DISCIPLINE AND APPEAL RULES - 1968 (w.e.f. 01.10.1968)
DEFINITIONS :
APPLICATION (Rule-3) :
These rules shall apply to every railway employee but shall not apply to -
1. Any member of the all India services.
2. Any member of RPF.
3. Any person for whom special provision is made.
4. Any person in casual employment.
The president may by order exclude any class of railway servant.
A. APPOINTING AUTHORITY (Rule-2 (a)) :
1. The authority empowered to make appointments to the service of which the railway servant is for time being, a member to the grade of the service in which the railway servant is for time being included, or
2. The authority empowered to make appointments to the post which the railway servant for the time being holds, or
3. The authority which appointed the railway servant to such service, grade or post as the case may be or
4. Where the railway servant having been a permanent member of any other service or having substantively held any other permanent post has been in continuous employment under the Ministry of Railway, the authority which appointed him to that service or to any grade in that service or to the post.
Whichever authority is the highest authority.
DISCIPLINARY AUTHORITY Rule- 2 ( c )
The authority competent under these rules to impose the penalty as per schedule-I, II & III of D&A Rules as amended from time to time.
SUSPENSION (Rule-5) : S F-1
Suspension means the suspension of official activities of the railway employee. The suspension is not a penalty.
(1). A railway servant may be placed under suspension.
(a) Where a disciplinary proceeding against him is contemplated or is pending, or
(b) Where in the opinion of the authority competent to place a railway servant under suspension, he has engaged him self in activities prejudicial to the interest of the security of the state, or
(c) Where any criminal offence is under investigation, inquiry or trail.
(2). Deemed to have been place under suspension : SF-2
(a) w.e.f. the date of his detention, if he is detained in custody for a period exceeding forty eight hours.,
(b) w.e.f. the date of his conviction, if in the event of a conviction for an offence, he is sentenced to a term of imprisonment exceeding forty eight hours and is not forth with dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired consequent to such conviction.
(3). Where a penalty of dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement form service is set aside in appeal or on revision under these rules and the case is remitted for further inquiry or action or with any other direction. The order of his suspension shall be deemed to have continued in force from the date of his removal, dismissal or compulsory retirement.
(4). Where a penalty of dismissal, removal, compulsory retirement from service is set aside or declared void by a decision of a court of law and disciplinary authority decide to hold a further inquiry against him.
The railway employee shall be deemed to have been placed under suspension by the competent authority from the date of the dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement.
(5) (a) An order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under these rules may at any time be modified or revoked by the competent authority or higher authority.
(b) Where a Railway servant is suspended or is deemed to have been suspended and any other disciplinary proceeding is commenced against him during the continuance of that suspension the authority competent to
place him under suspension may, for reasons to be recorded by him in writing, direct that the Railway servant shall continue to be under suspension until the termination of all or any of such proceedings.
(c) An order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under this rule, may at any time be modified or revoked by the authority which made or is deemed to have made the order or by any authority to which that authority is subordinate.
(6) Not with standing any thing contained in sub rule 5, an order of suspension made or deemed to have been made under sub rule (1) or sub rule (2) of this rule shall not be valid after a period of ninety days unless it is extended after review is the manner provided in sub rule (7) of this rule, for a further period before expiry of ninety days.
(7) The review of an order of suspension shall be done by the authority which is competent to modify or revoke the suspension, on the recommendation of the review committee constituted for the purpose, and such competent authority shall pass order either extending or revoking the suspension before expiry of ninety days from the date of order of suspension. Subsequent review shall be made before expiry of the extended period of suspension, Extension of suspension shall not be fore a period exceeding one hundred and eight days at a time.
(RB LNo: E (D&A) 2004/RC-6-8 dt. 18.07.2006) RBE No. 94/04
Note :
An employee under suspension is not required to attend his work but he cannot leave his HQr. Without prior written permission of the competent authority. His where about must be fully known to the officer Incharge so that any communication can be made with him, if required. During the period of suspension a directive to employee to attend office and mark attendance in the office daily during working hrs. is illegal. One should remember that the very purpose of suspending an employee is to keep him away from the official
premises and deprive him of his official powers.
ENTITLEMENTS DURING SUSPENSION
An employee placed under suspension will be entitled for :-
1. Subsistence Allowance
2. Review of subsistence Allowances ( 1st only after 3 months)
3. D.A. on subsistence Allowances
4. Outdoor and indoor medical treatments.
5. Hostel subside/ Education Assistance/ Reimbursement of tuition fees.
6. Half the number of passes/ PTOs in cases of gazetted officers and one in case of non-gazetted in a calendar year. If this has already been availed of, no further passes/ PTOs should be issued.
7. P.L.B. (Productivity Linked Bonus) payable after revocation of suspension and resumption to duty.
8. T.A. in cases where he has to attend DAR inquiry beyond 8 kms. from his head quarters.
9. A suspended employee can also be considered for confirmation and promotion but will not be promoted during the period of suspension. In such cases the sealed cover procedure should be resorted to.
10. He can be allowed to leave headquarters at the discretion of the Disciplinary authority subject to the condition he asked for the same in writing.
11.A suspended employee being a Union Member he can participate in Meetings and stand for election for the office bearer post.
11.A suspended employee being a Union Member he can participate in Meetings and stand for election for the office bearer post.
SUBSISTENCE ALLOWANCE
A subsistence allowance at an amount equal to the leave salary on half average pay on half pay and in addition Dearness allowances on the basis of such leave salary. The first review is to be conducted after 3 months and then the amount of SUBSISTENCE allowances may be increased or decreased by an amount not exceeding 50% of the subsistence allowances admissible during the period of the first 3 months. This is depending upon the discretion of the disciplinary authority taking into consideration as to whether the suspended employee has been cooperating or not for early finalization of the case. It is, therefore, obligatory for the competent authority to review each case in which the period of suspension is likely to exceeds 3 months and specific orders are to be passed placing on record the circumstance under which the decision had been taken. There is no bar to make further review/ reviews after the first review as such can be made any time after the first review. The rate of dearness allowances will be based on the revised rate of subsistence allowances.
Compulsory deductions and Optional deductions.
Compulsory Deductions.
1. House rent and allied charges.
2. Income Tax and Super Tax.
3. Monthly contribution towards group insurance scheme.
4. Station debits, stores debits, etc.
5. Diet charges and fees payable to medical officers on contract system.
6. Excluding P.F. advance, repayment of all other advances and loans availed.
Besides the above the other deduction that can be made with the written consent of the suspended employee are…
Optional Deductions.
1. Advances from P.F.
2. Railway Institute/ club monthly membership/fees.
3. Dues of Railway co-op. Credit societies and stores.
4. Refund of loans taken from SBF etc.
5. Premium due on L.I.C./ postal life insurance.
6. Railway school fees.
Non deductible:
At no cost should the following deductions be made from the Substance Allowances.
i. Provident fund subscription.
ii. Fines imposed on the Railway servant
iii. Amount due on court attachments.
iv. Penal deductions on account of loss to Government for which the Railway servant is held responsible.
PENALTIES (Rule 6) MINOR PENALTIES:
I. Censure
II. With holding of his promotion for a specified period.
III. Recovery from his payoff the whole or part of any primary loss caused by him to the Govt. or Railway Administration by negligence or breach or orders.
III(a) With holding of the Privilege Passes or Privilege Ticket orders or both
III(b) Reduction to a lower stage in the time scale of pay by one stage for a period not exceeding three years., without commutative effect and not adversely affecting his pension.
IV. With holding of increments of pay for a specified period with further directions as to whether on expiry of such period this will or will not have the effect of postponing the future increments of his pay.
PENALTIES (Rule-6) MAJOR PENALTIES :
V. Reduction to lower stage in the time scale of pay for a specified period with further directions as to whether on the expiry of such period, the reduction will or will not have the effect of postponing the further increment of his pay.
VI. Reduction to a lower time scale of pay, grade, post or service, with or without further direction regarding conditions of restoration to the grade or post or service from which he was reduced and his seniority and pay on such restoration to that grade, post or service.
VII. Compulsory retirement.
VIII. Removal from service.
IX. Dismissal from service-which shall ordinarily be a disqualification for employment under the Government.
In case of collisions of railway train one of the penalties specified in clauses VIII & IX shall be imposed.
In case of passing railway signal at danger one of the penalties specified in clause V to IX shall ordinarily imposed.
If no such penalty is to be imposed, the reasons there of shall be recorded in writing.
PROCEDURE FOR IMPOSING MINOR PENALTIES (Rule-11) :
Charge sheet for Minor Penalties. SF-11
1. Charges should be framed against the delinquent employee and communicated to him on prescribed from (Standard Form No. 11)
2. The charges must be specific and not vague,
3. A statement of allegations should also supply along with the charge sheet.
4. Charge sheet must be acknowledged by D.E.
INSPECTION OF DOCUMENTS
After receiving the charge sheet the delinquent employee may request the disciplinary authority for permission to inspect and take extracts from the original RUDS documents.
WRITTEN STATEMENT
After having inspected the documents the charged officer should submit his written statement of defence to the disciplinary authority with in 10 days. The written statement should not contain any thing irrelevant or disrespectful but must precise and to the point.
CONSIDERATION OF THE WRITTEN STATEMENT OF DEFENCE
After considering the written statement of defence the D.A. may impose minor penalty and if it is proposed to impose penalty of Reduction in time scale more than one stage below, W.I. of Increment for a period exceeding 3 years, W.I. of Increment with commutative effect for any period or if the penalty of W.I. is likely to effect adversely the amount of pension or special contribution to P.F. payable to the employee, an inquiry shall invariably be held. ( SF 11-b )
While communication orders the disciplinary authority should indicate brief reasons (Reasoned Speaking Order) for coming to the final decision.
PROCEDURE FOR IMPOSING MAJOR PENALTIES (Rule-9) :
Procedure for imposition of Major Penalty. (Rule 9)
1. Issue of charge sheet
The disciplinary Authority shall frame definite charges on standard form no. 5 and deliver to the Railway servant , a copy of article of charges, as statement of allegations. A statement of all relevant facts and list of
documents by which and list of witness by whom the charges are proposed to be proved. While framing the charges name & designation of delinquent employee station/office, date & time of occurrence and the conduct rule for violation of which the allegation are made must be specifically mentioned in
the charge sheet.
2. Submission of written statement of defence by the delinquentemployee.
The delinquent employee must submit his written statement of defence within a period of 10 days from the date of receipt of SF5.
3. Permission to inspect and take note from documents
The Railway Servant shall for the purpose of preparing his defence be permitted to inspect and take note from the documents as he may specify, but such permission may be denied by the competent Authority on the ground
Not relevant to the case.
Against the public interest.
In such cases the disciplinary Authority shall record the reason in the written and shall deliver to the delinquent employee on SF6.
Order of Inquires
On receipt of written statement of defence or where no written statement of defence is submitted by the delinquent employee if it proposed to inflict any of the major penalty an inquiry has to be ordered by the disciplinary Authority for providing the charges which are not admitted.
4. Appointment of Inquiry Officer
The disciplinary Authority may itself inquire into the case or may appoint an inquiry officer or a Board of Inquiry. The appointment of Inquiry Authority is done on SF7. Inquiry Authority must be one grade higher than the delinquent employee.
6. Appointment of Presenting Officer
The disciplinary Authority may when consider necessary nominate any Railway Servant as presenting officer, to present the case in support of charges before the Inquiry Authority. The presenting officer is mainly
appointed in complicated cases where the employees of different departments are involved (common proceeding) or in serious vigilance cases.Nomination of Presenting Officer is done on SF8.
7. Nomination of Assisting Railway Servant by the delinquent employee.
The delinquent employee is also given the facility to present his case with the Assistance of another Railway Servant (known as ARE) of the same zonal Railway. ARE may be a Retired Railway employee or an Office bearer of Railway trade union, but ARE should not be a professional Lawyer,
8. Inquiry
Preliminary Inquiry
Examination in Chief (main Inquiry )
Preliminary Inquiry .
The Inquiry officer should put up the following five questions to the charged employee which should be answered by the charged employee and not by his defence Council.
Q.1. Have you received charge sheet?
Q.2. Have you received/ inspected document mention in the charge sheet?
Q.3. Have understood the charges framed/ leveled against you?
Q.4. Do you accept the charges leveled against you?
Q.5. Are you prepared to commence with Inquiry?
If the charged employee gives the reply of all the above five questions in affirmation then disciplinary Authority will proceed for main Inquiry otherwise he will provide the required Assistance to the charged employee
Examination in Chief (main Inquiry )
The Inquiry officer will called witnesses for examination and cross examination one by one.
Examination of witness is done by the Inquiry officer/ presenting officer and after the examination, cross-examination is done by the delinquent employee or ARE. When the cross-examination is over, if the Inquiry Officer/ presenting officer wants to reexamine the witness then after reexamination of the witness the delinquent employee / ARE must be given opportunity to re-cross examine the witness, when the examination and cross examination of all the witnesses is over the delinquent employee must be asked to produced his defence witnesses. Defence witnesses will be examined by the delinquent employee or his ARE and cross-examined by the Inquiry Officer/ presenting Officer. During the course of Inquiry all relied upon documents shall be exhibited. After exhibiting all the relied upon documents the delinquent employee/ ARE should asked to produced his defence documents if he has any.
The Inquiry officer should particularly being to the notice of the charged employee of the evidence that have gone against the charged employee during the course of Inquiry and whether he has any thing to say against it. At the end of the Inquiry, the Inquiry officer should provide an opportunity to the charged employee to submit a defence, which may be oral or written. He can also be given a 10 days time for submission in case he wishes to give in writing. On receipt of delinquent employee defence the Inquiry should bear in
mind that he has no Authority to suggest the gravity of offence or penalty to be impose.
9. Submission of Inquiry report and finding
The Inquiry officer will submit his Inquiry report and finding to disciplinary Authority in Two copies.
10. Forwarding of Inquiry report and finding by the disciplinary Authority to the delinquent employee fot submission of his oral/ written final defence. Rule-10
After going through the Inquiry report and findings of Inquiry officer, if the disciplinary Authority wants to imposed any Minor/Major penalty upon the delinquent employee than he should forward a copy of Inquiry report and finding to the delinquent employee with a 15 days notice to submit his oral/written final defence.
11. Order of disciplinary Authority (speaking order)
On receipt of the final defence of the delinquent employee or where no defence is submitted than the disciplinary authority should wait for 15 days and after passage of 15 days disciplinary Authority should go through the entire
Inquiry report, findings written defence , if any submitted as after proper application of mind shall pass speaking order for imposition of penalty, if he wishes to impose any penalty.
Speaking order should contain in brief.
i) The charges laved against the delinquent employee.
ii) The basis on which each and every charge alleged has been proved or not proved.
iii) The reasons which make the disciplinary Authority conclude that imposition.
iv) The particular penalty commensurate date with the gravity of the offence and that meets the ends of Justices.
12. Communication of penalty to the delinquent employee. (Rule12)
The penalty imposed upon the delinquent employee shall be communicated to him on standard form along with a copy of the speaking order. Employee shall also be advised the period within which the appeal lies and to whom the appeal lies.
APPEALS
ORDERS AGAINST NO APPEAL LIES (Rule-17) :
1. Any order made by president.
2. Any order of an interlocutory nature.
3. Any order passed by I.O. in the course of an inquiry.
ORDERS AGAINST WHICH APPEAL LIES (Rule-18) :
1. An order of suspension
2. An order imposing any of the penalties under Rule-6.
3. An order enhancing any penalty.
(a) Denies or varies to his disadvantage his pay, allowance, pension, P.F. benefits & service gratuity.
(b) Interprets to his disadvantage the provision of any such rule or allegation.
4. An order -
(a) Stopping him at the efficiency bar in time scale of pay on the ground of his unfitness to crossbar.
(b) Reversion otherwise then a penalty.
(c) Reducing or with holding the pension.
(d) Reducing or with holding of the government contribution and special contribution to P.F. or gratuity.
(e) Determining the subsistence allowance or other allowances to be paid to him.
(f) Determining his pay and allowances.
(i) For the period of suspension.
(ii) For the period from the date of his dismissed, removal or compulsory retirement from service to the date of his restatement.
(g) Determination of period from the date of his suspension or from the date of his dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement to the date of his reinstatement shall be treated as a period spent on duty for any purpose.
APPEAL AUTHORITY RULE (Rule-19) :
A railway servant including a person who has ceased to be in railway service may prefer an appeal against all or any orders specified in Rule-18 to the authority specified in schedules.
1. It shall always be the authority next higher above the D.A.
2. Where such lower authority itself become the appellate authority due to it’s promotion, then the appeal shall lie to the next authority.
3. Subsequent transfer of railway servant will not change the appellate authority.
4. Where the punishment has been enhanced on appeal, appeal shall lie to next higher authority.
5. Higher authority who may have directed suspension is not barred to act as appellate authority.
TIME LIMIT FOR APPEAL (Rule-20) :
The appeal should be filled with in 45 days of the delivery of punishment of orders to the railway servants however the appellate authority may entertain a time barred appeal, if the railway servant can show sufficient reason for delay.
CONTENTS OF APPEAL Rule-21 :
The appeal must be addressed to the appropriate appellate authority only. Every person preferring an appeal shall do so separately and in his own name. It shall contain all material statements and arguments on which the appeal relies, shall not contain any disrespectful or improper language.
The disciplinary authority shall on receipt of a copy of appeal forward the same with it’s comments thereon together with the relevant record to the appellate authority without any delay.
CONSIDERATION OF APPEAL (Rule-22) :
The A.A. has a right to reject the appeal it does not contain all material statement or not in proper and respectful language the appellate in such cases may be directed to submit a properly worded appeal for consideration.
1. In the case of an appeal against order of suspension, the A.A. shall consider whether the order of suspension is justified or not and also under the provision of rule and confirm or revoke the order accordingly.
2. In case of an appeal against the penalty imposed under the said rule the A.A. shall consider.
(a) Whether the procedure laid down in rule has been followed or not.
(b) Whether the finding of the disciplinary authority are warranted by the evidence on the record.
(c) Whether the penalty or the enhanced penalty imposed is adequate /inadequate and pass orders -
Confirming, enhancing, reducing or setting aside the penalty.
If the A.A. proposes to impose the enhanced penalty in one of the penalty specified in clauses V to IX of Rule-6 and an inquiry under Rule-9 has already been held the A.A. shall make such order after giving an opportunity of making representation.
If an inquiry under Rule-9 has not already been held in the case, itself hold such inquiry or direct that such inquiry be held and there after on a consideration of the proceeding of such inquiry pass such order as it may deem fit.
IMPLEMENTATION OF ORDER IN APPEAL (Rule-23) :
The authority which made the order appealed against shell given effect to he order passé by the A.A.
SPECIAL PROVISION FOR NON GAZETTED STAFF (Rule-24) :
1. Where the penalty of dismissal, removal, compulsorily retired, reduction or with holding of increment has been imposed the appellate authority may at it’s discretion and if it considered it necessary, give the N.G. Railway servant a personal hearing before disposing of the appeal.
2. A group “C” railway servant who has been dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired from service after his appeal has been disposed of with in 45 days there after may apply to the G.M. for revision. In this application he may, if he chooses, request the G.M. to refer the case to the Railway Rates Tribunal for advice before he disposes of the revision petition.
3. A group “D” railway servant who has been dismissed, removed or compulsorily retired from service after his appeal has been disposed of within 45 days there after may apply to the DRM &where he is not under control of any DRM to the senior most administrative grade officer under whose control he may be working for a revision of the penalty. The revising authority shall there after dispose of the revision.
REVISION AND REVIEW
REVISION (Rule-25) :
Revision in disciplinary cases, only Railway Board G.M. & officer not below the rank of Deputy Head of Department or DRM are empowered to revise any order passed by an authority subordinate to them the revising authority may act as under-
An action to enhance the penalty shall not been initiated more than 06 months after the date of orders and more than one year after the date of the orders to be revised in case where it is proposed to reduce or cancel the penalty.
Reversionary power can be exercises both suo-moto or on consideration of a revision petition, however, suo-moto revision can be done subject to the time limits prescribed in Rules 25 (5).
Appellate authority can also exercise reversionary power when in case no appeal has been preferred in terms of Rule 25 ( I ) ( IV ) However for an appellate authority to exercise reversionary power, this authority has to be of the rank of DRM and above an authority up to the rank of ADRM can’t exercise reversionary powers if it happens to be the appellate authority in the case reversionary powers will be exercised by the appellate authority only for conducting suo-moto revision. The time limits laid down in Rule 25 (5) also apply in cases of revision done by the appellate authorities.
The revising authority has to be higher in rank than the appellate authority where
i. an appeal has been preferred or
ii. where the time limit prescribed for revision to be made by the Appellate Authority as laid down in Rule 25 (5) or RS (D&A) Rules has expired. The above stipulation does not apply to the revision made by president.
REVIEW (Rule-25 A) :
The president may at any time either is own motion or otherwise review any order passed under these rules-
STANDARD FORMS FOR USE IN DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDING
S.F No. SUBJECT
1. Order of suspension.
2. Order of deemed suspension.
3. Certificate to be furnished by suspended Railway employee.
4. Revocation of suspension.
5. Charge sheet for major penalty.
6. Refusing of permission to inspect the documents.
7. Appointment I.O./Board of Inquiry.
8. Appointment of presenting officer.
9. Deleted
10. Disciplinary action in common proceeding.
10.(a) Appointment of inquiry officer in common proceeding.
10.(b) Appointment of presenting officer in common proceeding Charge sheet for minor penalty.
11. Charge sheet for minor penalty.
11.(b) Charge sheet for initiation of minor penalty in case where inquiry is essential.
11.(c) For making disciplinary action for minor penalty where the charge sheet for major penalty was initially issued.
12. Memorandum where action is proposed under Rule-14 ( i ).
13. Permission from president for action taking against the retire Rly. Employee.
14. Charge sheet for retired Railway employee.
