outside employment

Outside Employment

[1] Overview [2] Application for appointment in the same or other Department [3] Application for appointment in PSU [4] Application to UPSC [5] Release on selection by UPSC [6] Application from employees under disciplinary proceedings [7] Registration with Employment Exchange [8] Application for employment in private or Industrial firms [9] Technical Resignation [10] Lien [11] Returning to old Post/Department

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[1] Overview

1.1    Applications from employees will be forwarded as a rule except in cases where they can be withheld in public interest.

1.2    The forwarding of applications of Government servants as direct recruits for posts within the Central Government, State Governments, Autonomous/Statutory Bodies, CPSEs etc. in a case in which a particular employee cannot be spared without serious detriment to important work in hand, public interest would justify withholding of his application even if the application would have been forwarded.

1.3    When for good and sufficient reasons, an application is withheld, no infringement of any constitutional right is involved.

1.4    Applications of Government servants who have been given some technical training at Government expenses after commencement of service – Such Government servant cannot justifiably complain of hardship if he is not allowed to capitalize the special qualifications so gained by seeking other better employment. Withholding of application in such a case is therefore justifiable.

1.5    Applications of Government servants belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (SC), other than ‘scientific and technical personnel – Applications for employment of temporary or permanent Central Government servants belonging to Scheduled Castes(SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) should be readily forwarded except in very rare cases where there may be compelling grounds of ‘public interest’ for withholding such application. The withholding of application should be the exception rather than the rule in the case of employees belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC)and Scheduled Tribes(ST) who should be afforded every facility to improve their prospects.

1.6    Application in respect of employees suffering from disability should be readily forwarded except in very rare and exceptional cases.

1.7    “Public interest” will be interpreted strictly.

1.8    Ordinarily, an employee including scientific/technical personnel is permitted to apply for an outside post up to four times in a year excluding applications to UPSC.

1.9    Applications not in response to advertisements or circulars will not be forwarded to the employer. Means against such advertisements, a government employee should not request his/her employer to forward his/her application.

1.10    The applications may be forwarded in accordance with the general principles given in preceding paragraphs, irrespective of whether the post applied for in the other department/office is permanent or temporary.

1.11    This article is based on – (a) Manual on Establishment and Administration, (b) DoPT O.M. No. 28011/1/2013-Estt. (C) dtd: 23/12/2013 & (c) Government of India’s order issued from time to time.

[2] Application for appointment in the same or other Department

2.1    In Case of Permanent Government employee: Applications for appointment in the same or other Central Government departments from such employees can be forwarded subject to the conditions incorporated at Para 1.8 and Lien may be granted. The process of grant of ‘Lien’ and its execution is widely discussed in Para – 10.

2.2    In Case of Temporary Government employee: Applications from such Government servants should therefore be readily forwarded unless there are compelling grounds of public interest for withholding them.

2.3    An undertaking will be obtained while forwarding applications in such cases that they would resign in the event of their selection in other departments.

[3] Application for appointment in PSU/Autonomous Body

3.1    In Case of Permanent employees: Applications for appointments in Public Sector Undertakings (PSU), wholly or substantially owned by the Central Government or State Government and in Autonomous, Semi-Government Organizations may be forwarded on immediate absorption basis.

3.2    No ‘Lien’ will be retained in his parent cadre. All his connections with the Government will be served on his release for appointment in an enterprise and he will not be allowed to revert to his parent cadre.

3.3    The relieving order in such cases should indicate the period within which the official should join the PSU/Autonomous Body. Normally, this period should not be more than 15 (Fifteen) days.

3.4    The period of 15 (Fifteen) days may be extended by the competent authority for reasons beyond the control of the official (employee who is resigning to join PSU/Autonomous Bodies).

3.5    All such conditions are necessarily required to be mentioned in the relieving order of accepting the resignation of the Government servant from Government service and the same should be issued from the actual date of his/her joining the PSU/Autonomous Body.

3.6    The period between the date of relieving and the date of joining PSU/Autonomous Body can be regulated as leave of the kind due and admissible.

3.7    If no kind of leave is due, it should be regulated by Extraordinary Leave.

3.8    In case, the Government employee is not able to join the PSU/Autonomous Body within the period allowed by the competent authority, he/she should report back to the parent office forthwith.

3.9    In case of Temporary employee: An undertaking to the effect that they will resign in the event of selection by the employee is required to be obtain while processing of forwarding/entertaining his/her request to appointment in PSU/Autonomous Body. Such procedure is to be followed even in case of a temporary Government servant applying as a direct recruit for a post in the same organization.

[4] Application to UPSC

4.1    Where Government servants apply directly to UPSC as in the case of direct recruit, they must immediately inform the Head of their Office/Department giving details of the examination/post for which they have applied, requesting him to communicate his permission to the Commission directly.

4.2    If, however, the Head of the Office/Department considers it necessary to withhold the requisite permission, he should inform the Commission accordingly within 30 (thirty) days of the date of closing for receipt of applications. If no intimation is received by UPSC within this time, permission will be presumed.

4.3    In case, any situation mentioned in para 6 below is existing, the requisite permission should not be granted and UPSC should be immediately informed of this fact as also the nature of allegations against the Government servant.

4.4    It should also be made clear that in the event of actual selection of Government servant, he would not be relieved for taking up the appointment, if the charge-sheet/prosecution sanction is issued or a charge-sheet is filed in a court for criminal prosecution, or if the Government servant is placed under suspension.

4.5    It may be noted that in case of direct recruitment by selection i.e. “selection by interview”, it is the responsibility of the requisitioning Ministry/Department to bring to the notice of the Commission any point regarding unsuitability of the candidate (Government servant) from the vigilance angle and that the appropriate stage for doing so would be the consultation at the time of preliminary scrutiny i.e. when the case is referred by the Commission to the Ministry/Departments for the comments of the Ministry’s representatives on the provisional selection of the candidate for interview by the Commission.

[DoPT OM NO. 14017/101/91-Estt.(RR) dtd: 14/07/1993]

4.6    When once the Administrative Authority has forwarded an application, it is mandatory that the Government employee concerned should be released to take up the new appointment. However, where subsequent to the forwarding of the application, but before selection if exceptional circumstances arise in which it may not be possible to release the official, the fact should be communicated to the Commission as well as to the official concerned. The decision not to release an official should be taken only where the circumstances referred to above are really exceptional.

[5] Release on selection by UPSC

5.1    Once an application is forwarded to UPSC, the release in the event of selection should be as a matter of rule, except under special circumstance where relief may not be possible.

5.2    In such cases, the fact should be communicated immediately to the Commission as well as to the employee.

[6] Application from employees under disciplinary proceedings

6.1    Application of a Government servant for appointment, whether by Direct Recruitment (DR), transfer on deputation or transfer, to any other post should not be considered / forwarded If-

(i) the employee is under suspension; or

(ii) disciplinary proceedings are pending against him and a charge sheet has been issued; or

(iii) sanction for prosecution, where necessary has been accorded by the Competent Authority; or

(iv) where a prosecution sanction is not necessary, a charge-sheet has been filed in a Court of Law against him for criminal prosecution.

(v) where he is undergoing a penalty – no application should be forwarded during the currency of such penalty.

6.2    When the conduct of a Government servant is under investigation (by the CBI or by the Controlling Department) but the investigation has not reached the stage of issue of charge-sheet or prosecution sanction or filing of charge-sheet for criminal prosecution in a court, the application of such a Government servant may be forwarded together with brief comments on the nature of allegations and it should also be made clear that in the event of actual selection of the Government servant, he would not be released for taking up the appointment, if by that time charge-sheet is issued/filed in a Court of Law.

6.3    The procedure mentioned at Para 6.1 & 6.2 is also applicable for applications forwarded to UPSC.

[DoPT O.M. No. 14017/101/91-Estt.(RR) dated 14/07/1993]

[7] Registration with Employment Exchange

7.1    In case of Temporary employee: A Temporary Government servant may be allowed to register with the Employment Exchange under intimation to the Head of Office.

7.2    Objection, if any, will be communicated be communicated by the Head of Office to the employee and the Employment Exchange in which case the employee will not be nominated for any post.

7.3    In case of Permanent employee: A Permanent Government employee may be allowed to register with the Employment Exchange, only if the registration is for a higher post on production of ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the Head of Office.

7.4    In case of selection by Government Departments, benefit of retention of ‘Lien’ for two/three years as the case may be is allowed.

7.5    After reversion to parent department, the employee will not be given a ‘No Objection Certificate’ for a period of at least 2 (two) years.

[8] Application for employment in private or Industrial firms

8.1    Where a Government servant (including a temporary Government servant) seeks permission, to apply for such employment in Private or Industrial Firms, he should submit his resignation or notice of retirement, as the case may be, before applying for private employment.

8.2    The employee may submit resignation/voluntary retirement notice as the case may be, and ask for permission to apply for employment in the private sector pending the acceptance of resignation or expiry of the notice of retirement as the case may be.

8.3    Permission may be granted, if his retention in Government Service is not necessary in the public interest.

8.4    There is no question of forwarding application for a private employment. While permission is giving to persons proceeding on Voluntary Retirement, it should be made clear that such permission should not be taken as permission for commercial employment after retirement.

8.5    The commercial employment after retirement would be governed by under Rule 10 of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.

8.6    The Government employee cannot complain of hardship if his application is withheld. While a person remains in Government service, the State can legitimately refuse to surrender its claim on his services in favour of a private employer.

[9] Technical Resignation

9.1    Technical resignation from the service or post is a kind of resignation which does not entails forfeiture of entire past qualifying service.

9.2    In cases where Government servant applied for post in the same or the other Departments through proper channel and on selection, they are required to resign the previous posts for administration reasons, the benefit of past service, if otherwise admissible under rules, is given treating the resignation as a “Technical Formality”. Resignation submitted for other reasons or if competent authority has not allowed him to forward his application through proper channel is a resignation.

9.3    This benefit is also admissible to Government servants who applied for posts in same or other Departments before joining Government service and on that account the application was not routed through proper channel. The benefit of past service is allowed in such cases subject to the fulfilment of the following conditions: –

(a) the Government servant at the time of joining should intimate the details of such application immediately on their joining.

(b) the Government servant at the time of resignation should specifically make a request, indicating the dates that he is resigning to take up another appointment under Government/ Government organisation for which he applied before joining the Government service and that his resignation may be treated a ‘technical resignation’.

(c) the authority accepting the resignation should satisfy itself that had the employee been in service on the date of application for the post mentioned by the employee, his application would have been forwarded through proper channel.

[OM No. 13/24/92-Estt.(Pay-I) dated 22/01/1993]

9.4    Continuity of Service on Technical Resignation:  A permanent Government servant appointed in another Central Government Department/Office has to resign from his parent department unless he reverts to that department within a period of 2 years, or 3 years in exceptional cases.

9.5    Such resignations shall not be deemed to be resignation for the purpose of pension, if admissible. As a consequence, continuity of service benefits should be allowed to such employees in the matter of pension, leave, LTC, etc. as admissible under the rules.

9.6    In cases where Government servants, who had originally joined government service prior to 01/01/2004, apply for posts in the same or other departments and on selection they are asked to tender technical resignation, the past services are counted towards pension under CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.

[Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare OM No. 28/30/2004-P&PW(B) dtd: 26/07/2005].

[10] Lien

10.1    Lien represents the right/title of a Government employee to hold a regular post, whether permanent or temporary, either immediately or on the termination of the period of absence.

10.2    The benefits of having a ‘lien’ in a post/service/cadre is enjoyed by all officers who are confirmed in the post/service/cadre of entry or who have been promoted to a higher post declared as having completed the probation where it is prescribed, or those who have been promoted on regular basis to a higher post where no probation is prescribed under the rules, as the case may be.

10.3    The above right/title will, however, be subject to the condition that the junior-most person in the cadre will be liable to be reverted to the lower post/service/cadre if at any time the number of persons so entitled is more than the posts available in that cadre/service.

Example:- if a person who is confirmed or whose probation in a higher post has been declared as having been completed or one who is holding a higher post for which there is no probation on a regular basis, reverts from deputation or foreign service and if there is no vacancy in that post/service/cadre to accommodate him, the junior-most person will be reverted. If, however, this officer himself is the junior-most, he will be reverted to the next lower post/service/cadre from which he was earlier promoted.

[DoPT O.M. No. 18011/1/86-Estt.(D) dated 28/03/1988]

10.4    Lien on a post: A Government servant who has acquired a lien on a post retains a lien on that post—

(a) while performing the duties of that post;

(b) while on foreign service, or holding a temporary post or officiating in another post;

(c) during joining time on transfer to another post; unless he is transferred substantively to a post on lower pay, in which case his lien is transferred to the new post from the date on which he is relieved of his duties in the old post;

(d) while on leave; and

(e) while under suspension.

10.5    A Government servant on acquiring a lien on a post will cease to hold any lien previously acquired on any other post.

10.6    Retention of Lien on selection: If a permanent employee is selected on the basis of his application for posts in other Central Government Department/Offices/ State Government, his ‘lien’ may be retained in the parent department for a period of 2 years.

10.7    If the employee concerned is not permanently absorbed within a period of 2 years from the date of his appointment in the new post, he should immediately on expiry of the period of 2 years either resign from the service or revert to his parent cadre.

10.8    An undertaking to abide by this condition may be taken from him at the time of forwarding of his application to other departments/offices.

10.9    Undertaking: I (Name of the employee)____________________, S/o Shri ___________________, Desgn: ______________ is hereby declare that I am the employee of the ___________________ organization/department under Government of India applied for the post of _______________________ in the Pay Scale of ______________________in (Name of office/Department)_____________________ against advertisement _________________. I am finally selected for appointment for the same and issued offer of appointment vide Letter No. ____________ dtd: _______ hereby tender technical resignation from my present service/post on ‘Lien’ basis and will either resign from my present post within 2 years or 3 years or return back to my parent department to resume my service for the post as per extent rule of Lien.

10.10    When a Government servant has joined a department/office where he is not confirmed within a period of 2 years due to some reasons, he may, in exceptional cases, be permitted to retain the lien in the parent department/ office for one more year. While granting such permission, a fresh undertaking similar to the one indicated above may be taken from the employee.

10.11     Timely action should be taken to ensure extension/ reversion/ resignation of the employees to their parent cadres on completion of the prescribed period of 2/3 years as the case may be.

10.12    In cases, where employees do not respond to instructions, suitable action should be initiated against them for violating the agreement/ undertaking given by them as per conditions/procedure mentioned above and for termination of their lien.

10.13    Adequate opportunity may, however, be given to the officer prior to such consideration as mentioned at Para 10.12.

10.14    Temporary Government servants will be required to severe connections with the Government in case of their selection for outside posts. No lien will be retained in such cases.

10.15    Termination of Lien: A Government servant’s lien on a post (Previous post) may in no circumstances be terminated even with his consent if the result will be to leave him without a lien upon a permanent post.

10.16    Unless the lien of the government servant is transferred, a Government servant holding substantively a permanent post retains lien on that post.

10.17    A Government employee’s lien on a post shall stand terminated on his acquiring a further lien on a permanent post (whether under the Central Government or a State Government) outside the cadre on which he is borne.

10.18    No lien of a Government servant shall be retained – where a Government servant has proceeded on immediate absorption basis to a post or service outside his service/ cadre/ post in the Government from the date of absorption; and

on foreign service/ deputation beyond the maximum limit admissible under the orders of the Government issued from time to time.

10.19    Transfer of Lien: The lien of a Government servant, who is not performing the duties of the post to which the lien retains, can be transferred to another post in the same cadre subject to the provisions of Fundamental Rule 15.

[11] Returning to old Post/Department

11.1    A Government servant can revert back to his old Post/Department if he is not confirmed to his new post in the new department within the Lien period of 2 or 3 years as the case may be.

11.2    For this purpose, he required to write to his old/parent department and requesting him for his return to his old post with reference to the Lien granted to him for the said post under intimation to his new/present department.

11.3    After the approval of the competent authority at old/previous department where the Government servant hold the lien as per his request, the old/previous department will communicate to the new department where the Government servant is working at present and request to release him from his duties/post accordingly under intimation to the Government servant.

11.4    On receipt of such communication as mentioned above at Para 11.2, the Government servant is required to tender his resignation to his present post/service to resume his duties/post at his old department as per contract of the Lien granted to him.

11.5    After relieving from his new department, he is required to report to his old/parent department to resume his services/post as per Lien and he will joint accordingly.

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