Secy to give reasons for delay in filling up vacancies:Cab Sec

Secretary of a ministry will now have to give reasons for delay in sending proposals for appointments or additional charge arrangements to Prime Minister-led Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC), the government has decided.
The move comes after noting instances of delay in processing of cases for appointments by the ACC.
"It is a matter of concern that despite existing guidelines, proposals for appointment or additional charge arrangements continue to be submitted for consideration of ACC at the eleventh hour, leaving the ACC with little time to adequately scrutinise the proposals which many a time, become a fait-accompli (something that cannot be changed), Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha said in a missive to all secretaries.

The proposals not submitted to the Establishment Officer's office at least two months in advance of the date of vacancy or ending of the additional charge arrangement would have to be accompanied by a "Delay Statement" duly signed by the secretary of the department indicating the time taken at various stages of processing the proposal, the reasons for delay and the action taken to avoid such situations in future, it said.
Despite reminders, the position with respect to central public sector enterprises and autonomous organisations, statutory bodies, tribunals, etc. Is not being regularly updated on the ACC Vacancy Monitoring System (AVMS) with the result that monitoring of vacancies and advance planning to fill them up becomes difficult, Sinha said.

Under the existing rules, the government servants are

required to inform their controlling officer before the journey on LTC is undertaken.
"It has now been decided that the leave sanctioning authority shall obtain a self-certification from the employee regarding the proposed LTC journey," the DoPT said.
In the new guidelines, the DoPT will be reminding government officials entitled to travel by air that they "are required to travel by Air India only in economy class" unless permitted to do so by any general or specific provision.
"Officers not entitled to travel by air may travel by any airlines, however, reimbursement in such cases shall be restricted to the fare of their entitled class of train or actual expense, whichever is less," it said.

In all cases whenever a government servant travels by air, he or she is required to book the air tickets either directly through the airlines or through the approved travel agencies -- M/s Balmer Lawrie & Co Ltd, M/s Ashok Tours and Travels Ltd, IRCTC. Booking of tickets through any other agency is not permissible, the DoPT said.
Travel on tour packages is not allowed, except in the case of tours conducted by Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), State Tourism Development Corporation (STDC) and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), it said in the new policy which is likely to be fine-tuned further on the basis of feedback received from others.

It has been decided that whenever a government servant applies for LTC, he or she may be provided with a copy of the 17-point guidelines which needs to be followed while availing LTC.