Judgement of CAT Hyderabad on counting of RTP service.

The Hon'ble CAT Hyderabad in OA No. 779/2013 and OA No. 780/2013 filed by erstwhile RTPs has delivered orders directing the department to regularize and count the service rendered as RTP by the applicants from the date of their initial appointment with all consequential benefits and also for the purpose of granting of up gradations.

This judgement  will benefit thousands of PAs/SAs who worked as RTPs. 

How to reap big benefits from small saving schemes

The interest rates of small saving schemes are linked to the yield of government bonds and revised every year. ET gives a ready reckoner of the current rates and features of these schemes.

POST OFFICE MONTHLY INCOME SCHEME

Interest rate offered: 8.4%

Lock-in period: Five years. Premature encashment allowed after one year, with deductions.

Tax benefits: None

Investment limit: Rs 1,500 to Rs 4.5 lakh in a single account and Rs 9 lakh in a joint account.

Pros: Suitable for those looking for a secure monthly income. Senior citizens can park a portion of their investments in this scheme.

Cons: Long lock-in period. Unlike bank FDs, this does not offer senior citizens a preferential rate of interest.


KISAN VIKAS PATRA*

Interest rate offered: 8.7%

Lock-in period: 100 months. Premature withdrawal two and a half years.

Tax benefits: None

Investment limit: Minimim Rs 1,000 and no maximum cap. Investments have to be made in denominations of Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000, Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000.

Pros: An attractive and secure interest rate. Can be encashed after two and a half years. Transfer of instrument is permitted.

Cons: Interest earned is taxable, eating into post-tax returns. Other more remunerative instruments have an upper hand.


PUBLIC PROVIDENT FUND*

Interest rate offered: 8.7%

Lock-in period: 15 years. Partial withdrawals allowed from the seventh financial year. Loans can be sought from the third financial year.

Tax benefits: Deductions under Sec 80C for investments up to Rs 1.5 lakh.

Investment limit : Rs 500 to Rs 1.5 lakh.

Pros: Attractive, guaranteed and taxfree returns. The instrument is exempt from tax at investment, accumulation and maturity stages (EEE).

Cons: Largely illiquid due to the long lock-in tenure. Will not help meet short-term needs.
10-YEAR NATIONAL SAVINGS CERTIFICATE

Interest rate offered: 8.8%

Lock-in period: 10 years

Tax benefits: Deductions up to Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80C.

Investment limit: Minimum Rs 100. No maximum limit. Investments have to be made in denominations of Rs 100, Rs 500, Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000.

Pros: Easy to purchase and understand. Offers assured returns with tax benefits.

Cons: Interest earned is subject to tax on maturity. For senior citizens, not as lucrative as taxsaver bank fixed deposits.


SENIOR CITIZENS SAVINGS SCHEME*

Interest rate offered: 9.3%

Lock-in period: Five years. Premature closure allowed after one year and two years on deduction of 1.5% and 1% respectively of the deposit. Interest is paid out every quarter, offering liquidity during the lock-in period.

Tax benefits: Deduction under Section 80C for investments up to Rs 1.5 lakh.

Investment limit : Rs 1,000 to Rs 15 lakh.

Pros: High, secure returns, with partial liquidity.

Cons: Locking away huge amounts could deprive senior citizens of funds for medical and other emergencies in the interim.


5 YEAR NATIONAL SAVINGS CERTIFICATE

Interest rate offered: 8.5%

Lock-in period: Five years

Tax benefits: Deductions up to Rs 1.5 lakh under Sec 80C.

Investment limit: Minimum Rs 100. No maximum limit. Investments have to be made in denominations of Rs 100, Rs 500, Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000.

Pros: Easy to purchase and understand. Offers assured returns with tax benefits.

Cons: Interest earned is subject to tax on maturity. For senior citizens, not as lucrative as tax-saver fixed deposits from banks.


SUKANYA SAMRIDDHI YOJANA*

Interest rate offered: 9.2%

Lock-in period: Till the girl child turns 21. Partial withdrawal of up to 50% of the balance (as on last date of the preceding financial year) allowed after the girl turns 18 years old. Premature withdrawal of the entire balance permitted upon marriage of the girl after she turns 18.

Tax benefits: Deduction under Section 80C for investment up to Rs 1.5 lakh.

Investment limit : Rs 1,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh.

Pros: Offers high, tax-free and guaranteed returns. Ideal scheme for parents looking to build a corpus for the education of their girl child under 10.

Cons: Lengthy lock-in period. More illiquid than PPF.


FIVE-YEAR POST OFFICE TIME DEPOSITS#

Interest rate offered: 8.5%

Lock-in period: Five years

Tax benefits: Deduction up to Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80C.

Investment limit : Minimum Rs 200. No maximum limit. Further investments have to be made in multiples of Rs 200.

Pros: Easy to understand, operate and invest in. Tax concessions.

Cons: Returns earned are taxable. Senior citizens can earn higher returns (9-9.25%) by investing in tax-saver FDs


*Apart from post offices, some banks also facilitate investments in these instruments

# You can also invest in five-year recurring deposits (8.4%) or fixed deposits with shorter tenures of between one to four years (8.4%). However, deposits with these tenures won't entitle you to tax benefits

Source :The Economic Times

Hyderabad CAT Grade Pay Case.

OA No. 296/2014: Grant of grade pay of Rs. 5400- to those ASPs  who have four years regular service in the grade pay of Rs.4800-  has been posted to 10.05.2015 again by the CAT Hyderabad.  The Department has not filed reply statement.

DoP to seek Cabinet nod for 240 cr to set up Post Bank

The DoP has plans to set up Post Bank of India under payments bank licence. The Reserve Bank of India has already issued licensing norms for niche banks -- payments banks and small banks.

The DoP, which has applied for a payments bank licence, has a hybrid model in mind to operate Post Bank of India. Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan yesterday had said while the banking sector is set to undergo changes in the next few years, "we are going to possibly have postal bank".

"The Department is in the process of seeking approval for about Rs 240 crore from Expenditure Finance Committee which will then need nod from Cabinet," an official source told PTI.

As per RBI guidelines, payments banks would offer a limited range of products such as demand deposits and remittances. They will not be allowed to undertake lending activities and will be initially be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs 1 lakh per individual customer.

They will be allowed to issue ATM or debit cards as also other prepaid payment instruments, but not credit cards.

According to a source, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has approved hybrid model suggested by Ernst & Young which prepared detailed project report on Post Bank of India (PBI).

"E&Y has come out with three models but suggested preference to a hybrid model. Under which about 600 branches will directly operated by PBI staff in post office premises and transactions in other parts of the country will be supported by India post staff," the official said.

Post Bank of India is proposed to have its own employees and IT infrastructure. The transaction handled by India Post , employees will be entered in to computer server of PBI.

The Department expects revenue of over Rs 550 crore from PBI in first 5 years.

"India Post will earn from every transaction it will carry out for PBI and rents that it will get from its branches. India Post financial services like saving account, postal life insurance will continue as it is," the official said.

The DoP will evaluate its five year performance as payments bank and then it will take call of setting up full fledged banking service.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/dop-to-seek-cabinet-nod-for-240-cr-to-set-up-post-bank-115041200142_1.html

Payment of Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees - Revised Rates effective from 01.01.2015

  Vide Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure OM No. 1/2/2015-E-II (B) dated 10th April 2015 Dearness allowances @ Rs.6% from 01.01.2015 has been issued.  Now the total DA comes to 113%. 

VERIFICATION OF MEMBERSHIP

VERIFICATION OF MEMBERSHIP FOR RECOGNITION OF SERVICE ASSOCIATION UNDER CCS (RSA) RULES, 1993-CALLING OF APPLICATIONS-REGARDING.

Our Association has already submitted the requisite information to Directorate by speed post under letter No. CHQ / AIAIPASP/Verifcation/2015 dated 24/3/2015. The copy of the said letter is already published on the blog for the information to members. 

Message from Hon'ble Ravi Shankar Prasad, Communication and Information Technology minister

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana ( SSA ) scheme was launch by the hon'ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi on 22nd January 2015. In a short span of just over 2 months the Post Offices across the country have opened 27,72,309 Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana accounts upto 31st March 2015. A total of Rs 310 Crores has been deposited in these accounts for the welfare of the girl child. Authorised Banks have together managed to open over 1.8 lakh accounts under this scheme. Well done IndiaPost. Keep it up.

Save Girl Child 

Beti Bachao Beti Padaho 

Indias Daughter

Source : https://www.facebook.com/RaviShankarPrasadOfficial

India Post SMS Service

India Post SMS Service gives instant information about the delivery of article. Provide the MOBILE NUMBER of SENDER and RECEIVER at the time of booking of Speed Post, Express / Business Parcel, eMoney Order (eMO), etc. to get the delivery information via SMS.

IP/ASP posts to be rotated in Vijayawada Region for the year-2015 as per the information received.

The follwing IP/ASP posts are to be rotated for the year-2015.

1.       ASP Speed post Vijayawada,

2.       ASP Mangalagiri Sub-dn,

3.       ASP Palakollu sub-dn,

4.       ASP Tanuku sub-dn,

5.       ASP (Hqrs) TP Gudem dn,

6.       ASP Bapatla sub-dn,

7.       IP (O.S) Bhimavaram division,

8.       IP RMS Ongole sub-dn,

9.       IP Gudur (N) sub-dn,

10.   IP Macherla sub-dn,

11.   IP Vinukonda sub-dn,

12.   IP Addanki sub-dn,

13.   IP Podalakur sub-dn.

All the IPs/ASPs who have completed their tenure may send requests to the RO in advance to get their opted places.

Postal Department Incurs Loss of Rs. 7 a Postcard, Rs. 5 Inland Letter

New Delhi: The Department of Posts is incurring a loss of over Rs. 7 per postcard and about Rs. 5 per inland letter as the revenue earned is far lower than the actual cost.

As per the 2013-14 figures of the Department of Posts (DoP), the average cost of a postcard is 753.37 paise while the revenue is 50 paise, whereas for inland letter the cost is 748.39 paise and the revenue earned is 250 paise.

Most of the services of the postal department are incurring losses barring competition postcard, letter and book post of periodicals.

The average revenue earned for services such as parcel, registration, speed post, insurance, money order, Indian postal order and registered newspaper is also lower than the average cost.

"During the financial year 2013-14, the deficit of the department was Rs. 5,473.10 crore as against the previous year's deficit of Rs. 5,425.89 crore, which is an increase of 0.87 per cent," the DoP said in its annual report.

The department said that total revenue earned including remuneration for savings bank and savings certificates work during the year 2013-14 was Rs. 10,730.42 crore while the gross working expenditure was Rs. 16,796.71 crore.

The DoP though recovered Rs. 593.19 crore from other ministries and departments, so the deficit turned out to be Rs. 5,473.10 crore for the reported period.

Source : http://www.ndtv.com/

Rotational transfers in IP cadre in Visakhapatnam Region.

Rotational transfers in IP cadre were issued by the PMG Visakhapatnam vide memo no. ST/75/Rotn/IP/2015-16 dated 07.04.2015 as shown below.

SLNO	Present designation. S/S	Posted as
1	GVBN Prasada rao IP Saluru Sub-Dn	IP Visakhapatnam(N)
2	KM.Sudarsanakumar IP S.Kota Sub-dn	Saluru Sub-Dn
3	P.Sravankumar IP IP Visakhapatnam(N)	IP Cintapalli Sub-Dn
4	Gourish kumar jena  IP Cintapalli Sub-Dn	IP S.Kota Sub-dn
5	Ranjithkumar  IP sompeta	IP vizianagaram
6	K.Syamsunder rao IP IP vizianagaram	IP sompeta

Association conveys all the IPs best wishes in the new assignment.

Hud-hud toofan assisance to IP/ASPs- Association efforts.

Hud-hud Cyclone assistance was granted to all the postal staff members of Visakhapatnam except IP and ASPs in the Region.

This item was taken up with the Circle Office by the Association.  The Chief PMG is kind enough to consider the applications of our members and granted financial assistance @ Rs. 4000-  We once again convey thanks to the all the officers  and association office bearers.

This was achieved by the association by continuous monitoring and co-operation from the members.  

Govt.hikes DA by 6 percent.

In a move that will benefit over one crore Central Govt. employees and pensioners, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday hiked Dearness Allowance by 6 percent ( 113 percent total) of their basic pay with effect from January-2015. The decision will benefit 48 lakh govt. employees and 55 lakhs pensioners.

Source: The Hindu daily news dated 8th April-2015.

Rotational transfers of IPs/ASPs

 IP/ASP posts to be rotated during this year in the Visakhapatnam Region.

SLNO	Name of the post to be rotated	Name of the Division/Region
1	IP Sompet	Srikakulam
2	IP Salur	Parvathipuram
3	IP S.Kota	Vizianagaram
4	IP Visakhapatnam (N)	Visakhapatnam
5	IP Chodavaram	Anakpalle
6	ASP ® Visakhapatnam DO	Visakhapatnam
7	ASP Palakonda	Parvathipuram
8	ASP (Hqrs) Vizianagaram DO	Vizianagaram

IP/ASP posts to be rotated during this year in Kurnool Region.

          

SLNO	Name of the post to be rotated	Division/Region
1	IPs-2 posts	Kurnool RO
2	IP Raidurg	Ananthapur
3	IP Chittoor	Chittoor Dn
4	IP Dharmavaram	Hindupur
5	IRM AG 2nd (Kurnool)	Guntakal
6	IP Tadipatri	Ananthapur
7	IP Kalyanadurg	Ananthapur
8	IP(PG) Hindupur	Hindupur
9	IP Emmiganoor	Kurnool
10	IP Giddalur	Nandyala
11	IP Vayalpadu	Tirupathi
12	IRM Guntakal	Guntakal
13	IRM TP/I	Tirupathi
14	IP Markapur	Nandyal
15	IP(PG) Proddatur	Proddatur
16	ASP ® Ananthapur	Ananthapur
17	ASP (E) Tirupathi	Tirupathi
18	ASP ® Kurnool	Kurnool
19	ASP(N) Chittoor	Chittoor
20	ASP (Hqrs) Hindupur	Hindupur
21	ASP sub-dn  Hindupur	Hindupur

PMG Kurnool and PMG Visakhapatnam have responded to association letter and circulated the places identified for rotation. thanks to the administration for prompt response.  We also expect similar response from other Regions i.e. Vijayawada , Hyderabad & Hyderabad City  and our members on the job to get the work done.