Rajyasabha Secretariat – Discontinuation of time-based promotion/financial upgradation Schemes and introduction of Career Progression Scheme
RAJYA SABHA SECRETARIAT
PARLIAMENT HOUSE ANNEXE
NEW DELHI
Dated the 7th January, 2020
RECRUITMENT AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE ORDER
(No. 1/2020)
Subject: Discontinuation of existing time-based promotion/financial upgradation Schemes and introduction of Career Progression Scheme.
In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-rule (2) of Rule 4 and Rule 5 of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 1957, and pursuant to the recommendations of the Review and Anomaly Committee, the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, hereby, makes the following Order amending the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Methods of Recruitment and Qualifications for Appointment) Order, 2017, namely:-
1. Short title and commencement
(i) This Order may be called the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Methods of Recruitment and Qualifications for Appointment) Amendment Order, 2020.
(ii) It shall come into force with effect from 1st January, 2020.
2. Amendment of the Order
(a) In the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Methods of Recruitment and Qualifications for Appointment) Order, 2017, for the existing Para 7 (along with Appendix-I), the following shall be substituted: –
“7A. Discontinuation of Scheme of in situ promotion
(i) The Scheme of in situ promotion shall be discontinued with effect from 1st January, 2020.
(ii) The persons who have already been promoted to the next higher grade on in situ basis before 1st January, 2020 shall be adjusted against regular vacancies in the grade as and when they would have been promoted against such vacancies but for their in-situ promotion and as per the recruitment rules and other applicable instructions. To the extent, such persons are adjusted against regular vacancies, these shall be deemed to have been filled up by promotion. The service rendered by the employee on in situ basis shall, however, be treated as regular service for the purpose of promotion to the next grade.
7 B. Career Progression Scheme
(i) The Career Progression Scheme shall come into force with effect from 1st January, 2020. The benefits of financial upgradation as provided herein will be applicable up to Level 15 in the Pay Matrix, corresponding to the Higher Administrative Grade (HAG).
(ii) An employee fulfilling eligibility criteria prescribed under this Scheme prior to the date of implementation shall be deemed to have fulfilled the eligibility criteria with effect from the date of implementation of the Scheme. Thereafter, the benefits of financial upgradation under the Scheme shall be made with effect from the date of fulfilling eligibility criteria as has been prescribed in the Scheme, irrespective of the date of approval of the competent authority.
(iii) There shall be four financial upgradations under the Scheme counted from the direct entry grade on completion of 8, 16, 24, 32 years of service respectively. Financial upgradation under the Scheme will be admissible whenever a person has spent 8 years continuously in the same pay scale.
Illustrations:
(a) If an employee appointed to a post by direct recruitment, does not get any promotion within 8 years of his appointment, he will be placed in the next pay- scale on completion of 8 years of service. If he has not got any promotion even after 16 years of service, he will be placed in the pay-scale two levels higher than the pay-scale of the post of his direct recruitment.
(b) If an employee appointed by direct recruitment at the level of L10 in the pay matrix gets his first regular promotion to L11 of the pay matrix after completion of 5 years of service and continues in the same scale of pay for further 8 years, he will be eligible for second financial upgradation to L12 of pay matrix under the Scheme after completion of 13 (5+8) years of service.
(c) In case, an employee gets first promotion from L3 to L4 in 5 years, second financial upgradation after 13 years (5+8) but does not get any promotion for further 8 years, then he will get third financial upgradation after completion of 8 years from the second financial upgradation i.e., after 21 years of completion of total service (5+8+8).
(d) In case an employee gets first promotion from L10 to L11 in 5 years, second financial upgradation from L11 to L12 after 13 years (5+8), second promotion to L12 after further 7 years i.e., after 20 years of service (5+8+7) and does not get any further promotion till the completion of 8 years of service in the pay-scale of L12, he will get third financial upgradation to L13 on completion of 8 years from second financial upgradation i.e., after completion of 21 years of service (5+8+8).
(e) An employee is appointed to the post of Secretariat Assistant by direct recruitment. He is promoted to the post of Senior Secretariat Assistant through departmental competitive examination. He has consumed one financial upgradation under the Scheme inasmuch as appointment by limited departmental competitive examination is a form of promotion.
(f) An employee is appointed to the post of Secretariat Assistant by direct recruitment. He is promoted to the post of Senior Secretariat Assistant through departmental competitive examination. Subsequently, he is appointed to the post of Personal Assistant (earlier designated as Stenographer) by direct recruitment and gets promoted to the post of Assistant Private Secretary (earlier designated as Personal Assistant) through limited departmental competitive examination. Thereafter, he is appointment to the post of Parliamentary Reporter through limited departmental competitive examination. For the purpose of the Scheme, he would be treated to have been appointed by direct recruitment to the post of Stenographer and have consumed two financial upgradations/ promotions, one to the post of Assistant Private Secretary and another to the post of Parliamentary Reporter.
(iv) The employee will be placed in the immediate next higher scale of pay in the hierarchy of pay scales as existing in the Secretariat. Thus, in some cases where regular promotion is not between two successive pay-scales existing in the Secretariat, the pay on financial upgradation under the Scheme will be different from the pay-scale of the promotional post. In such cases, the pay-scale attached to the promotional post in the hierarchy will be given only at the time of regular promotion or at the time of next upgradation of pay-scale under the Scheme, whichever is earlier.
Note 1: There is a post of Director (Security) in the Secretariat in the pay-matrix L-13A. It is an ex-cadre post to be filled on deputation post. The said scale will be treated as non- existent for the purpose of the Scheme.
Note 2: The officers who were directly promoted from the post of Executive Officer (EO) to the post of the then Deputy Director (now designated as Deputy Secretary) will be treated to have consumed two financial upgradations from the post of EO to Deputy Secretary.
Note 3: The Parliamentary Pay Committee has declared the post of Additional Director as a dying cadre. If a person has got promotion from the post of Deputy Secretary or equivalent to the post of Additional Director, it will be presumed that he has not been promoted under the Scheme and will be entitled to get the pay-scale of Director (Level 13) after completing 8 years of service in the grade of Deputy Secretary or equivalent (Level 12).
(v) Pay of an employee on financial upgradation will be fixed the same way as is fixed at the time of regular promotion. He will be entitled to financial and other benefits linked to the pay drawn by an employee like HBA, entitlement to Government accommodation, pension benefits etc. There shall be no further fixation of pay at the time of regular promotion if pay scale of the promotion post and the pay scale of financial upgradation are the same.
(vi) An employee will have an option under FR-22 (1) (a) (1) to get his pay fixed in the higher post/ pay-scale either from the date of his promotion / upgradation or from the date of his next increment.
(vii) Promotions earned/ upgradations granted to an employee under any Scheme in the past to those grades which now carry the same pay-scale due to merger of pay scales/ upgradations of posts shall be ignored for the purpose of granting financial upgradations under the Scheme.
(viii) Service for the purpose of the Scheme shall commence from the date of joining of a post in direct entry grade on regular basis on direct recruitment and shall include all periods spent on deputation/foreign service, study leave and all other kinds of leave duly sanctioned by the competent authority. Service rendered on ad-hoc/ contract basis before regular appointment shall not be taken into reckoning. However, past continuous regular service under the Central Government or the Lok Sabha Secretariat in a post carrying same pay-scale prior to regular appointment in the Secretariat, without a break, shall be counted towards qualifying service for the purpose of the Scheme. Past service rendered by an employee under a State Government/ Statutory body/Autonomous body/ Public Sector Organization, before appointment in the Secretariat shall not be counted towards Service under the Scheme.
(ix) The Scheme shall be applicable to work charged employees, if their service conditions are comparable with the staff on regular establishment. Service rendered as Sessional Messenger before 11th April, 2017 and as SMTS as per Casual Laboure (Grant of Temporary Status) Scheme, 2017 shall qualify for benefits under the Scheme. However, irrespective of the date of eligibility, financial upgradation under the Scheme in such cases shall be considered only after appointment in the Secretariat on regular basis and satisfactory completion of the probation period.
(x) Financial upgradation under the Scheme shall be subject to fulfilment of ‘benchmark’ applicable for regular promotion to the promotional post and other rules governing normal promotion.
(xi) If financial upgradation under the Scheme is not allowed on completion of 8 years of service in a pay-scale due to the reason of the employee being unfit for promotion or due to departmental proceedings, etc., subsequent financial upgradation will also get deferred to the extent of delay in grant of previous financial upgradation.
(xii) There shall be no change in the designation, seniority, classification or status of an employee who is granted financial upgradation under the Scheme. As the financial upgradation is personal, no financial upgradation shall be granted to an employee on the ground that his junior in the grade has got higher pay under the Scheme.
(xiii) Reservation orders shall not apply to the Scheme as this is only financial upgradation personal to the employee. Rules of reservation in promotion shall be ensured at the time of regular promotion.
(xiv) If an employee, who is offered regular promotion before becoming entitled to a financial upgradation under the Scheme, refuses to accept such regular promotion, he shall not be granted financial upgradation under the Scheme because he has not stagnated due to lack of opportunities. If, however, financial upgradation under the Scheme has already been granted to the employee and he subsequently refuses the promotion, it shall not be a ground to withdraw the financial upgradation already granted to him. He shall, however, not be eligible to be considered for further financial upgradation till he agrees to be considered for promotion. If the employee is debarred for promotion due to refusal to accept regular promotion, his next financial upgradation shall be deferred to the extent of period of debarment due to the refusal of regular promotion.”
(b) In the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Methods of Recruitment and Qualifications for Appointment) Order, 2017, Para 8 shall be deleted.
(c) In the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Methods of Recruitment and Qualifications for Appointment) Order, 2017, in clauses (e) and (f) of Para 9, wherever the term ‘in situ promotion’ occurs, it shall be deleted.
(d) In the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Methods of Recruitment and Qualifications for Appointment) Order, 2017, Para 10 along with Appendix II shall be deleted.
3. Amendment to the Schedule
The Schedule to the Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Methods of Recruitment and Qualifications for Appointment) Order, 2017, read with Recruitment and Conditions of Service Orders (No. 1 and 2 of 2018) is amended as follows: –
A) The Printing and Publications Service
(i) At Column No. 4 of Sl. No. 11 against the name of the post of ‘Reprographer Grade-II’, the existing entry shall be deleted.
(ii) At Column No. 5 of Sl. No. 11 against the name of the post of ‘Reprographer Grade-II’, for the existing entry, the following shall be substituted-
“This is a dying cadre and no appointment to this grade shall be effected forthwith.”
B) The Editorial and Translation Service
(i) At Column No. 5 of Sl. No. 7 against the name of the post of ‘Translator’, for the existing entry under the Sub-Heading ‘Note’, the following shall be substituted-
“Note: The direct recruit candidates applying for appointment to the grade shall be required to qualify in a typing test on computer at the speed of either 26.7 words per minute (8000 key depression per hour) in English typewriting or 21 words per minute (5250 key depressions per hour) in Hindi typewriting on computer, prior to such appointment. However, those who have already been appointed to the grade and have not yet qualified the typing test and those who are appointed subsequently against vacancies advertised in the grade vide Advt. Nos. 1/2016 and 1/2017, shall continue to remain on probation and will not earn their increments till such time they qualify in a typing test on Computer at the speed of either 26.7 words per minute (8000 key depression per hour) in English typewriting or 21 words per minute (5250 key depressions per hour) in Hindi typewriting on computer. The candidates who are unable to qualify in such a typing test within 5 years from the date of their appointment shall be discharged from the service of the Secretariat.”
DESH DEEPAK VERMA
SECRETARY-GENERAL
No. RS/14/1/2019-Perl.
Dated the 7th January, 2020
Source: Rajya Sabha Click here to view/download the PDF
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