No. 15011/2/E.II (B)/ 76
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Expenditure
New Delhi, dated the 11th August, 1976
Office Memorandum
Subject: Overtime Allowance to Central Government employees.
The undersigned is directed to state that a need has beenfelt for some time past of consolidating at one place the instructions/ ordersissued by this Ministry from time to time. Accordingly in supersession of allthe previous orders on the subject, the grant of overtime allowance to CentralGovernment employees will be governed by the following orders. The Ministry ofHome Affairs etc. are requ3sted that these orders may be brought to the noticeof all the administrative authorities under them for information/ guidance andcompliance.
2. Eligibility
All non-gazetted Central Government servants and also gazetted Governmentservants who fall in the excepted category mentioned at para 5(a) of theseorders, paid from Civil Estimates (including those working in the UnionTerritories Administration) of the following categories, Vis. (i) office staffand (ii) those staffs whose prescribed hours and nature of work are comparableto those of "Office staff" shall in future, be governed by theseorders.
Administrative Ministries will be competent to decide, inconsultation with their Internal Financial Advisers, as to which staff falls incategory (ii) above. The Comptroller & Auditor General of India willexercise that power in respect of the staff of the Indian Audit and AccountsDepartment.
3. Condition for the grant.
(a) The work in all offices should be so organized asordinarily to be capable of being done during the normal office hours. Thequestion of overtime work to be done should are only in special circ*mstancesand where working beyond the prescribed office hours is a regular feature theoffices and the officers should so stagger the working hours that the staffworking in the office or attaché to officers attend to such work by rotation.
(b) Where, in special circ*mstances, it becomes necessary toperform overtime work, the competent authority may authorize such overtime work,after satisfying himself that the work is of such an urgent nature that itcannot be postponed in the public interest till the next working day and thecompetent authority shall, as far as possible, specify beforehand the time uptowhich a Government servant may be required to perform overtime work. In thisregard following further instructions may be strictly observed:-
(i) If an employee is required to attend office earlier thanthe prescribed hours of work, he should normally be allowed to leave officecorrespondingly early. Where, however, it is not feasible to allow him to leaveoffice early, he may be paid overtime allowance after deducting the normal onehour of free work.. If such an employee is also required to work beyond officehours on that day overtime allowance may be allowed for the total period ofovertime work performed before and after the prescribed hours of work afterdeducting from the total normal one hour of free work..
(ii) The staff who are required to perform overtime duty forthe full prescribed hours of work on Sundays (or other weekly or fortnightlyoff-day or Second Saturdays) or on other holidays/ public holidays should, as arule, be granted compensatory leave in lieu. Employees who are required to workon such days beyond full day may be allowed a day’s compensatory leave in lieuof the full day’s work and paid overtime allowance for the excess time put bythem minus one hour free duty. In cases where an employee is required to workfor half a day or less, e.g. from the time the office opens till lunch time, twosuch half days should be taken a equivalent to one full day for the purpose ofgrant of compensatory leave. Where necessary half a day’s compensatory leavemay be given.
Cash compensation in the form of overtime allowance for dutyon Sundays/ weekly or Fortnightly off-days/ Second Saturdays/ public holiday maybe granted only in very exceptional circ*mstances where an officer not below therank of Joint Secretary in the Secretariat Offices or the Head of the Departmentin the case of Attached, Subordinate or other offices is satisfied and certifiesthat it is not possible to grant compensatory leave.
Note 1:- Whenever duty is performed beyond a full day (beyondfull prescribed hours of work), overtime allowance for such duty is to begranted only after deducting one hour free duty. If an employee comes to officelate, with or without previous permission, on any day and is required to workbeyond office hours on that day, the following deductions should be made incalculating overtime allowance:-
(a) the normal one hour of free work; and
(b) the time by which he comes late.
Note 2:- Normally compensatory leave under these ordersshould be granted within one month of its becoming due. This condition may berelaxed in exceptional circ*mstances to be decided upon by an officer of therank of Joint Secretary in the case of Secretariat staff and Head of theDepartment in the case of staff of attached, subordinate or other offices, whowill satisfy himself and certify that the grant of compensatory leave to all thestaff within a month would cause serious dislocation of current work.. Therewill be no limit upto which compensatory leave may be allowed to accumulate butnot more than two days compensatory leave may be allowed to be availed of at atime.
(iii) The total overtime allowance payable to a Governmentse5vant in terms of these orders shall not exceed one-third of their monthlyemolument payable during the month as defined in rule 4(b) below. While theceiling referred to above will normally apply to personal staff also, in specialcases, such staff may be paid overtime allowance in excess of the ceiling if theofficers to whom they are attached certify that they have satisfied themselvesthat the overtime work performed by their personal staff necessitating thepayment of overtime allowance in excess of the ceiling was necessary in thepublic interest. But in any case it should not exceed 50% of their emoluments asdefined in these orders.
Note:- Payment of overtime allowance upto the ceiling of 50%of emoluments" referred to above will not be applicable to the personalstaff posted by informal arrangements. The concession will be limited to thosepersonal staff posted/ sanctioned by the Department of Personnel &Administrative Reforms or authorized by the competent authority.
In calculating overtime allowance under these orders, theactual time taken for lunch break should be deducted from the total hours forwhich the staff concerned is eligible for the allowance.
Overtime allowance under these orders may not be paid toGovernment servants required to perform duty at the site of an exhibition/ fair,in addition to his normal duty.
All the regular class IV staff, including Waiters, Cooks,Sweepers, Farashes and Chowkidars, whose hours of work have been prescribed bythe competent authority and who are at present eligible to overtime allowancemay be paid overtime allowance as the same rate admissible to other class IVstaff working in offices except those who are paid overtime allowance under anystatutory rules in force.
DEFINITIONS
For the purpose of these orders, unless the context otherwiserequires:-
(a) A competent authority means:-
In the case of Secretariat and attached offices an officernot below the rank of an Under Secretary to the Government of India orcomparable status;
In the case of an office under the supervision of aGovernment servant holding a non-gazetted post, a Government servant authorizedby the Head of the Department to exercise the powers of a competent authority:
In the case of any other office, the Head of office declareda such for that office under the appropriate rule of GFE or under Rule 10(A) ofthe DFP Rules 1958 or any other officer in that office of a rank not lower thanthat of the Head of Office; and
In respect of the personal staff of Ministers and officersabove the rank of Joint Secretary, their private Secretary, if the PrivateSecretary is a gazetted officer, will be the competent authority under theseorders.
(in respect of the personal staff of officers of the rank ofJoint Secretary, the Joint Secretary concerned or an officer of his rank may beregarded as the competent authority).
(b) Emoluments mean pay as defined in clause (c) below andall allowances including Winter Allowance & Hill compensatory allowance beexcluding house rent allowance, conveyance allowance, horse allowance, traveling/ daily allowance, permanent traveling allowance and clothing/ uniformallowance. In the case of re-employed pensioners, emoluments shall also includepension to the extent indicated vide para 6 below:-
Note 1:- The list of excluded allowances above is notexhaustive. The other allowance like children educational allowance, Messingallowance etc., which are not admissible to all Government Servants working at aplace may be regarded as excluded category of allowances. The Project allowanceto the extent it does not include an element of excluded an element of excludedcategory can be included in the emoluments for the purpose of Overtimeallowance.
Note 2:- In the case of those employees who have opted toremain on pre-revised scales of pay under the Central Civil Services (RevisedPay) Rules, 1973 the term emoluments will also include interim relief admissibleto them.
( c) Head of a Department means the authority declared assuch under Supplementary Rule 2(10);
(d) Overtime work means work done in excess of one hour overthe prescribed hours of work on any working day and includes work done on anySunday or any other holiday;
(e) Pay means pay as defined in Fundamental Rules 9(21) (a).
Note:- As the overtime allowance payable in terms of theseorders is based on emoluments which term includes dearness allowance, it willhave to be recalculated, if any change- upwards or downwards- in emoluments isgiven effect from a retrospective date. As a result of recalculation of OvertimeAllowances, arrears are to be paid or, as the case may be , recoveries of overpayments are to effected.
(f) Prescribed hours of work means hours of work prescribedin any office in respect of employees working in this office.
5. CATEGORIES OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS TO WHOM THESE ORDERSWHALL NOT APPLY EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY BE OF THE NATURE OF OFFICE STAFF OR STAFFSWHOSE PRESCRIBED HOURS AND NATURE OF WORK ARE COMPARABLE TO THOSE OF ‘OFFICESTAFF’
These orders shall not apply to:-
(a) Government servants holding gazetted posts except that:-
The concessions of overtime allowance may be extended toofficers holding the post of Private Secretaries, Additional Private Secretaries, Assistant Private Secretaries or First Personal Assistants to Ministers DeputyMinisters even though these posts are gazetted posts, in those cases in which:-
(i) Just before their appointment to such posts, they hadheld non-gazetted posts;
(ii) They have not been allowed full pay of the said gazettedposts but their pay has been restricted under FR 35 to below the minimum of thepay of those posts; and
(iii) their pay, as defined in para 4 (e) above does notexceed Rs. 750/-:
(iv) The grant of overtime allowance in above cases will alsobe subject to those orders, including ceiling limits etc.
Note: The overtime allowance will also be admissible toofficers of the Central Secretariat Stenographers Service, not approved forappointment to Grade I of the service, but appointed as first personalAssistants to Ministers, if the total pay plus the special pay admissible fallsbelow the minimum of the Grade I of the Central Secretariat StenographersService.
(b) Government servants holding non-gazetted posts whose pay,as defined under these orders exceeds Rs. 750/- p.m..
( c) Government servants who hold supervisory posts notexcluded b clauses (a) and (b) above, unless they fulfill the followingconditions:-
(i) They are in direct and continuous contact with staffssupervise:
(ii) They work the same hours as the staff under them; and
(iii) They are themselves subject to the kind of supervisionwhich would enable them ordinarily to obtain prior approval for overtime.
(d) Field staff and Inspection staff.
(e) Government servants who are governed by the FactoriesAct, 1948, or the Minimum Wages (Central) Rules, 1950, and are paid overtimeallowances in accordance with the provisions of Section 59 of the Factories Act,1948 or Rule 25 of the Minimum Wages (Central) Rules, 1950 as the case may be:
(f) Staff Car Drivers.
(g) Resident (night duty) clerks and Peons attached to themin jthe Secretariat and certain other offices.
(h) Persons not in whole-time employment.
(i) Personal paid out of contingencies.
(j) Persons paid otherwise than on a monthly basis.
(k) Persons employed on contract except when the contractprovides otherwise; and
(1) Such of the Government servants employed in theGovernment of India Presses, the Government Controlled Ports, the MercantileMarine Department, the Customs (including Land Customs) Department, the CentralExcise Department and the Overseas Communication Service, as are already inreceipt of overtime allowance under other schemes.
5. (a) Re-employed pensioners
The drawal of overtime allowance jin the case o re-employedpensioners shall be regulated as indicated below:-
(i) in the case of officers whose pay plus pension exceedsthe sanctioned maximum pay of the post, overtime allowances shall be calculatedon that maximum plus the includible allowance referred to in paragraph 4(b)above as may be admissible to them;
(ii) in the cases of officers whose pay on re-employment incivil posts is fixed without taking into account the entire pension or partthereof the amount of pension so ignored shall be ignored for calculatingemoluments under para 4(b)
(iii) in other cases, the overtime allowance shall becalculated on pay plus pension plus the includible allowances referred to inparagraph 4(b) above as may be admissible to them.
(b) Persons in receipt of emoluments from foreignGovernments:
Persons in receipt of any emoluments of the nature of pay,leave salary or pension from foreign Governments (eg. Burma Ceylon, Pakistan,etc.) in addition to pay from the Government of India shall subject to the totalemoluments not exceeding the limits prescribed for eligibility for overtimeallowance, draw the allowances on the basis of their pay plus the includibleallowances referred to in paragraph 4(b) above as may be admissible to them fromthe Government of India alone.
Note:- For the purpose of sub-paragraphs (a) and (b):-
(i) "Pension" means gross pension includingtemporary increase in pension, death-cum-retirement gratuity and otherretirement.
(ii) The amount of pension shall be the amount originallysanctioned (i.e. before commutation, in any) less the amount of pension, if any,held in abeyance as a condition of re-employment
( c) Workshop staffs:
(1) Where the payment of overtime allowance is regulated under the Factories Act or other statutory enactment, it will continue to be so regulated.
See AlsoOvertime Pay(2) In the case of the overtime allowance payable otherwise than according to the statutory provisions, the Third Pay Commission have made the following recommendations:-
(i) Where the system of overtime wok continues, the period of overtime should be made admissible only if the work put in during a working week of 6 days exceeds 48 hours; in reckoning these 48 hours the period allowed for total breaks should be included;
(ii) In Government Presses, where the prescribed weekly hours are less than 48, the work done between the prescribed hours and the weekly norm of 48 hours is compensated in the form of overtime allowance at double the time rate. Compensation for such work should be only at the time rate in future.
It has been decided that these recommendations will not apply to existing employees working in the industrial establishment of the Government. They may continue to be governed by existing rules. Attempts should, however, be made to apply the recommendation to those who join service on or after 3.12.1974 and to employees of new industrial units. For this purpose, it may be necessary to to amend standing orders, given notice of change etc. The administrative Ministries are requested to try the system as recommended by the Pay Commission wherever they find it feasible and in any case wherever a new industrial units are established. In such cases the rates of overtime allowance which may by prescribed by rules or orders should also be in accordance with the Pay Commissions’ recommendations.
Non-industrial staffs in workshops
In the case of non-industrial staffs in workshops whose hours of work and holidays are the same as those of industrial staffs, the existing rates of overtime allowance may continue, if such non-industrial staffs are already covered by a scheme of overtime allowance.
If such non-industrial staffs are not at present covered by any scheme of overtime allowance, they may be allowed overtime allowance but only at the time rate for work in excess of the prescribed hours but not in excess of 48 hours in a week or 9 hours on any day. For work in excess of 9 hours on any day or 48 hours in a week, the non-industrial staff in workshops may be given overtime allowance at the same rates as is admissible to the industrial staffs provided the Head of the establishment certifies that:-
(a) the non-industrial staffs have the same hours of work and holidays as the industrial staffs; and
(b) the nature of duties of the non-industrial staffs in such that their presence throughout is necessary for the efficient working of the industrial staffs.
Where the above two conditions are not fulfilled, the rate ofovertime allowance for the non-industrial staffs for work in excess of 9 hours aday or 48 hours a week will be the time rate.
(III) If the hours of work and holidays of the non-industrialstaffs are not the same as for industrial staffs the rate of over time allowancefor the non-industrial staffs shall be the time rate for overtime work done inexcess of one hour over the prescribed hours of work, unless there alreadyexists any scheme for payment of overtime allowance to such employees which ismore liberal, in which case the existing scheme will continue in force.
Note 1:- For this purpose, "time rate" shall meanthe single hourly rate of over time allowance admissible in singularcirc*mstances to the corresponding industrial staffs, in the same workshop/establishment.
Note 2:- "Industrial staffs" in the above clauserefers to "workers" as defined in Section 2(1) of the Factories Act.1948 and non-industrial staffs refer to the staff other than ‘workers’
Note 3:- The term "Workshop for this purpose shall meana factory registered as such under factories act, 1948.
Note 4:- Where under the relevant enactments of the StateLegislatures, the term "worker" includes also the non-industrial staffin the industrial establishments, payment of overtime allowance will beregulated according to the provisions contained in these enactments."
7. RATES OF OVERTIME ALLOWANCE
Where a Government servant to who this order applies isrequired to perform overtime work, he shall be entitled to overtime allowance inrespect of the overtime work done by him in accordance with the followingrates:-
The rates of overtime allowance and the basis of reckoningthem will, for the present, be as under:-
8. Where overtime allowance is payable to a Governmentservant for the overtime work performed by him, he shall not be entitled toreceive any other remuneration (whether in the form of conveyance charge orcompensatory leave or other-wile), in respect of such overtime work.
Provided that where a Government servant has been recalledfrom his residence to perform overtime work, the competent authority may allowconveyance charges to such a Government servant in addition to the overtimeallowance admissible to him.
EXPLANATION 1: The first one hour of overtime work on aworking day shal be free only where a Government servant works in continuationof the prescribed hours of work. Where a Government servant is recalled from hisresidence to perform overtime work, overtime allowance may be paid for theentire period of overtime work including the first one hour.
EXPLANATION 2: The overtime work in excess of one hour uptohalf an hour and thereafter every period upto half an hour be reckoned as halfhour e.g. a person working for 2 hours and 10 minutes in excess of one hourbeyond the prescribed hours of work will get overtime allowance for 2-1/2 hours.
EXPLANATION 3: The overtime allowance payable to Governmentservant shall be calculated to the nearest multiple of five paise, the fractionof three paise and more being rounded off to the next higher multiple of fivepaise and fractions below three paise being ignored.
EXPLANAION 4: If, for special reasons (such as the demise ofa dignitary a working day is declared as a holiday before the time prescribedfor the opening of the office, it shall be treated just like a Sunday or otherholiday for the purpose of the payment of Overtime allowance on a day, on whichthe office is closed for special reasons after the prescribed opening time butbefore the prescribed closing time, shall be treated as a holiday only from thetime the orders for closing the office reach the office.
EXPLANATION 5: The overtime allowance payable under theseorders shall be classified as "honorarium" under F.R. 9(9) and shallnot be treated as ‘pay’ as defined in F.R. 9 (21) or for the purposes of thesupplementary Rules.
EXPANATION 6: Government servants will also the eligible forovertime allowance for performing overtime work while on tour, subject toobservance of the conditions prescribed under these orders, namely limit of 1/3rd/50% applicable to total overtime earnings, deduction of one hours free work,maintenance of overtime register, grant of compensatory off, etc., and alsosubject to strict compliance with the conditions indicated below:-
(i) Employees who are not at present entitled to overtime allowance at their head quarters under the existing rules or schemes, shall not be entitled to overtime allowance on tour
(ii) Subject to (i) above, on employee would be entitled to overtime allowance on tour, provided overtime work in ordered on the spot (a) by his superior official in the tour party; or (b) where an employee on tour is attaché to a local office at his tour station by the competent authority in such local office at the tour station.
Note:- Where the superior official, who orders hissubordinate official on tour to perform overtime work is a non-gazetted officer,or is not the competent authority to order overtime work at the head-quartersunder the existing rules, he shall, on return to headquarters, submit a reportto his controlling gazetted officer and / or to the competent authority, as thecase may be, explaining the circ*mstances necessitating the detailing of staffon overtime duty, and seeking his approval.
(iii) Subject to (i) above, an employee on temporary transfer not exceeding 90 days would also be entitled to overtime allowance provided the overtime work has been ordered by his superior official on the spot.
(iv) For purposes of calculation of overtime, the time spentin travel shall be excluded . In other words, overtime shall be restricted tothe period between the time when a halt on tour begins and the time when suchhalt ends.
(v) Overtime allowance regulated under any statutory ruleswill continue to be governed by such rules only.
9. CERTIFICATE: A certificate to be signed by the drawingofficer in Form I shall be attached to the bill in which overtime allowance isdrawn in respect of every Government servant to whom the overtime allowance ispayable.
10. REGISTER:
(i) A register of overtime wok shall be maintained in Form IIin each office in which entries shall be made as and when overtime wokauthorized by the competent authority is performed by th4 Government servantconcerned.
(ii) This register shall be examined by superior officers andshall be liable to examination by Audit at the time of inspection or audit andany instance of undue grant of overtime allowance shall be brought to the noticeof the higher authorities. The superior officer shall particularly scrutinizecases where the same employee has been paid overtime allowance for more than 10days in a month.
Note: The administrative Ministries / Departments concernedwill take a decision as to who should be regarded as "SuperiorOfficer" for the purpose of these orders.
11. If, in respect of any of the categories of staff excludedfrom the purview of these orders, these is no scheme of overtime allowancealready in force and it is considered necessary to have such a scheme, asuitable scheme may be evolved in consultation with the Ministry of Finance,provided (a) the staff in question has prescribed hours of work; (b) the natureof work performed by the staff lends itself to a scheme of overtime allowance;(c) the staff is subject to the kind of supervision which would enable itordinarily to obtain prior approval for working overtime and (d) the scheme isin conformity with the principles laid down in this Office Memorandum.
12. If any doubt arises relating to the interpretation ofthese orde4s it may be referred to the Ministry of Finance.
13. These orders shall take effect from the date of issue.
14. In so far as the persons working in the Indian Audit andAccounts Department are concerned, these orde5rs issue after consultation withthe Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
15. Hindi version of this O.M. will follow.
Sd/_
(R.L. Bahl)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India
To, All Ministries / Departments of dthe Gover. Of India (asper standard list)
Copy forwarded to :-
1. C & AG of India, New Delhi w.r.t. his U.O. No.690/Audit/ 26-74 dated 30.6.1974
2. UPSC, New Delhi
3. Election Commission, New Delhi
4. Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Admn. Br.), New Delhi.
5. Lok Sabha Secretariat (Admn. Br.), New Delhi
6. Supreme Court of India, New Delhi
7. Central Vigilance Commission
8. All State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.
9. Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, NewDelhi
10. Ministry of Finance (Defence Division) and E-Coord Branch
11. Shri K.V. Ramana Murthy, Deputy Secretary (AG), Min/Defence
12. Railway Board, New Delhi
13. Secretary, Staff Side, National council, 9-Ashoka Road,New Delhi
14. All Members of the Staff Side of the National Council ofJCM
15. Indian Red Cross Society, I-Red Cross Road, New Delhi
16. All India Services Division, Department of Personnel& Administrative Reforms
Sd/_
(R.L. Bahl)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India
FORM- I
(Certificate)
(See Paragraph 9)
Certified that the Government servant / Government servantsin whose casse the overtime allowance has been claimed in this bill was/ wererequired under specific orders to
Sit late in office after having put in work during prescribedhours on ____________________________________________________________
attend office on _________ Sunday/ holiday for disposal ofurgent work which, in public interest, could not be postponed till the nextworking day.
Certified that the amount claimed in this bill is inaccordance with the rates specified in paragraph 7 of the Government of India,Ministry of Finance (Department of Expenditure)’s Office MemorandumNo.15011/2/E.II(B)/76, dated the 11th August 1976 and is according tothe principles laid down therein and does not exceed the ceiling on overtimeearnings prescribed in these orders, necessary certificates having been obtainedfrom the officers concerned for payment of overtime allowances to the personalstaff in excess of the prescribed ceiling.
Also certified that the Government servant(s) concerned didnot received any other remuneration/ conveyance charge of compensatory leave forthe performance of that overtime work.
( )
(Signature of Drawing Officer)
FORM-II
Overtime Register (See paragraph 10)
