Regulation of journey by Private Airlines/Economy class of Air India while availing LTC to Port Blair (A& N Islands)

 It has been communicated by the Directorate vide Asstt Director General (Estt) letter no 16-16/2010-PAP dtd 15.02.2011 that Department of Personnel and Trainig has clarified that the spirit of OM no  31011/2/2006-Estt (A) dtd 21.05.2007 equally applies to cases of non – entitled officers who travel to Port Blair by Air on LTC and directed to restrict the air fares to entitled class of ship from Kolkata to Port Blair and back.

It is further intimated that ,the Nodal Ministry i.e Department of Personnel and Training reiterated the instruction of 21-5-2007 in their further OM 31011/2/2006- Estt (A) dtd 11-3-2010 and the claims of officers non- entitled for Air and if they perform journey by Air on a private Airline or Air India, on Leave Travel Concession to Port Blair, may be regulated as indicated below :-

i)                   the restriction of travel by Air India and their alliance flights applies to officers who are entitled to travel by air i.e having a grade pay of Rs.5400/- and above and that this does not apply to non-entitled officers.

ii)                 Non-entitled officers can travel either by Air India or private airlines but their claim is to be restricted to entitled class of ship fare from Kolkata to Port Blair and back..

iii)               In case , the ship fare is more than the air fare , the lowest of the amounts spent has to be allowed as claim.

                                                        CHQ NEWS

Dte NO-     9-1/2011- SPG dtd 12.01.2011

Sub :- DPC for promotion to the post of PS GROUP –B for the vacancy year 2011.

Postal directorate has called for ACRs and Vigilance clearance reports of the following officers of this circle for promotion to Postal Service Group – ‘B’ for the vacancy year -2011  :-

Sl No	Name of the officer	Batch	SC/ST	Remarks
1	Tanima Ghosh	1984	-
2	Shyamal kanti Hazra	1987	-
3	Chhanda Das	1987	-
4	Babi Lahiri	1987	-
5	Somnath Paul	1987	-
6	Md. Abdul Haque	1987	-
7	S.Sreenivasagan	1988	-	APS
8	Jharna tokdar	1988	-
9	B.P.Pattanayak	1988	-	APS
10	Asit baran Roy	1988	-
11	Chandan Goswami	1988	-
12	Debabrata Bhattacherjee	1988	-
13	Saumen Sarkar	1988	-
14	Amar Ch Majumder	1988	-
15	Barun Ch Ghosh	1988	-
16	Subhash ch Biswas	1988	-
17	Goutam Tarafder	1988	-
18	Pradip Kr Dey	1988	-
19	Shibsankar Chandra	1988	-
20	S.K. Bhattcherjee	1988	-	APS
21	Debasis Som	1988	-
22	Ratan kr Mukherjee	1988	-
23	Rajendra soreng	1988	ST
24	Ranjit Halder	1989	SC
25	Shibaprasad Bag	1989	SC
26	Manoj Kr Halder	1989	SC
27	Nikhil ch Mondal	1989	SC
28	Mahangi	1989	SC
29	Awadesh Kumar	1989	ST
30	Rambali	1990	SC
31	Sri Ram	1990	SC	APS
32	Surya Bali	1990	ST

INTEREST RATES ON PF (PROVIDENT FUND)

INTEREST RATES ON PF (PROVIDENT FUND)

 

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) Finance Ministry is likely to give green signal to payment of 9.5 per cent interest rate on provident fund deposits during 2010-11, a senior government official said today.

"We can get ratification on 9.5 per cent for the fiscal from Finance Ministry any moment before March 31, 2011", Labour Secretary P C Chaturvedi said.

He was speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the highest policy making body of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

Although CBT, which is headed by labour minister, had decided to give a higher return of 9.5 per cent on provident fund deposits for 2010-11, the Finance Ministry had expressed its reservation on the move.

Source : PTI

TAX EXEMPTION ON GRATUITY

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

TAX EXEMPTION ON GRATUITY

The Government has hiked the limits of gratuity payment from Rs 3.5 lakhs to Rs 10 lakhs. This enhanced limit is applicable to employees who retire, become incapacitated before retirement, expire or whose services were terminated on or after May 24, 2010.
As per Section 10(10) of Income Tax Act, gratuity is paid when an employee completes five or more years of full-time service with the employer. In respect of Government employees, any death-cum-retirement gratuity received under the Pension Rules or Scheme of the Central or State Government, or regulations applicable to the members of defence services, is not taxable.
In case of gratuity received under the Gratuity Act, 1972, any gratuity received to the extent that it does not exceed an amount calculated in accordance with the provisions of the Gratuity Act is not taxable. For employees receiving gratuity other than under the government pension or gratuity scheme and also other than under the Payment of Gratuity Act, the computation mechanism in respect of exemption limits has been specified in the IT Act. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued a notification increasing the overall tax exemption to Rs 10 lakhs.
The gratuity received by an employee is not taxable if it is received on his retirement, his becoming incapacitated prior to such retirement, termination of employment or if such gratuity is received by his widow, children or dependants on his death. Further, such gratuity does not exceed one-half month's salary for each year of completed service, calculated on the basis of the average salary for 10 months immediately preceding the month in which such retirement or death takes place, subject to the limits prescribed by the Central Government.
Salary for this purpose includes dearness allowance, but excludes all other allowances and perquisites. Also, as per some judicial precedents, completed service would mean a total period of service whether under one employer or more.
In case any such gratuities are received by an employee from more than one employer in the same financial year, the aggregate amount so exempt should not exceed the overall exemption limit. Similarly, if gratuities were received in one or more financial years, the exempt amount claimed earlier has to be taken into account while computing the exemption at present.
What is gratuity?
Gratuity is a retirement benefit. An employer may offer gratuity out of his own funds or may purchase a group gratuity plan from a life insurer. In case the employer chooses a life insurer, annual contributions as decided by the insurer have to be paid. The gratuity paid by the insurer will depend on the terms of the group gratuity scheme.

ET Bureau 13th February, 2011.