New Delhi: The government may table four GST supplementary legislations in Parliament today, a union minister said.

We can do it today as well. A meeting on GST will be chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said when asked about tabling of the four GST bills in the Lok Sabha.

He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an infrastructure event here.

The Cabinet on Monday cleared the four GST related bills to enable roll out of the Goods and Services Tax from July 1.

The four bills are: the Central Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017, the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017, the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Bill 2017 and the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to the States) Bill 2017.

A source had told that the bills would be introduced as money bills in Parliament this week.

Yesterday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that he was hopeful of rolling out GST from July 1 which will create one of the world’s biggest single markets and make commodities cheaper and tax evasion difficult.

Jaitley said India has “hugely” a non-tax compliant society and the government banned higher denomination notes to curb the tendency of people to deal in cash that lead to tax evasion as well as terror financing.

PTI

The post Government may table 4 GST bills in Parliament today: Minister appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

The Union Cabinet is likely to consider tomorrow a draft amendment bill which seeks to double the ceiling of tax-free gratuity to Rs 20 lakh under the Payment of Gratuity Act.

Besides, the bill seeks to enable the central government to change the ceiling for tax free gratuity after factoring in rise in income levels by an executive order bypassing Parliament route to amend the law.

“The bill to amend the Payment of Gratuity Act is likely to be considered and approved by the Union Cabinet in its meeting scheduled tomorrow,” a source said.

After the amendment in the Act, formal sector workers would be eligible for up to Rs 20 lakh tax-free gratuity. Last month, the central trade unions had agreed on the proposal in a tripartite consultation with the Labour Ministry.

However, the unions had demanded the removal of conditions asking to have at least 10 employees in an establishment and minimum five years of service for payment of gratuity.

At present, as per the Payment of Gratuity Act, an employee is required to do minimum service of five years to become eligible for gratuity amount. Moreover, the Act applies to those establishments where the number of employees is not less than 10.

Trade unions had demanded that the amended provision regarding maximum amount should be made effective from January 1, 2016, as done in the case of central government employees.

Besides that rate of 15 days wages for each completed year of service be raised to 30 days wages, the unions had said during the tripartite meeting.

The proposed amendment to the Payment of Gratuity Act as circulated by the government only deals with enhancing the ceiling of maximum amount under Section 4(3) of the Act from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh.

The proposed amendment is being brought to bring the maximum ceiling amount to Rs 20 lakh in line with the 7th Central Pay Commission’s recommendations as accepted by the government.

The relevant amendment for central government employees was notified on July 25, 2016 and the enhanced amount ceiling was made effective from January 1, 2016.

The unions were of the view that the delay of eight months for employees covered under the Payment of Gratuity Act should not result in adversely affecting the interest of the concerned employees.

The employers as well as state representatives had also agreed to the proposal of raising the amount of gratuity to Rs 20 lakh in the tripartite meeting held last month.

Source: Money Control

The post Central government to change the ceiling for tax free gratuity appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

7th CPC Allowance Committee Report Submitted to the Government or not?

Was the 7th CPC Allowance Committee Report submitted to the government as early as February 22?

A high-level committee, under the chairmanship of Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa was constituted by the Central Government to review the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations regarding the allowances being given to the Central Government employees. According to information, the committee had already submitted its report on February 22.

Irrespective of who possesses the report now – the committee or the government – what is more intriguing is the recommendations that it contains.

One could see that the 7th Pay Commission suggested either rationalization or simplification at many places. An example is the Pay Matrix Table, which has now brought the entire Pay Structure of more than 35 lakh employees under one Table. Although there are some anomalies, the system has dramatically simplified the process of annual increment calculation and also pay fixation on Promotion or MACP.

At present 196 different kinds of allowances are being given to the Central Government employees. Some modifications have been recommended in these too as part of the rationalization and simplification drive. The Seventh Pay Commission has recommended the abolition of 52 allowances. And another 36 allowances have been abolished as separate identities, but subsumed either in an existing allowance or in newly proposed allowances.

The Commission said that the entire range of allowances is administered in broadly four ways. Fully DA indexed Allowances, Partially or Semi DA indexed Allowances, No DA indexation Allowances and Percentage based Allowances. House Rent Allowance is being under the category of Percentage based Allowances. The Commission also said that the compensation towards the housing needs of Central Government employees is covered in many ways. The Commission finally suggested that the percentage based allowances by a factor of 0.8, the Commission recommends that HRA should be rationalized to 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively.

The big irritation, or rather disappointment to the Central Government employees was the recommendation to reduce the percentage of House Rent Allowance (HRA).

All trade unions have expressed their harsh opposition to the proposed cuts in HRA. The Central Government employees’ Federations also expressed their disappointment through various protest. Finally the Central Government accepted to constitute a high level committee to examine the recommendations of 7th Pay Commission regarding Allowances.

Now, sources claim that the committee has already submitted its report to the government.

The government can announce its final decision on the recommendations of the committee any day. But, many believe that there could be a delay in the announcements due to the state elections that are being held in various parts of the country and the election commission’s guidelines that are being enforced now.

Unconfirmed reports say that the committee has recommended the percentage rates of HRA as per 6th CPC and changes in the method of calculating Transport Allowances also.

The biggest mystery however is – will these recommendations be given retrospective effect and will arrears be given?

Three dates are currently being suggested – January 1, 2016; August 1, 2016; and April 1, 2017.

Only the Central Government has all the answers right now.

The post Was the 7th CPC Allowance Committee Report submitted to the government as early as February 22? appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

New Delhi: The IT Ministry today launched botnet cleaning and anti-malware analysis centre for Rs 90 crore to provide free anti-virus to computers and mobile phones for removing malicious softwares

“I would like ISPs (Internet Service Provider) to encourage their consumers to come on board, there is a free service available. Come and use it in the event some malware has sneaked in to the system,” IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at the launch of Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) will collect data of infected systems and send it to ISPs and banks. These ISPs and banks will identify the user and provide them the link of the centre, launched in name of Cyber Swachhta Kendra.

The user will be able to download anti-virus or anti-malware tools to disinfect their devices.

“The project has budget outlay of Rs 90 crore spread over period of 5 years,” CertIn Director General Sanjay Bahl said.

As of now 58 ISPs and 13 banks have come on board to use this system.

The ministry also launched M-Kavach for security and anti-theft solution for mobile phones, USB Pratirodh to ensure only authorised person is able to access pen drive and AppSamvid for identifying genuine applications at the time of installations on computers.

The minister directed Cert-In to also set up National Cyber Coordination Centre (NCCC) by June.

The government has approved Rs 900 crore for NCCC which will monitor and handle cyber attacks on Indian internet space in real time.

“Safety and security is integral. As the Prime Minister said cyber threat is akin to bloodless war. I don’t have slightest doubt cyber security is not only going to be big area of Digital Swachh Bharat but also going to be big area of digital growth, digital employment and digital commerce,” Prasad said.

To encourage startups in the field of cyber security, the minister announced that government has reduced testing fee for their product by half.

At present Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC), a division under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, charges testing fee in the range of Rs 8-10 lakh per case but startups in the field of cyber security will need to pay only around 4-5 lakhs.

To strengthen cyber security ecosystem in the country, Prasad said that CERTs will be set up at state level as well and 10 more STQC testing facilities will set up.

PTI

The post Government launches free anti-virus for PC, mobile phones appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

It has been more than six months since the Narendra Modi government cleared the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission

Government employees are, however, yet to enjoy the full benefits of the recommendations with the decision on allowances still to be announced.

The 7th pay commission recommendations cover more than one crore government employees and pensioners. The commission recommended a 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay.

HOW MR. ARUN JAITLEY SAVED CRORES FOR THE GOVERNMENT:

1. The hike in basic pay has resulted in a marginal increase in the total salary drawn by government employees. This is because allowances form a sizeable chunk of their pay.

2. Till date, the government has not made announcements on when exactly does it plan to start giving out the allowances to its employees.

3. The government had asked the Committee on Allowances headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa to review the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission on allowances.

4. The government has given the committee an extension up to February 22, 2017 to submit its report on higher allowances. In October last year, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa had said the committee was ready with its report.

However, no extension of period was asked by the committee, but still the government delayed the implementation by this extension.

5. The government’s dilly-dally on allowances has largely been attributed to demonetisation and the Assembly elections in five states. The 7th Pay Commission has recommended scrapping 53 of the 196 allowances, and merging a few others.

6. The hiked salary, as per the recommendations of the pay commission, is given in two parts. The increase in the basic salary is calculated from the time the government implements the recommendations of the commission, i.e. on a back date basis. As a result, employees are eligible for arrears on their basic pay.

7. The increase in allowances, however, is applicable from the date the government decides to disburse it. Therefore, government employees are not entitled to arrears.

8. Usually, once the recommendations of the pay commission are approved, the increase in basic pay is followed by an increase in allowances.

9. It is widely believed that the government will decide on a hike in allowances once the Assembly elections are over. In other words, employees can expect to get allowances from April, which marks the beginning of the new financial year.

So, finally the government has acted smart, the government has effectively saved a lot of money this financial year by not making an announcement on allowances. Government employees, on the other hand, have expressed their disappointment over being denied the full remuneration for a long time, but who cares about it!

Source: India Today

The post 7th Pay Commission: How Jaitley saved Crores of Rupees this Financial year appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

New Delhi: Government is hopeful of getting the supporting legislations of Goods and Services Tax (GST) passed by Parliament in the second phase of the Budget session for rolling out the new indirect tax regime by July.

Replying to a question on GST bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar on Thursday said, “That is on the plate. GST council is meeting on 18th and it will be decided after that, but we are hopeful that supporting GST bills will be passed in the next phase of the session.”

The government is hopeful of getting Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) draft legislations approved at the next GST Council meeting on February 18 and bring them in the second half of the ongoing Budget Session along with GST Compensation Act.

While the CGST will subsume central taxes of excise, central sales tax and service tax, IGST is to be charged on movement of goods and services from one state to another.

States will also have to enact SGST or State Goods and Service Tax laws with minor variation incorporating state based exemptions.

Also, a GST Compensation Act needs to be approved by Parliament to provide for compensation to states that lose revenue because of implementation of GST in the first five years.

The GST bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha during the monsoon session last year.

PTI

The post Government Hopeful of Passing GST Bills in next phase of Budget Session appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

The government is expected to announce higher allowances for 4.8 million central government employees and 5.2 million pensioners in March with a view to give a boost to its employees.

After Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday in his Budget speech announced the reduction of the existing rate of taxation for salaried class with income ranging between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh to 5% instead of 10%.

the Finance Minister also said in his budget that there would be zero tax liability for people getting income up to Rs 3 lakhs p.a. and the income tax liability will only be Rs 2,500 for people with income between Rs 3 and Rs 3.5 lakhs.

The Finance Ministry is hopeful for the announcement of higher allowances in March after the completion of five states assemblies’ poll process as the model code of conduct has come into effect from January 4, the sources in the Ministry told us on condition of anonymity.

They also said higher allowances under the 7th Pay Commission recommendations should implement which would give them some financial comfort, a step they had hoped might be taken to implement in April in new financial year.

The implementation is to come in April after nine to ten months of getting basic pay hike of the central government employees.

Sources, however, said the government had no plan to give allowances in arrears from August for the central government employees.

“There’s no arrears on allowances will be given to employees,” they confirmed.

The pay commission had recommended abolition of 51 allowances and subsuming 37 others out of 196 allowances.

So the government hiked the basic pay and referred hike in allowances other than dearness allowance to the ‘Committee on Allowances’ headed by the Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa for examination.

The ‘Committee on Allowances’ has finalized the report on the allowances in October, however the government gave extension the committee till February 22, 2017 to submit its report for getting normalized the cash crunch period.

After getting the report on the allowances, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to announce the higher allowances in mid-March.

TST

The post Government is expected to announce higher allowances in March : Budget 2017 appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

Recommendations of the Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee were submitted to defence minister Manohar Parrikar

The report also touches upon the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff

In order to enhance their combat capabilities, a key defence ministry panel has made several recommendations including increasing the retirement age of jawans by two years, doing away with manpower in non-combat arms and shutting down military farms.

The recommendations of the Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee were submitted to defence minister Manohar Parrikar almost three weeks ago.

The report also touches upon the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff – who would be the single point contact for the military with the government.

The main aim of the committee was to suggest means to cut down on useless expenditure and use the savings to acquire and enhance fighting capabilities of the army.

One of the most important recommendations of the committee was to increase the retirement age of jawans by two years, which will help the army save a significant amount on pensions and training of personnel.

Army jawans retire after serving a minimum of 17 years and depending upon their promotion while in service.

‘If the recommendations are accepted, jawans and junior commissioned officers till the rank of subedar major will get two more years of service,’ ministry sources told Mail Today.

‘This will reduce the cost of training new jawans along with the problem of providing them reemployment. Of the one million jawans in the army, almost 60,000 retire every year.

‘For two years, the forces can also save on recruiting new manpower,’ they said.

The Shekatkar committee has also suggested ‘optimising’ non-combat support arms in the army such as supply corps, ordnance and electrical and mechanical engineers who service cars and heavy vehicles.

‘Even in remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, one can get private agencies close to the border to service and repair army vehicles,’ the sources said.

Same applies for certain functions of the supply and ordnance corps like supplying rations and clothes to the forces.

Their roles can be limited to during war and other critical assignments.

The committee has also recommended abolishing military and dairy farms, where several thousand army personnel and a considerable number of officers are involved in mundane tasks like cattle rearing and growing vegetables.

The committee has also called for downsizing the remount veterinary corps, which looks after horses and mules for ceremonial as well as operations in the higher Himalayan regions of J&K and Arunachal Pradesh.

‘With helicopters and road networks allowing vehicles to reach the last points of border areas and mountains, there is no need to maintain such a large force of mules,’ the sources said.

The NCC is also on the radar of the Shekatkar committee as a large number of officers from the Army are sent there.

‘The committee feels that retiring personnel can be trained and sent there as re-employment. This will save the army the regular personnel for operational duties,’ the sources said.

Source : dailymail.co.uk

The post Recommendations of the Lt Gen Shekatkar Committee – Raise in the Retirement Age of Jawans by Two Years appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

New Delh: Tightening the noose around tax evaders, the government has asked banks to obtain permanent account number (PAN) or Form-60 if PAN is not available, from all bank account holders by February 28, 2017.

“Income-tax Rules have been amended to provide that bank shall obtain and link PAN or Form No. 60 (where PAN is not available) in all existing bank accounts (other than BSBDA) by February 28, 2017, if not already done,” a notification by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stated today.

The persons who are having bank accounts but have not submitted PAN or Form No 60 are advised to submit the PAN or Form No 60 to the bank by February 28, 2017, the notification stated.

However, this rule will not apply to Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDA), which are zero balance savings accounts, including Jandhan accounts.

The BSBDA were introduced to take care of simple banking needs of people, which come with free ATM card, monthly statement and cheque book.

Last month, RBI had mandated that no withdrawal shall be allowed from the accounts having substantial credit balance/deposits if PAN or Form No.60 is not provided in respect of such accounts.

It further said that the banks and post offices had also been mandated to submit information in respect of cash deposits from April 1, 2016 to November 8, 2016 in accounts where the cash deposits during the period November 9, 2016 to December 30, 2016 exceeds the specified limits.

It has also been provided under the new rules that person who is required to obtain PAN or Form No.60 shall record the PAN/Form.No.60 in all the documents and quote the same in all the reports submitted to the Income-tax Department.

PTI

The post Government asks banks to obtain PAN from account holders appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

Three decades after their battle began, and despite a victory in the Supreme Court in September, several thousand retired central government employees are yet to get their pension restored.

Unwilling to let the octogenarians celebrate with pension benefits, the Centre filed a review petition in the top court last month and decided to implement the restoration subject to its outcome. The Union ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions issued an office memorandum on December 21to give former central government employees who had litigated for years, including K Ganesan, a spearheading litigant who died during the process, this bittersweet news.

The issue centres around a pension rule that permitted central government employees to shift en masse from the 1960s to the 1980s to public sector undertakings (PSUs) that needed experienced workers at the time. To aid and promote the move, the Centre allowed the employees to avail of 100% lump sum pension in advance for 15 years.

The rules had till then permitted a partial one third commutation. Acomplicated formula is at work for pension calculations.Essentially, such employees who had claimed a lump sum upfront in a particular year, went on to fight for restoration of pension (effectively arrears) as per service years, after accounting for the lump sum payment made earlier. The issue was a fight against effective downgrade of pension slabs.

Several legal battles ensued, beginning in 1983. In 1987, the SC first allowed one-third restoration for Central government employees after a 15-year period, and a decade later extended the benefit to those who had shifted to PSUs.

K Ganesan, who was with the finance ministry and in 1986 moved to BHEL, a PSU, after availing of lump sum pension in advance, launched a fight in the Madras high court.In 2007, the court upheld the plea.

It significantly held that the Centre cannot wipe away the rights of an employee for restoration. It said an employee remains a pensioner under the Pensions Act, 1871. Navi Mumbai resident Satish Kate, part of another association and who worked with the Indian Bureau of Mines and retired in 2006 from Indian Oil Corporation, is among those awaiting restoration.

“Many of the 7,000-odd pensioners are aged over 80. They may not live to enjoy pension in their lifetime if the legal battle continues,” he said. ” The SC order applies to all of us who were absorbed by PSUs.The PM heads the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pension.”

Source: TOI

The post Retired Central Employees Win War in Supreme Court – Alas! Stalled by the Government : Pension News appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.