Govt mulling e-transfer of leave encashment

Soon, central government employees will get disbursal of leave encashment in their bank accounts before retirement.

A proposal in this regard is being worked out in consultation with pay and accounts officers of the departments concerned.

All central government departments have also been told to keep a check on employees' leaves and to ensure they do not exceed the maximum limit of 315 days to avoid any litigation or legal proceedings for want of extra payment in lieu of them.

It has been brought to the notice of the Ministry of Personnel that the administrative authorities concerned are not ensuring that dues, as admissible to a government servant retiring on attaining the age of superannuation, are promptly paid.

"This has led to avoidable litigation where courts have been directing payment of interest on such delayed payments. It has been observed... That the delays in such payments are predominantly due to avoidable administrative reasons related to the processing of such cases," a Ministry of Personnel order said.

However, delays in reckoning the leave accumulation at the credit of government servant at any stage, particularly at the time of his retirement on superannuation, cannot be acceptable and can be construed as being an administrative lapse.

"All cases of delay may be looked into and delays in disbursement of dues to government servants retiring on attaining the age of superannuation be avoided," it said in a missive issued recently to all central government departments.

Administrative authorities may consider putting in place a mechanism to check such delays and define various processing parameters and timelines, viz. Issuance of orders in respect of such retiring government servants who have 300+15 days earned leave at their credit on the 20th of the month in which they are retiring as any leave availed by such government servants shall not impact the maximum ceiling of encashment, it said.

The possibility of e-transfer of dues can also be worked out in consultation with respective Pay and Accounts officers, according to the missive.

All departments have been directed that the dues of leave encashment in respect of government servants retiring on attaining the age of superannuation are discharged with due promptness.

It may be ensured that sanction orders in this regard are issued timely, so that dues admissible to the government servants on attaining the age of superannuation, on account of encashment of leave, are discharged as soon as possible, preferably on the next working day following the date of their retirement on superannuation.

There are about 50 lakh central government employees.