Permanent Negotiating Machinery (PNM) ,

It was founded by shri. V.V.Giri in the year 1951 when Shri. Lal Bahadur Shastri was the
Railway minister of India.

PNM was set up in the year 1952 and came into force from 1.1.52.

 It aims to maintain contact with labour and to resolve disputes and differences, which
may arise between Railway Labour and Administration.
 Collective bargaining, across the table negotiations and give and take policy are the main
principles behind PNM.

PNM was on three-tier basis

1. The Railway level

2. The Railway Board level

3. The Ad-hoc tribunal level

Zonal Railway Levels :

a) Chairman- GM, Secretary - PCPO.

b) Subject agenda must be circulated one month in advance. Out of agenda items may
also be discussed with permission of chairman and chairman can discussed any item out
of agenda.

c) Meeting : once in three months separately with representatives of SCRMU & SCRES

d) Matters discussed which comes within the powers of GM or which could not be
settled at the divisional level.

i) The divisional level/ store depot level/ workshop level :

a) DRM/ Dy. COS/ CWM works as it’s chairman and the Sr. DPO/ DPO/ SPO/ APO
works as its sectary.
b) Subject agenda must be circulated one month in advance. Out of agenda items may
also be discussed with permission of chairman and chairman can discussed any item out
of agenda.

c) Meeting : once in two month separately with representatives of NRMU & CRMS .

d) Matters discussed which comes within the powers of DRM/ Dy. COS/ CWN.

2. The Railway Board Level :

Chairman- Member staff

Secretary - Dy. Director Establishment

 b) Subject agenda must be circulated one month in advance. Out of agenda items may
also be discussed with permission of chairman and chairman can discussed any item out
of agenda

c) Meeting : once in three months separately with representatives of NFIR & AIRF.

d) Matters discussed which comes within the powers of Railway Board or which could
not be settled at the Zonal Railway level.

3. Ad-hoc Tribunal Level :

a) The matter of important nature on which no agreement is reached up to the Railway

Board level.

b) Chairman would be retired judge of High court or Supreme Court having his own
staff, and equal representatives of labour and administration.

c) The award given by the tribunal is not binding. The government may accept, reject or
modify the award of the tribunal.

d) The matter settled by the tribunal or decision of tribunal once accepted by the
government shall not be opened by unions for a period of two years.

e) Where the government reject or modify the decision of the tribunal then the same
items may be raised at the end of the year by the union.

Periodicity of Meetings

 Division and Extra Division  Once in two months

 Zonal Railways and Railway Board  Once in three months

Subjects for Discussion:

 Disciplinary matters, individual cases of promotions transfers etc. cannot be included for
discussions.
 Questions relating to pay scales, allowances etc., will only be discussed between
Federations and Railway Board and not at lower levels.
 Subjects wh ich are within the powers of Officers, are only to be included.
 Matters not settled at any level may be raised at the next level.
 30 new subjects are allowed for discussion in a meeting.
 It would be open to the Government to accept or to reject or to modify the decision of the
adhoc tribunal.
 The Federations should not raise the same issue for two years where the Government has
accepted the Tribunal's decision.
 But in case in which the Government has rejected of modified the decision of the
Tribunal the issue can be raised at the end of one year.
 Fort-Nightly meetings (FNM),
 Fort-Nightly meetings are conducted at Headquarers by SPO/Labour and by DPO and
APO at Division and Extra Division.
 Issues affecting employees seniority, fixation of pay etc. are discussed and settled in
these meeting.
 Union representatives not exceeding 6 can attend the meeting.
 SCL is granted to the Unon representatives to attend FNM.

J C M (JOINT CONSULTATIVE MACHINERY)

Object:
With a view to have harmonious relations between government and its employees in
matters of common concern and with the object of further increasing the efficiency, the
government of India have established a machinery known as the joint consultative machinery.

Subject matter :
JCM may discussed matters relating to conditions of service, welfare of employee and
measures to improve efficiency and standard of work. No individual cases can be discussed in
JCM.

JCM works at three-tier basis.

1. National Council

2. Departmental council

3. Regional council

1. National Council :
The national council will deal with matters effecting the all central government
employees of different departments such as pay and allowances, minimum wages, weekly hours
of rest etc.

Chairman: cabinet sectary of government of India.

  Administrative side- up to 25 members appointed by the government from different central
government department.

Staff side : upto 60 members who will be nominated by the federation, recognised tread unions
of different central government department.

Secretary : each side will appoint its own secretary

c) National council may appoint a comity of experts to study at report on any matter falling
within its scope.

d) The subject agenda must be circulated one month in advance.

e) Any matter disposed off cannot be placed on agenda during next 12 months.
f) If there is no agreements between the two then the matter is refereed to the Board of
Arbitration whose decision would be final and binding on both the parties, only parliament can
change it otherwise it cannot be touched and remains in operation for a period of three years.

g) It must meet once in six months.

2. Departmental Council :
a) Every revenue earning ministry must have a departmental council

b) It deals with the matter affecting all Railway employees.

c) Chairman : Chairman Railway Board

Administrative side : upto 10 members nominated by the Rly board.

Staff side : upto 60 members nominated by AIRF & NFIR.

d) Subject agenda must be circulated one month in advance and of agenda items may also be put
up with the permission of the chairman

e) It must meet once in 4 month.

3. Regional Council :
It deals with the common problems of the employees of a particular reason.
Chairman would be the senior most officer of that particular reason.

Both side will nominate their representatives.

(P R E M (Participation of Railway Employee in Management)

PREM was setup in the ministry of Railway in the year 1972 and the Zonal Railways in
1977. Indian Railways main objectives are to provide rail transport service of passenger
and goods.

Deciding the policies with mutual understanding between management and employees
and by this way, employees participation in management is called a “PREM”.
Both are suggesting their views, ideas, opinion & strategy about the implementing the
policies to achieve the target within the specific time.

While providing the transport services, the organization has to watch.

1) Safety of operation

2) Better and satisfied service to the passengers

3) Maintaining punctuality.

4) To develop the productivity of the Railway into a total transport organization.

5) Commercialization of working.

6) Staff welfare

7) Control over working expenditure etc.

OBJECTIVES :-
A. To have better and systematic participation of labour in management with the main
objective of improving the efficiency viability of Railway organisation and building the
image of Railways as a service organisation.

B. To proved free flow of exchange of ideas on the running and shaping of Railway
organisation.

C. Apprise the investment programme particularly in regard to housing and welfare

activities.

Note : Staff matters could not be discussed unless linked with the overall
productivity of the organisation.

To achieve Objectives the organization observe

1) To establish a better communication system.

2) To improve the efficiency and viability of the management.

3) Appraise the investment programme in regards to housing and welfare activities.

4) Implementation of new technology in Railways with consent of Railway Employees

opinion to make in action oriented methods for maximizing organizational effectiveness.

5) To facilitate effective and meaningful participation of Railway employees in the

management process.

6) To develop a sense of involvement among employees in organizational purpose and

activities.

7) To create a proper climate for cordial and harmonious relation between employees and
management.

8) To improve the quality of service to the passengers and the safety in operations.

Meeting : 

The meeting of the PREM is held once in a quarter on Board Level, Zonal Railway Level
and Divisional Railway Level.
The reviews of suggestions and their implementation about the minutes of previous
meeting are taken and any problems which occur again.

STRUCTURE OF PREM

On Indian Railways it is working on three-tier basis.

1. The Railway Board Level (Corporate Enterprise Group of Labour of Management)

2. The Zonal Railway Level

3. The Divisional Railway Level

1. The Railway Board Level :

Chairman - Chairman Railway Board

Convener - Secretary Railway Board

Administrative side - Members Railway Board, Advisers & ED’s,

Staff side - Four representatives of NFIR & AIRF each.

Four representatives of federation of Railway officers.

Four representatives of federation of promotee officers association

2. The Zonal Railway Level

Chairman - GM

Convener - Dy. GM (G)

Administrative side - AGM & PHOD’s

Staff side - Four representatives of SCRMU & SCRES each

Four representatives of Railway officers association.

Four representatives of promotee officers association.

3. Divisional Railway Level :

Chairman - DRM

Convener - Sr. DPO/ DPO

Administrative side - ADRM & Branch Executives

Staff side - Four representatives of SCRMU & SCRES each

Four representatives of Railway officers association.

Four representatives of promote officers association.

FUNCTIONS:-
At present the functions of PREM on division are as under: –

1) Care of Customer
1 Behaviour of staff.
2 Cleanliness of Stations.
3 Cleanliness of Coaches.
4 Quality of food in catering,
5 Punctuality of Trains.
6 Booking and Reservations.
7 Passenger enquiry’s.
8 Display Boards and customer help.

2) Quality
1) Quality of products made by Railways.
2) Quality of service rendered both in freight passenger.
3) Reduction in claims.
4) Improved maintenance and reduction in accidents.
5) Total quality management.
6) Quality circles and other small group activities (SGA).

3) Measures to improve revenue earnings

1) Marketing effort.
2) Strategic alliances to provide total transport.
3) Tourism
4) Leasing out parcel space in SLR’s.
5) Lockers in SLR’s to provide personalized services to passengers.
6) Any other new initiatives to attract high rated traffic.

4) Expenditure Control
1) Cost reduction.
2) Waste reduction.
3) Manpower planning.
4) Value engineering.
5) Simplification of procedures
6) Computerization.

5) Commercialization of working (Cost Consciousness)

1) Concept of inter departmental working, treating each as a cost/profit center.
2) Cost consciousness.

6) Human resource development

1) Imparting skills and knowledge and training, including multi- skilling.
2) Generation of value systems and creation of an environment in which people will
contribute innovate and find fulfillment in a good job done.
3) Publicity of mission/value statements to get Railway wise commitment, publicity of
success stories.
4) Sharing of information with all employees.
7) Redeployment of surplus labour/staff
1) Timely planning for redeployment.
2) Timely retraining.
3) Nature of facilities to be extended to staff facing displacement.

8) Holistic Initiatives
1) Inter modal transport.
2) Development of railway into a total transport organization.
3) Privatization of off-line activities.
 STAFF BENEFIT FUND (SBF)

SBF is governed by provisions contained in Statutory rules i..e.

chapter 8 of Indian Railway Estt. Code Volume I & other subsidiary
instructions. .SBF scheme is functional on Indian Railways since year
1931. The following activities are financed out of the fund for the welfare of
the Railway Servants and their eligible family members:
  

(i) Education: Scholarship for Higher Technical/Professional education

forwards of Railway Servants
 

(ii) Scholarship for higher technical/professional education of Girl children

of Railway Servants
 

(iii) Scholarship for higher technical/professional education of Male children

of Railway Servants
 

(iv) Women empowerment activities

 

(v) Recreation other than sports

 

(vi) Recreational. facilities at Institutes and Clubs etc.

 

(vii) Promotion of Cultural Activities

 

(viii) Relief of distress, sickness, etc

 

(ix) Sports activities

 

(x) Scouts & Guides activities

 

(xi) Indigenous system of medicine including Homoeopathy

 

(xii) Immediate relief in times of crisis arising out of flood, famines,

landslide, fire or any other calamity 
 

(xiii) Developing occupational skills of those Railway Servants who  are

covered under 'The Rights of Persons with disabilities ACT 2016' and their
wards - 
 

(xiv) Miscellaneous 

Sources of Staff Benefit Fund:-

 

SBF is credited with:

 

(i) Annual grant on the lst of April of each financial year from the railway
revenues on per capita basis based on the sanctioned strength of non-
gazetted Railway servants, both permanent and temporary, as on 31'
March, (`Sanctioned strength of non-gazetted Railway Servants' also
include sanctioned strength of RPF non-gazetted staff.)
 

(ii) All receipts from. fines;

(iii) 50% of the expenditure incurred by the respective Railways on grant of
 scholarships for technical education of children of Railway servants
during the preceding year; and
(iv) Unpaid wages beyond three years.

Management of the Fund —

The fund shall be managed by a Committee (i.e. CSBFC) at the
headquarters of the Railway ..presided over by the Principal Chief
Personnel Officer. Besides Chairman, the CSBFC shall consist of the
following:-
 

(i) The Chief Personnel Officer;

(ii) The Chief Medical Officer;
(iii) The Additional Chief Engineer;
(iv) A Welfare Officer to be nominated by the General Manager who shall
act as the Secretary of the Committee; and
(v) Six members from recognised Unions, to be equally divided amongst
the recognised unions.
(vi) One representative each from All India Scheduled Castes & Scheduled
Tribes Railway Employees Association (AISC&STREA) and All India OBC
Railway Employees Association. (AIOBCREA).

In the event of disagreement

In the event of disagreement with the decision of the Division/Workshop

Sub-Committee, the matter shall be referred to the Divisional Railway
Manager/ Dy Chief Mechanical Engineer-in-charge of the workshop, as the
case may be, whose decision the matter shall be final.

The Divisional/Workshop Staff Benefit Fund. Committees shall have

powers to allot funds for the objects specified in these rules within the rules
and. limitations prescribed by the Headquarters Committee.

Members to the SBF Committees should be elected in a manner

considered suitable by the General Manager,

A member of the CSBFC or the DSBFC shall hold office for a period of
one year unless he is removed by the General Manager or resigns himself.
He is however, eligible for re-nomination or- election.

If the Chairman disagrees with a majority of the Committee as

regards-
(i) Financial propriety of expenditure from the Fund.
(ii), Whether the grant comes within the objects mentioned in rule 802 R -I.
(iii) Whether it conflicts with the, recognised policy of the Government or
the Railway, he/she shall refer the matter to the General Manager whose
decision in the matter shall be final.
(Reference: Para 810 ofIREC Vol. I)

16. Other salient points to be kept in view are as follows:-

(i) Retired Railway servants or persons dismissed/removed or outsiders

cannot be nominated to the SBF Committees.

(ii) Railway servants under suspension should not be allowed to attend the
meetings of the SBF. However, there is no objection to their substitutes
taking their place for the period for which sitting members remain
disqualified.

(III) Elected representatives when attending meetings of the SBF

Committees will be issued passes of the scale to which they are eligible on
privilege account. (Item.no.8 under Schedule — VII of the Railway
Servants (Pass) Rules, 1986 (Second Edition - 1993)
17, Accounts of the Fund-
 

The General Manager shall make such arrangements as may be

necessary for keeping the accounts of the fund; and audit shall be carried
out in such manner as may be prescribed.
 

18. Annual report on the working of the Fund: The General Manager

shall submit annually a report to the Railway Board on the working of the
fund during the previous financial year. (Para 811 & 812 of IREC Vol. 1)
Introduction:

1. The performance appraisal report is an important document, which provides

basic and vital inputs of assessing the performance of an official for the
further development and advancement of his/her career.
2. The appraise, the Reporting Authority and the Reviewing Authority should,
therefore, undertake the duty of filling up the form with high sense of
responsibility.
3. APAR should be used as a tool for development of the employee.
4. The Reporting Officer should realize the main objective is to develop an
employee, he/she , so that they can perform to the full potential.
5. APAR is an important document in taking decision in the matter of
promotion, placement, training, premature retirement etc.
6. They suppose to serve the interest of both the organisation and the employee
to assess his performance.
7.

Sl.No Information Required Authority responsibility for

filling up

01 Basic Information Administration Division/

Personnel Dep
02 Self Appraisal Appraisee
03 Appraisal Reporting Officer/ Reviewing
Officer, if necessary,
04 Review Reviewing Officer
05 Reviewing Authority Accepting Authority

The annual confidential reports for Group ‘C’ staff should be prepared
within one month time of the expiry of the period under report i.e. by 30 th April
and submit to the concerned custodian for finalization and custody of the case
by June of the same year.

Prescribed form

Annexure-V: is for staff in GP 2400/2800

Annexure-IV: for Teachers/ Instructors

Annexure-III: for PWI, APWI, Signal Instructors & Asst. Signal Instructors

Annexure-II: for IOWs & AIOW’s

Annexure-I: for rest of the staff.

When an officer vacates his post/ transfer, retirement etc, he should record
APAR of all the employees who have under him not less than 90 days.

Normally, there will be only one APAR, however, there is no objection to

two or more reports being written during a year by the reporting authority subject
to the condition that the employee has worked not less than 90 days under each
reporting officer and each report should clearly indicate the period covered by.

For Non-Gazetted Staff, the employee in Level-4/5, the reporting officer

will be his Non-Gazetted Supervisor in Level-7 and above. For employee in Level-
6 and above, the reporting officer should not be less then Assistant Scale Officer.
The Reviewing of employee in Level-6 should not be less then JAG and Accepting
Authority should be done by SAG Level Officer.

Representation:

The time limit for giving representation, if any, is 15 days from the date of
receipt of the copy and no representation will be entertained after the lapse of 15
days.

The representation should be restricted to the specific factual observations

contained in the APAR leading to the assessment of the Officer.

The time limit for disposal of representation by the Accepting Authority is

one month from the date of representation and communication thereof to be done
within 15 days from the date of order of the Accepting Authority.

Once the representation is disposed by the Accepting Authority, no further

appeal lies grading in the Appar will be treated as Final.
 NATIONAL PENSION SYSTEM

The National Pension System (NPS) is being administered and regulated by

Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) set up under PFRDA
Act, 2013.
NPS is a market linked, defined contribution product. Under NPS, a unique Permanent
Retirement Account Number (PRAN) is generated and maintained by the Central
Recordkeeping Agency (CRA) for individual subscriber.

NPS offers two types of accounts, namely Tier-I and Tier-II. Tier-I account is the
pension account having restricted withdrawals. Tier-II is a voluntary account which
offers liquidity of investments and withdrawals. It is allowed only when there is an active
Tier-I account in the name of the subscriber. The contributions accumulate over a period
of time till retirement grows with market linked returns.

On exit/retirement/superannuation, a minimum of 40% of the corpus is

mandatorily utilized to procure a pension for life by purchasing an annuity from a life
insurance company and the balance corpus is paid as lumpsum.
NPS platform offers different models to suit the different segments of users. These
include :

1. The Government model for the Central and State Government Employees
• NPS is mandatorily applicable on Central Government employees (except Armed
Forces) recruited on or after 01.01.2004. Govt. employees make a monthly contribution
at the rate of 10% basic salary plus DA and a matching contribution is paid by the Govt..
For central Govt. employees, the employer’s contribution rate has been enhanced to 14%
of basic salary plus DA w.e.f. 01.04.2019.

2. The Corporate Model:

• Companies can adopt NPS for their employees with contribution rates as per the
employment conditions.

3. The All Citizens Model:

• The All Citizens Model of the NPS allows all citizens of India aged between 18 - 65
years to join NPS on voluntary basis.

Important features of NPS:

•Access and Portability is ensured through online access of the pension account to the
NPS subscribers through web portal and mobile app, across all geographical locations
and portability of employments.

• Partial withdrawal- Subscribers can withdraw up to 25% of their own contributions at

any time before exit from NPS Tier-I for a maximum of three times during the entire
tenure of subscription under NPS for certain purposes specified in the regulations. The
partial withdrawals are allowed from NPS Tier-1 after contributing for at least ten years
and there should be a gap of minimum five years between successive withdrawals.
 • Tax Benefits available under NPS :

a) Employee’s own Contribution towards NPS Tier-I is eligible for tax deduction under
section 80 CCD (1) of the Income Tax Act within the overall ceiling of Rs. 1.50 lakh
under section 80 C of the Income Tax Act. From FY 2015-16, the subscriber is also
allowed tax deduction in addition to the deduction allowed under section 80CCD(1) for
contribution to NPS Tier I account subject to a maximum of Rs. 50,000 under section
80CCD 1(B ).

b) Employer’s contribution towards NPS Tier-I is eligible for tax deduction under
Section 80CCD (2) of the Income Tax Act (14% of salary for central government
employees and 10% for others). This rebate is over and above the limit prescribed under
Section 80C.

c) Interim/ Partial withdrawal up to 25% of the contributions made by the subscriber

from NPS Tier-I is tax free.
d) With effect from 1.4.2019, lump sum withdrawal up to 60% of total pension wealth
from NPS Tier-I at the time of superannuation is tax exempt.

e) Minimum 40% of the amount utilized for purchasing an annuity from the Annuity
Service Provider, registered and regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority (IRDA) and empanelled by PFRDA is also tax exempt.

Additional Relief on Death/Disability

 On invalidation not attributable to duty

1. Invalid pension calculated as per CCS(Pension )Rules 1972.

2. Retirement Gratuity.

 Death in service not attributable to duty

1. Family Pension calculated as per CCS(P) Rules, 1972

2. Death Gratutity

 Death in service attributable to duty

1. Extraordinary Family Pension calculated as per CCS(Extraordinary Pension) Rules, and

scheme of Liberalized Pension Awards.
2. Death Gratutity as per CCS(P) Rules, 1972.

 Discharge from service due to disease/injury attributable to duty

1. Disability pension calculated as per CCS(Extraordinary Pension )Rules.

2. Retirement Gratuity as per CCS(P) Rules, 1972.