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NOC NOT REQUIRED FOR GOVERNMENT SERVANTS TO APPLY PASSPORT-ORDERS ISSUED BY MEA.

No.VI/40 1/01/05/2014
Government of India
Ministry of External Affairs
CPV Division

Patiala House Annexe, Tilak Marg
New Delhi, 26th May, 2015

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Issuance of Ordinary Passport to Government Servants, PSU/Autonomous body employees, et al

In tune with the Government’s objective of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’ and with a view to simplifying the procedure for issuance of Passport to Government Servants, PSU / Autonomous body employees, et al, the matter has been reviewed. In order to facilitate issuance of Passport to Government employees, et al; who find difficulties to obtain Identity Certificate (IC)/No Objection Certificate (NOC) from their department, it has been decided to introduce a new feature which is termed as ‘Prior Intimation’ letter to the controlling authority by the Passport applicant before submission of a Passport application.

2. Basically, Prior Intimation is a letter from the Passport applicant giving intimation to his/her Controlling / Administrative Authority (employer) regarding submission of Passport application. This can be submitted by the
applicant in the format of ‘Annexure-N’. After submission of Passport application by such an employee, the copy of this Prior Intimation would be sent to the same Controlling/ Administrative Authority under which the employee is working. In case the employer has any objection regarding issuance of Passport to that employee, they may revert back to concerned Regional Passport Office mentioning the details of such objection. However, the final decision will be taken by the concerned Passport Issuing Authority. If Prior Intimation is submitted by the applicant, Passport
would be issued on the basis of Pre-Police Verification, however the provisions of Police Verification in reissue cases will remain applicable.

3. Henceforth, anyone of the following documents can be submitted by Government Servants, PSU/Autonomous body employees, et al. for submission of application for Passports:

(a) Copy of Prior Intimation to Controlling /Administrative Authority; or

(b) No Objection Certificate from Controlling/Administrative Authority; or

4. No Objection Certificate (NOC) is issued in the format of ‘Annexure-M’ by the Controlling /Administrative Authority of the employee working under them for obtaining Passport by any Government Servants, PSU/ Autonomous body employees, et al. If NOC is submitted Passport will be issued on Post-Police Verification basis.

5. Identity Certificate (IC) is issued in the format of ‘Annexure-B’ by the Controlling /Administrative Authority of the employee working under them for obtaining Passport by any Government Servants, PSU /Autonomous body employees, et al. If IC is submitted Passport will be issued on No-Police Verification basis. The spouse of such employees, and dependent children up to the age of 18 years, has an option to submit IC for expeditious issue of passport. In case of IC, the applicant is also required to submit ‘Annexure-I’.

6. It may be noted that the following provisions will remain applicable as mentioned below:

a. While IC should be issued preferably on Official Stationery (letterhead); NOC on plain paper with signature/stamp can be accepted, on the assumption that such offices are using plain paper for day to day correspondence. Prior Intimation (PI) is required to be submitted on plain paper by the Passport applicant.

b. Telephone, fax and e-mail id of the Controlling /Administrative Office (to the extent available) should be indicated in all the three documents for the purpose of confirmation.

c. Military personnel with c/o APO address (e.g. 56 APO /99 APO) may submit applications at their station of posting or at their permanent address, and write their permanent address in passport [against present address otherwise].

Spouse of such personnel [and adult children, when spouse has expired/divorced] may receive the passport, with authority letter, either by hand or by post. This would apply to similarly placed Air Force/Navy personnel as well.

d. If Government/PSU employees, et al. are transferred after submission of the passport application or passport is returned undelivered due to such transfer, the same be re-dispatched, on request (along with copy of transfer order), at the new address, after correction/ endorsement of address. However, if police verification was required and was not completed, it will be done at the new place.

e. The validity of the documents mentioned at para-3 will be six months from date of issue.

7. While the revised prov1s10ns deal only with passport issuance, the requirement by the Government employees to obtain prior permission from his/her Department / Ministry for travelling abroad as per Conduct Rules will remain unchanged as per the instructions issued by the Department of Personnel & Training and respective authorities.

8. Ministries of the Central Government, and the State Governments/ Union Territories are requested to circulate these instructions to all the employees working under them, including those in attached and subordinate offices, and statutory bodies.

Sd/-
(Muktesh K.Pardeshi)
Joint Secretary (PSP) & Chief Passport Officer.

BONUS ELIGIBILITY CEILING TO BE RAISED FROM Rs. 10,000 TO Rs. 15,000.

Several lakhs of workers in the organised sector will benefit as the Narendra Modi government is set to raise the salary threshold for mandatory bonus for workers from Rs 10,000 a month at present to Rs 15,000 and the minimum bounty from an annual RS 3,500 now to Rs 4,500. The proposal, agreed to by employers’ associations at a recent meeting of an inter-ministerial group, would require Parliament’s approval as the Payments of Bonus Act, 1965, requires to be amended for this purpose.

While the minimum bonus is a legal liability on the firms concerned, whether or not they make a profits, these firms are also required to pay the workers a higher bonus if their “allocable surplus” exceeds the amount payable as minimum bonus, subject to a cap (20%) of the salaries.

If the new proposal takes affect, the maximum bonus payable by profit-making ventures would be close to Rs 11,000 as against Rs 8,400 now.

The salary ceiling for mandatory bonus eligibility was last fixed in 2007 and made effective retrospectively from April 1, 2006. While industry associations demanded exempting sick units from the requirement of paying bonus, trade unions have pitched for removal of the ceilings as “profits are not capped”, official sources said. The unions also asked for extending the benefit to workers under the Industrial Disputes Act, they added.

The revision of the bonus eligibility and the amounts is being done by factoring in the relevant price increases, the gauge used being the consumer price index-industrial workers or CPI(IW). This index stayed in the range of 6.4-12% since 2008. After hitting as high as 12% in 2010, CPI(IW) has maintained a roller-coaster ride — it eased to 8.9% in 2011 before rising to 10.9% in 2013 and dropping again to 6.4% in 2014. In the current calendar year, it has slowed almost consistently from 7.2% in January to 5.8% in April.

An estimate is two-thirds of the 6 crore organised sector workforce in the country are eligible for the mandatory bonus given their salary levels. Analysts, however, say that actual number of beneficiaries could be less as many units practically circumvent the norm.

Year	Maximum Salary more than which excluded from Grant of Bonus (Rs)	Minimum Quantum of Bonus (Rs)
1965-1984	1600
1985-1994	2500
1995-2006	3500	2500
From 2007	10000	3500
From 2015 (expected)	15000	4500

Under Section 10 of Payments of Bonus Act, “every employer (as defined in the Act) shall be bound to pay to every employee in respect of every accounting year, a minimum bonus which shall be 8.33% of the salary or wage earned by the employee during the accounting year”. All factories and establishments employing 20 or more persons are expected to pay the bonus compulsorily, provided the worker has worked in the establishment for at least 30 days. Employees in Life Insurance Corporation, seamen, dock workers and university employees are outside the Act’s ambit.

Although the country witnessed high inflation between 2009 and 2014, the move to raise the bonus amounts comes at a time inflation has come down (consumer price inflation is now below 5%). Consumer confidence is yet to be restored to the pre-2008-09 levels, while in recent months rural income growth has slowed.

78.2%- significant break through; cabinet note approved by the minister.

The revised cabinet note sent to the Minister for Communications on 2nd June, 2015 by the DOT has been approved by the Minister and returned to the DOT . As we had reported in this website on 25th May, 2015 the cabinet note was finalised and sent to the Minister. Actually, things started moving with the desired pace only after the meeting Com. V. A. N. Namboodiri, Advisor, AIBDPA had with the Communications Minister on 13th May, 2015 which was supplemented by our agitational programs as decided by the Jamnagar Central Executive Committee Meeting. The first phase of the agitation, the postcard campaign was a spectacular success and about 40,000 post cards were sent to the Prime Minister and we whole heartedly congratulate all the pensioners for their participation. It was only after the historic Sanchar Bhawan March on 20th November, 2014, the DOT started preparation of the cabinet note.

Today, the 9th June,2015 Com. V. A. N. Namboodiri has met Ms. Annie Moreas, Member (Finance) DOT who confirmed that the cabinet note has been received back from the Communications Minister with necessary approval. Now on further persual of Com.V.A. N. Namboodiri the Member(Finanace) immediately forwarded the file to the Member(Services) for sending it to the 4 nodal departments simaltaneously. After this process is completed, on getting the nod from the nodal departments, the file will go to the cabinet for final approval.

Com.K.G.Jayaraj, General Secretary also had a detailed talk with Shri. Prachish Khanna, Director (Establishment), DOT on 9th June, 2015 who narrated the developments and promised further early action at his level.

So comrades, with the sustained struggles by AIBDPA, Forum and BSNLEU and timely interventions at every stage, the battle is half won. Let us not rest until the order is issued and there should not be any complacency in organising the two days hunger strike on 21-22, July, 2015.

ONE RANK,ONE PENSION- EX-SERVICEMEN WARN OF COUNTRY WIDE HUNGER STRUGGLE.

The talk with the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar by the delegation of Indian Ex-servicemen Movement, led by its chairman, Major General (Retd) Satbir Singh, on 6th June, 2015 on implementation of one rank one pension yielded no result. The organization demanded the government two clarifications, a firm date on implementation and adherence to the accepted definition of the OROP. They have decided to start the agitation on June 14 2015 and from June 15 hunger strike accross the country ,if the genuine demands are not met.

Just like in the case of 78.2% IDA merger to BSNL Pensioners, the government is giving assurances repeatedly but nothing in practical against which the defence veterans are on war path. The Modi government make big claims for credible governance and quick decision making. But this is seen only in matters related to the corporates and the rich.

THOUSANDS PROTEST AGAINST G-7 SUMMIT AT GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY.

The G-7 meeting of the big powers, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, United States and the European Union is being held in Germany. Russia is not invited due to the issue of Ukraine, in which there is big difference between Russia and other countries.

The meeting is expected to focus on issues like climate change, the fight against pandemics, Middle East turmoil and an upsurge of violence in Ukraine

But these big powers are not at all interested to discuss the issues of poverty, maximisation of profits by the MNCs and Corportes or other burning issues of the common people. Hence strong protest rallies are being held at the place where the G-7 summit is being held participated by thousands of workers and common people.

RESTORE MEDICAL ALLOWANCE TO BSNL PENSIONERS IMMEDIATELY.

Pensioners belong to the weaker section. They require continuous care and medical treatment to keep up their health. It is with this concern that it was decided that Medical Allowance with out voucher will be paid to the employees as well as pensioners.

But in the name of loss to the company, BSNL has stopped this allowance arbitrarily, three years back. The Forum of BSNL Unions/associations, as well as BSNLEU, had taken up the case of restoration of this allowance, both to employees and pensioners. As a first step, the staff side in the National Council as also AIBDPA demanded that at least the medical Allowance to the Pensioners be restored. A sympathetic attitude was expected from the BSNL Management. But so far, nothing has moved in this respect.

We demand that the BSNL Management should take immediate action to restore the Medical Allowance to the Pensioners.

KOLLAM DISTRICT CONVENSION HELD WITH HUGE PARTICIPATION.

AIBDPA Kollam District convention held with massive participation on 5thJune, 2015 at K.G.Bose Centre,Kollam.Com.K.N.Balagopal MP inaugurated.Com.K.G.Jayaraj,General Secretary released the directory. Coms.R.Aravindakshan Nair, Circle President, C.Muraleedharan Pillai,Dist Secretary BSNLEU, R.R.Warier,ACS, K N Jyothilakshmi,ACS ,BSNLEU addressed.Com.L.Krishnakumari,Circle Vice President presided. Com.N.Sasidharan Nair, Dist.Secretary welcomed and Com.K.Sukumaran Nair ADS proposed vote of thanks.

WFTU CONFERENCE DEMANDS LIFTING OF EMBARGOES, BLOCKADES AND SANCTIONS.

The WFTU Conference titled “The embargoes, blockades and sanctions imposed by the US, NATO and the EU are striking a blow to the workers rights” opened on June 1st in the European Parliament in Brussels – Belgium with the attendance of 40 unionists from 13 countries.

The 2 day conference concluded on a resolution demanding the lifting of all blockades, economic sanctions and discrimination imposed by the US, EU and all kinds of imperialist interventions. A delegation of the trade unionists, headed by Marco Tulio Diaz, President of Construction Workers Federation of Venezuela and vice president of the Bolivarian Trade Union Central of Workers, presented the resolution of the meeting to the office of the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz. The head of the delegation presented the resolutions of the meeting to the officials of the European Parliament and rejected the recent EU aggression and slandering statements of the European Parliament President against Venezuela.

ONE RANK ONE PENSION- EX-SERVICEMEN WANTS PRIME MINISTER A DEFINITE TIME LINE.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance on the issue of roll-out of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme today was met with skepticism with ex-servicemen seeking a firm timeline and the Congress saying he has further compounded the problem by saying it was a “complex issue”.

Though PM Modi vowed to address the “vexed” OROP issue in his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme on radio and said he should be given some time, the miffed ex-servicemen also appeared to be in no mood to call off their planned protest on June 14 over the delay in its implementation.

“Assurance without a firm date does not really satisfy the ex-servicemen community. What we are looking for is a date? Assurance has never been in doubt. We are wanting to know when. We are not looking for ‘Khairaat’ (doles). We are looking for sense of justice for our due demand,” Lieutenant General (retd) Raj Kadyan said.

“We don’t want to protest, it’s not good for the country but we should not be compelled to do it,” he added.

Congress leader Ajay Maken said the prime minister has chosen to further “compound” the problem, “confuse” the entire issue by creating another “flutter” by saying OROP is a “very complex issue.”

“So, isn’t it surprising Prime Minister after one year that one of your important demands OROP earlier, which was implemented by the UPA Government and Rs.500 crore set aside for Vote on Account in February 2014. Now, one year after assuming power, you tell the country that it is the complexities, of which you never knew earlier,” Mr Maken told reporters.

Lieutenant General (retd) Shankar Prasad said PM Modi’s comments were an “excellent projection” by him and this is not the first time he has done it.

“This is the third or fourth or fifth time he is doing it and it seems that people are now beginning to feel that we are just being fooled,” he added.

“How long is the Prime Minister and his party is going to fool us, we are not very sure. The fact that OROP has been reiterated by everybody in the government but nobody is willing to give a date for it,” he said.

Lieutenant General (Retd) PN Hoon said the OROP issue has been a “mess” and now that mess has to be sorted out.

Congress leader Ashwani Kumar said OROP scheme was initiated by the UPA government and even after one year there are so many delays over it.

“The PM is saying we will do it but when,” he said.

Source : NDTV

NET NEUTRALITY- PANEL SUBMITS ITS REPORT.

DoT panel for net neutrality has submitted its report to the telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. The 6 member panel was formed in last January to formulate government’s policy on net neutrality.

There has been strong protest against the move of the private telecom companies to restrict services and charging the net services to maximise their profits. The TRAI has also circulated a paper on the matter.

There have been strong protests from the net users demanding that net neutrality should be maintained. Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has stated in the Parliament that net neutrality should continue.

The details of the committee report have not been published. Unless net-neutrality is ensured, there is going to be strong protests.