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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Telephone re-imbursement to Central Govt Officers : Clarifications

As most would be aware, officers with GP 7600 and above (Dy Secy to Govt of India level and higher) are entitled to telephone re-imbursement of residential phones vide directions of Ministry of Finance which are applicable to all central govt employees, ministries and departments. The said facility is also available in the Defence Services to officers above the rank of Lt Col (GP 8000) since there is no rank with a GP of 7600 in the defence services.

There has been utter confusion on the issue. Some compounded by the fact that lower level accountants in many ministries and departments are known to create needless impediments by squeezing out negative and absurd interpretation of govt orders on the subject. To clear such air, the Govt, in 2007, had issued a clarification on some very pertinent queries on the same, which alongwith the main letter, can be accessed and downloaded by clicking here.

Most important out of these clarifications would be the one at Serial No 9 which in effect says that such re-imbursement can be claimed for a private mobile phone in addition to the official tele connection and the one at Serial No 18 which authorises Mobile and Broad-Band alongwith the regular connection. Also, 25% of other Group A level officers, that is, Lieuts, Capts and Majors on the military side, are authorised Rs 800/- monthly disbursement to this effect. Now please do not ask me how this 25% is to be calculated, I have no clue !!!. If someone has an idea on this, please share it with all of us.

Entitled personnel should make optimum use of this facility provided by the Govt of India.

Do not send me individual mails on this. Please share your thoughts as comments on the blog post through which a discussion can be better initiated.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

@navdeep
since last year many officers are talking about it. but no one knows how to claim it cda does not answer. so this info will not help us.

Anonymous said...

@anony (0820 hrs), baby couldn't you get a little more negative than this ?

raj said...

the contention that by order of mof all officers of dy secy(gp7600)and above have been entitled 4r res phone is not correct as already clarified by mof that this order will not be ref 4r entitlement all fresh entitlement require case to case sanction fm mof

Anonymous said...

Anony (10.15 hrs)

That dumb 'positive' attitude does not get you the reimbursement in your pocket.

It is a fact, that the lower level(if there is any civilian left now)Account officers do not allow the claim process giving silly reasons.

In my last appt, I was getting the 1500/- bucks reimbursed ever since Aug 2006. Now I've come to a new stn and the LAO here is not allowing the claim. The stn HQ is as clueless as any I have known inspite of self providing the 15 pages of govt letter (including the FAQ which a class 5 child can understand).

It has been almost 6 months now and I'm also turning 'Positive' by each passing day.

Anonymous said...

if grade pay is only for seniority within service then how does it affect use of telephone facility
as such dy secy is equivalent to major as least prior 6 cpc

also this is one glaring example of not getting correct grade pay as per length of service
these financial losses will continue to affect us
hope someone asks for time based grade pay with the govt our senior officers should wake up now

Harry said...

@ All

Hi guys have a dekko at this one! Everything in Defence Forces pales in comparision.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Sleuths-raid-SHO-for-amassing-wealth/articleshow/5121468.cms

@ Maj Navdeep

Sir, Sorry for posting irrelevant comment, but w/o chat box where do we post 'interesting' links?

IJS said...

People are clueless as to who will reimburse i.e cdaopune or local cda ,also the format & status of study leave officers , please educate . IJS

ajay said...

i have also seen and and heard about it but can someone pls explain as to how to claim this Rs1500/ tele allowance,is this to be claimed through cda pune on a contigent bill or through regional cda out of OCG

Anonymous said...

Residential tele with a financial limit of Rs.1500/- has been provided to me as no Army tele is available where I am posted.
For this an NA certificate as per the laid down format has to be filled in by the nearest Sparrow and sent to the Corps HQ under which the stn falls along with a statement of case.This format is available with the sparrow.
Based on this NA from sparrow another NA will be issued by the Corps HQ and then the offr will use this NA to prepare his claim as a contingent bill. He will then be paid from the ACG of the unit.The AHQ authority for the same is available in any Signal unit.
This payment was earlier made from the Tele Adm Grant and sanctioned by Comd HQ but has been stopped wef 01 Apr 2009.
I hope it serves some purpose

Anonymous said...

are we the people our mothers warned us about?

Digi said...

going through the clarifications i read that non entitled offrs can claim reimbursement restricted Rs 800.00 Hope i am correct in my interpretation. the only point of contention left is who r entitled offrs and who r non entitled offrs if some could clarify?

Anonymous said...

hi,
My claim has been returned by the audit with the obsn
"Fwd documents showing officer is entitled for civil tele at home"
What shall I do?
This obsn It seems have some substance i feel,as the GOI letter says "entitled officers".
Any comments?

Anonymous said...

Dear Navdeep, Pl clarify if this facility is authorised to offrs on study leave as well. - Lt Col N S Tomar

pramod said...

!!! imagine a unit offr seeking reimbursement of telephone bill from ACG!! CO will have his happiness ;)

Harry said...

@ All

Refer my comment above. I posted the same comment and link on Pragg's site and guess what, he blocked it! I even wrote as Post Script that if my comments are blocked that would expose his real bias against Armed Forces and he just proved it by blocking it. So now we know this guy's real agenda and his true colours are visible.

So no need to take anything of his seriously! And if someone has been following pragg's blog then there are comments by Ashok asking praggy to also expose corruption in other civil services but praggy has been maintaining stoic silence on that and he continues to execute his one point agenda!

Harry said...

@ All
If anyone knows the url of soldierscorner (or something like that) pls post it.
Thanks.

Harry said...

@ Maj Navdeep

Sir,

Its nice that u have implemented IndianAce's suggestion of giving updates on latest comments posted (like visitante annotates on Praggy's site) however it can further be improved by linking the comment to the particular blogpost to which it pertains!

Anonymous said...

then why the signals or our own fauji babus are acting as impediments in claiming this money with postpaid mobile bills. the signals dont have the capacity to provide communications and still they do this????

Anonymous said...

Army officers posted to DRDO/DGQA are getting this facility as they are not being provided with the 04 digit phone.obtain details from them.

IJS said...

Maj Navdeep ,
Happy Diwali , U re doing a commendable job , continue the good work .Thanks

Jhinchak said...

Regarding telephone/ broadband bill re-reimbursement any similar OM/ notification from MOD has been release. How r they planning to action in armed forces?

Anonymous said...

Further to my post at 141231.

The 4 digit phone which I have been provided is an intercom equivalant.

I can't connect it to get broadband, Can I.

So, Duh! Signals. Please lay off.

Regular said...

The comments here are alittle difficult to comprehend for a naval officer since both the reimbursements i.e. Rs 1100+400 (telephone +broadband)for the rank of Commanders and above and Rs 800 for the rank of LtCdrs andbelow is being regularly being done for all entitled officers at all naval stations. The officers who have not been provided with a service telephone connection are being reimbursed for a civil(BSNL/MTNL)phone/mobile connection subject to the total amount allowed (rs 1100/Rs. 800). The sanction is given by the local CFA and is reimbursed by the unit. The 25% clause (of LtCdrs and below) is calculated by the local station commander on the posted strength of officers and a SOC justifying the need/eligibility of the officer. This is first hand info since I am a serving officer in the Navy & have been claiming the reimbursement since last two years.

Anonymous said...

Dear Navdeep, Pl clarify if this facility is authorised to offrs on study leave as well. - Lt Col N S Tomar

Prem said...

Hi Navneep,
Thanks for the information. However, this order is not being honoured for all the defence officers (Wg Cdr and equalent)on the pretext that it is only for the entitled classes.the definition of entitled classes being taken from old rules as per that even Commandin Officers are not authorised.I have no doubt that it is a wrong interpretation.can anyone suggest how to make this facility available to all defence services officers.
Wg Cdr Prem Singh.

Anonymous said...

why can't themoney be credited into the pay of the month...submit the receipts later....or better still give it...do what one wants with it...

Anonymous said...

All over the navy this facility is available. thanks to the good work by some Naval Officers to initiate orders fron NHQ 4 years back. similar can be done in Army and A/F. those in joint command are also claiming(including Coast Guard). I agree with Mr.regular that within station 25% is calculated for Maj and below combined strength. claims can be passed pre audit. I dont believe that Army and A/F is still clueless on this basic facility.

Anonymous said...

in MoD some 1600 (for lt Cols on deputation) is being reimbursed for tele on production of bill..no questions asked..in Army..we have a parallel Govt to decide as what should we get and what not..

Anonymous said...

The present army residential telephone is just a dignified intercom.why cant the so-in-c &AG's branch takeit up with mod to provide all offrs with residential BSNL with BB .in civil every TD&Harry gets this facility. With absolutely no questions asked.Here we have our own self proclaimed local bosses who have their own rules.

Anonymous said...

the PCDA has stated that food and taxi bills are required to claim the same while on TD. food bills I can understand but..tell me which taxi operator gives bills?

IMPORTANT said...

The LAO here is asking us to prove that Lt Col is equivalent to Dy Secy to the Govt, before he comments on the eligibility

Is there anything to satisfy him?

Navdeep / Maj Navdeep Singh said...

@Anony

Tell the LAO that a Lt Col is NOT equal to Dy Secy to GoI, he is senior to him/her.

All such facilities (incl housing) are now based on Grade Pay.

Tele re-imb facility is now available to offrs above GP of Rs 7600.

Dy Secy to GoI : PB-3 / GP 7600
Lt Col : PB-4 / GP 8000

The LAO should know simple maths.

IMPORTANT said...

Dear Navdeep,Thanks for the prompt reply.

What I meant to ask was- is there a dose to offset the hardening of attitudes of the civil support establishment.

The observationn raised by the LAO was not in order and was clearly aimed to create nuisance.

One thing is inexplicable- the senior brass sitting on its bums. How difficult is it to get placed a qualified senior service officer in the PCDA/ CDA(O) as an interprator of rules for the service personnel. A responsible officer who has a quick, direct access to the decision makers in case of disputed interpretation.

A basic doubt- How does a QSIR proceed through the corridors of South Block?

Unknown said...

i wish some of us who have been claiming this allowance could post the format. The CDA/ regional CDA requires some earlier precedence
to pass some thing new. If the navy is getting the allowance through their local accounts deptt i am sure we will manage with the regional CDA also

Anonymous said...

format....where is the format...

Anonymous said...

Dear sir
i was a enrolled in 21 sep 2003 in amc.i was a nursing assistant of amc lko,i was imb from service since 14 june 2006.i have a disability in my left eye cat (E5)which is attributable to mil service.
i want to know my pension details according to 6th cpc.& entitelement of ex-service man facilities.please given a suitable guideline about that.
thanx & regards
ex/sep/na
mahesh raghuwanshi

Anonymous said...

@navdeep
Can you please tell the link for the format to claim the telephone bills reimbursement?

R K Tiwari said...

From 2006 we are getting reimbursement of Mobile prepaid after producing bill. but recently CDa stoped mentioning that prepaid mobile reimbursement is not allowed. Kindly suggest
Thanks
R K Tiwari

Anonymous said...

@navdeep.
Sir , I am writing here as i have been trying to get the format of NAC from sparrow but not been able to. Can we have the format uploaded online or if its already online can the link be shared please.