	1948
Collected by S Jayachandran , System Administrator, Mavelikara Division,690101,9961464279

Solution to Collation error in the SpeedeNet released on 30082011

Its reported that Collation Error occurs in the following options in SQL 2008 Server.

1. Close Bag
2. BNPL Excel File Upload
3. BNPL Collection Articles (Range Scan)

Hence the solution is provide through the latest Dlls and Exe file.

Please do the following steps to update the solution.

1. Open the folder - DLL_N_Exe_08092011
2. Copy all the files and paste them into all Speednet client path.
( Deafult path is C:\progfram Files \ Speednet)
3. Register all the Dlls files.

Download or Download


Thank you

SpeedNet Team
CEPT, Mysore
email : support@ceptmysore.net

WHAT IS PAN? WHY IS IT NECESSARY? WHAT'S IT LEGAL FRAMEWORK?

WHAT IS PAN?

Permanent Account Number (PAN) is a ten-digit alphanumeric number, issued in the form of a laminated card, by the Income Tax Department, to any “person” who applies for it or to whom the department allots the number without an application.

PAN enables the department to link all transactions of the “person” with the department. These transactions include tax payments, TDS/TCS credits, returns of income/wealth/gift/FBT, specified transactions, correspondence, and so on. PAN, thus, acts as an identifier for the “person” with the tax department.

PAN was introduced to facilitates linking of various documents, including payment of taxes, assessment, tax demand, tax arrears etc. relating to an assessee, to facilitate easy retrieval of information and to facilitate matching of information relating to investment, raising of loans and other business activities of taxpayers collected through various sources, both internal as well as external, for detecting and combating tax evasion and widening of tax base.

A typical PAN is AFZPK7190K.

First three characters i.e. “AFZ” in the above PAN are alphabetic series running from AAA to ZZZ Fourth character of PAN i.e. “P” in the above PAN represents the status of the PAN holder. “P” stands for Individual, “F” stands for Firm, “C” stands for Company, “H” stands for HUF, “A” stands for AOP, “T” stands for TRUST etc.Fifth character i.e. “K” in the above PAN represents first character of the PAN

holder’s last name/surname.Next four characters i.e. “7190” in the above PAN are sequential number running

from 0001 to 9999.Last character i.e. “K” in the above PAN is an alphabetic check digit.

WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO HAVE PAN?

It is mandatory to quote PAN on return of income, all correspondence with any income tax authority. From 1 January 2005 it will be mandatory to quote PAN on challans for any payments due to Income Tax Department.It is also compulsory to quote PAN in all documents pertaining to the following financial transactions :-

(a) sale or purchase of any immovable property valued at five lakh rupees or more;

(b) sale or purchase of a motor vehicle or vehicle, [the sale or purchase of a motor

vehicle or vehicle does not include two wheeled vehicles, inclusive of any detachable

side-car having an extra wheel, attached to the motor vehicle;]

(c) a time deposit, exceeding fifty thousand rupees, with a banking company ;

(d) a deposit, exceeding fifty thousand rupees, in any account with Post Office

Savings Bank;

(e) a contract of a value exceeding one lakh rupees for sale or purchase of securities;

(f) opening a bank account;

(g) making an application for installation of a telephone connection (including a cellular telephone connection);

(h) payment to hotels and restaurants against their bills for an amount exceeding twenty-five thousand rupees at any one time ;

(i) payment in cash for purchase of bank drafts or pay orders or banker’s cheques for an amount aggregating fifty thousand rupees or more during any one day;

(j) deposit in cash aggregating fifty thousand rupees or more with a bank during any one day;

(k) payment in cash in connection with travel to any foreign country of an amount exceeding twenty-five thousand rupees at any one time.

PAN – LEGAL FRAMEWORK

The legal authority for allotment and use of the new series of PAN is derived from Section 139A of the Income-tax Act, 1961. This section lays down the framework for PAN, e.g, who is required to apply for PAN, who else can apply for PAN, who will allot PAN, transactions where PAN is required to be quoted, use of PAN in TDS certificates and TDS returns, that one person can have only one PAN and the manner

of applying for PAN.

The manner of applying for PAN is laid down in Rule 114 of the Income-tax Rules,1962. This rule, amended in 2003, also specifies the copies of documents required to be submitted along with the PAN application as proof of identity and address of the PAN applicant.

Rule 114B lists down the documents in which PAN is required to be quoted while entering into specified transactions/activities. Persons who do not have PAN are exempted from quoting PAN on furnishing a declaration in Form 60. Rule 114C lists the persons to whom section 139A does not apply. These are persons who have agricultural income by furnishing declaration in Form 61, non-residents, and Central Govt./State Govt. and Consular offices, where they are payers.

Penalty of Rs.10,000/- is imposable u/s 272B for failure to comply with the provisions of section 139A.

Courtesy : http://tkbsen.blogspot.com/

Govt officials to be allowed to use social media soon

Ahmedabad, The government is planning to put in place a framework for officials that would allow them to leverage the power of the social media, a top official of the Department of Information and Technology (DIT) said here.
“We are creating a framework that would help Central departments and officials to use social media like Facebook, Twitter effectively,” said Additional Secretary DIT, Shankar Aggarwal.
“We expect to give a final shape to it (framework) over the next two or three months and notify it,” he said.

“The idea is that they can enter into a dialogue with the public more freely, take suggestions, feedbacks and provide updates. It shall be more of a two-way rather than a one-way communication,” Aggarwal stated.
“Social media is being used extensively by civil society, but unfortunately, we do not have any framework for the Central government and state government,” he said.
“The government officials are scared of using the social media because they are not sure whether they are allowed to use it or not,” he added.
Meanwhile, the government is planning to introduce the Right to Public Services Act soon that would make it mandatory for the government entities to deliver public services in an electronic form too.
“We have already created a framework and for this (Act) and the framework is to be converted into a law. We think we will be able to introduce it in the next session of the Parliament and this will become a law,” he said.
“Under this, we shall be trying to ask the government entities to deliver all the public services in an electronic form also. It has to be achieved over the next five years,” he informed.
Aggarwal said they had been planning to develop a payment gateway for the entire country so that the people could pay electronically for various services.