RBE No. 101/2009: MACPS – Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme

No.PC-V/2009/ACP/2, dated 10.06.2009

Sub: Recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission – Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS) for Railway employees.

1. Sixth Central Pay Commission in Para 6.1.5 of its report, has recommended Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS). As per the recommendations, financial up-gradation will be available in the next higher Grade Pay whenever an employee has completed 12 years continuous service in the same grade. However, not more than two financial up-gradations shall be given in the entire career, as was provided in the previous Scheme. The Scheme will also be available to all posts belonging to Group ‘A’ whether isolated or not. However, organized Group ‘A’ services will not be covered under the Scheme.

2. The Government has considered the recommendations of the sixth Central Pay Commission for introduction of a MACPS and has accepted the same with further modification to grant three financial up-gradations under the MACPS at intervals of 10, 20 and 30 years of continuous regular service.

3. The Scheme would be known as Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS) for Railway employees. This Scheme is in supersession of previous ACP scheme and clarifications issued there under and shall be applicable to all regularly appointed Group ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ Railway employees except officers of the organized Group ‘A’ service. The status of Group ‘D’ employees would cease on their completion of prescribed training, as recommended by the Sixth Central Pay Commission and would be treated as Group ‘C’ employees. Casual employees, including those granted ‘temporary status’ and employees appointed in the Railways only on ad-hoc or contract basis shall not qualify for benefits under the aforesaid Scheme. The details of the MACP Scheme and conditions for grant of the financial up-gradation under the Scheme are given in Annexure.

4. A Screening Committee shall be constituted in each Department to consider the case of for grant of financial up-gradation under the MACP Scheme. The Screening Committee shall consist of a Chairperson and two members. The members of the Committee shall comprise officers holding posts which are at least one level above the grade in which the MACP is to be considered and not below Senior Scale grade (PB-3, GP Rs.6600). The Chairperson should generally be a grade above the members of the Committee.

5. The recommendations of the Screening Committee shall be placed before Railway Board (MS) in cases where the Committee is constituted in the Railway Board/ Ministry or before the Head of the organization/ competent authority in other cases for approval.

6. In order to prevent undue strain on the administrative machinery, the Screening Committee shall follow a time-schedule and meet twice in a financial year – preferably in the first week of January and first week of July of a year for advance processing of the cases maturing in that half. Accordingly, cases maturing during the first-half (April-September) of a particular financial year shall be taken up for consideration by the Screening Committee meeting in the first week of January. Similarly, the Screening Committee meeting in the first week of July of any financial year shall process the cases that would be maturing during the second-half (October-March) of the same financial year.

7. However, to make the MACP Scheme operational, the Cadre Controlling Authority shall constitute the first Screening Committee within a month from the date of issue of these instructions to consider the cases maturing upto June, 2009 for grant of benefits under the MACPS.

8. The Scheme would be operational w.e.f. 01.09.2008. In other words financial up-gradation as per the provisions of the earlier ACP Scheme (of October 1999) would be granted till 31.08.2008.

9. No stepping up of pay in the Pay Band or Grade Pay would be admissible with regard to junior getting more pay than the senior on account of pay fixation under MACP Scheme.

10. It is clarified that no past cases would be re-opened. Further, while implementing the MACP Scheme, the difference in pay scale on account of grant of financial up-gradation under the old ACP Scheme (of October 1999) and under the MACP Scheme within the same cadre shall not be construed as an anomaly.

ANNEXURE
Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS)

1. There shall be three financial up-gradation under the MACPS, counted from the direct entry grade on completion of 10, 20 and 30 years of service respectively. Financial up-gradation under the Scheme shall be admissible whenever a person has spent 10 years continuously in the same Grade Pay.

2. The MACPS envisages merely placement in the immediate next higher Grade Pay in the hierarchy of the recommended revised Pay Band and Grade Pay as given in Section-1, Part-A of the first schedule of the Railway Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008. Thus, the Grade Pay at the time of financial up-gradation under the MACPS can, in certain cases where regular promotion is not between two successive grades, be different then what is available at the time of regular promotion. In such cases, the higher Grade Pay attached to the next promotional post in the hierarchy of concerned cadre/ organization will be given only at the time of regular promotion.

3. The financial up-gradation under the MACPS would be admissible upto the highest Grade Pay of Rs.12000 in the PB-4.

4. Benefit of pay fixation available at the time of regular promotion shall also be allowed at the time of financial up-gradation under the Scheme. Therefore, the pay shall be raised by 3% of the total pay in the Pay Band and the Grade Pay drawn before such up-gradation. There shall, however, be no further fixation of pay at the time of regular promotion if it is in the same Grade Pay as granted under MACPS. However, at the time of actual promotion if it happens to be in a post carrying higher Grade Pay then what is available under MACPS, no pay fixation would be available and only difference of Grade Pay would be made available. To illustrate, in case of a Railway Servant joins as a direct recruit in the Grade Pay of Rs.1900 in PB-1 and he gets no promotion till completion of 10 years of service, he will be granted financial up-gradation under MACPS in the next higher Grade Pay of Rs.2000 and his pay will be fixed by granting him one increment plus the difference of Grade Pay (i.e. Rs.100). After availing financial up-gradation under MACPS, if the Railway servant gets his regular promotion in the hierarchy of his cadre, which is to the Grade Pay of Rs.2400, on regular promotion, he will only be granted the difference of Grade Pay between Rs.2000 and Rs.2400. No additional increment will be granted at this stage.

5. Promotions earned/ up-gradations granted under the ACP Scheme in the past to those grades which now carry the same Grade Pay due to merger of pay scales/ up-gradation of posts recommended by Sixth Pay Commission shall be ignored for the purpose of granting up-gradation under modified ACPS.

ILLUSTRATION

The pre revised hierarchy (in ascending order) in a particular organization was as follows:
Rs.5000-8000, Rs.5500-9000 and Rs.6500-10500.

(a) Railway servant who was recruited in the hierarchy in the pre-revised pay scale Rs.5000-8000 and who did not get a promotion even after 25 years of service prior to 01.01.2006, in this case as on 01.01.2006, he would have got two financial up-gradation under ACP to the next grades in the hierarchy of his organization, i.e., to the pre-revised scale of Rs.5500-9000 and Rs.6500-10500.
(b) Another Railway servant recruited in the same hierarchy in the pre-revised scale of Rs.5000-8000 has also completed about 25 years of service, but he get two promotions to the next higher grades of Rs.5500-9000 and Rs.6500-10500 during this period.
In the case of both (a) and (b) above, the promotions/ financial up-gradations granted under ACP to the pre-revised scale of Rs.5500-9000 and Rs.6500-10500 prior to 01.01.2006 will be ignored on account of merger of Pre-revised scales of Rs.5000-8000, Rs.5500-9000 and Rs.6500-10500 recommended by the 6th CPC. As per the RS(RP) Rules, both of them will be granted Grade Pay of Rs.4200 in the pay band PB-2. After the implementation of MACPS, two financial up-gradation will be granted both in the case of (a) and (b) above to the next higher Grade Pays of Rs.4600 and Rs.4800 in the Pay Band PB-2.

6. In the case of all the employees granted financial up-gradation under ACPS till 01.01.2006, their revised pay will be fixed with reference to the pay scale granted to them under the ACPS.
6.1 In the case of ACP up-gradation granted between 01.01.2006 and 31.08.2008, the Railway servant has the option under the RS(RP) Rules, 2008 to have his a fixed in the revised pay structure either (a) w.e.f. 01.01.2006 with reference to his pre-revised scale as on 01.01.2006; or (b) w.r.t. the date of his financial up-gradation under ACP with reference to the pre-revised scale granted under ACP. In case of option (b), he shall be entitled to draw his arrears of pay only from the date of his option, i.e., the date of financial up-gradation under ACP.
6.2 In cases where financial up-gradation has been granted to Railway servants in the next higher scale in the hierarchy of their cadre as per the provisions of the ACP Scheme of October, 1999 but whereas as a result of the implementation of Sixth CPC’s recommendations, the next higher post in the hierarchy of the cadre has been upgraded by granting a higher Grade Pay, the pay of such employees in the revised pay structure will be fixed with reference to the higher Grade Pay granted to the post. To illustrate, in the case of Junior Engineer in CPWD, who was granted 1st ACP in his hierarchy to the grade of Assistant Engineer in the pre-revised scale of Rs.6500-10500 corresponding to the revised Grade Pay of Rs.4200 in the Pay Band PB-2, he will now be granted Grade Pay of Rs.4600 in the Pay Band PB-2 consequent upon up-gradation of the post of Assistant Engineer in CPWD by granting them the Grade Pay of Rs.4600 in PB-2 as a result of Sixth CPC’s recommendations. However, from the date of implementation of the MACPS, all the financial up-gradations under the Scheme should be done strictly in accordance with the hierarchy of Grade Pays in Pay Bands as notified by the RS(RP) Rules, 2008.

7. With regard to fixation of his pay on grant of promotion/ financial up-gradation under MACP Scheme, for Railway servant has an option under Rule 1313(1)(a)(i) of the Indian Railway Establishment Code – Volume II, (Sixth Edition 1987 – 2nd Re-print 2005) [FR 22(1)(a)(i)] to get his pay fixed in the higher post/ Grade Pay either from the date of his promotion/ up-gradation or from the date of his next increment viz. 1st July of the year. The pay and the date of increment would be fixed in accordance with the classification no.2 of Railway Board’s letter No.PC-VI/2008/I/RSRP/1, dated 25.09.2008. (RBE No.132/2008).

8. Promotions earned in the post carrying same Grade Pay in the promotional hierarchy as per Recruitment Rules shall be counted for the purpose of MACPS.
8.1 Consequent upon the implementation of Sixth CPC’s recommendations, Grade Pay of Rs.5400 now in two Pay Bands viz. PB-2 and PB-3. The Grade Pay of Rs.5400 in PB-2 and Rs.5400 in PB-3 shall be treated as separate Grade Pay for the purpose of grant of up-gradation under MACPS.

9. ‘Regular service’ for the purpose of the MACPS shall comments from the date of joining of a post in direct entry grade on a regular basis either on direct recruitment basis on absorption/ re-employment basis. Service rendered on ad-hoc/ contract basis before regular appointment on pre-appointment training shall not be taken into reckoning. However, past continuous regular service in another Government/ Department in a post carrying same Grade Pay prior to regular appointment in a new Department, without a break, shall also be counted towards qualifying regular service for the purpose of MACPS only (and not for the regular promotions). However, benefits under the MACPS in such cases shall not be considered till the satisfactory completion of the probation period in the new post.

10. Past service rendered by a Railway employee in the State Government/ Statutory body/ Autonomous body/ Public Sector Organization, before appointment in the Railway shall not be counted towards Regular Service.

11. ‘Regular service’ shall include all periods spent on deputation/ foreign service, study leave and all other kind of leave, duly sanctioned by the competent authority.

12. The MACPS shall also be applicable to work charged employees, if their service conditions are comparable with the staff of regular establishment.

13. Existing time-bound promotion scheme, including in-situ promotion scheme, Staff Car Driver Scheme or any other kind of promotion schemes existing for a particular category of employees in the Railways, may continue to be operational for the concerned category of employees if it is decided by the concerned administrative authorities to retain such Scheme, after necessary consultation or they may switch-over to the MACPS. However, these Schemes shall not run concurrently with the MACPS.

14. The MACPS is directly applicable only to the Railway employees. It will not get automatically extended to employees of the Autonomous/ Statutory Bodies under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways. Keeping in view the financial implications involved, a conscious decision in this regard shall have to be taken by the Governing Body/ Board of Directors and Ministry of Railways and where it is proposed to adopt the MACPS, prior finance concurrence of Ministry of Finance shall be obtained.

15. If a financial up-gradation under the MACPS is deferred and not allowed after 10 years in a Grade Pay, due to the reason of the employee being unfit or due to departmental proceedings, etc., this would have consequential effect on the subsequent financial up-gradation which would also get deferred to the extent of delay in grant of first financial up-gradation.

16. On grant of financial up-gradation under the Scheme, there shall be no change in the designation, classification or higher status. However, financial and certain other benefits which are linked to the pay drawn by an employee such as HBA, allotment of Government accommodation shall be permitted.

17. The financial up-gradation would be on non-functional basis subject to fitness, in the hierarchy of Grade Pay within the PB-1. Thereafter for up-gradation under the MACPS the benchmark of ‘good’ would be applicable till the Grade Pay of Rs.6600 in PB-3. The benchmark will be ‘very good’ for financial up-gradation to the Grade Pay of Rs.7600 and above.

18. In the matter of disciplinary/ penalty proceedings, grant of benefit under the MACPS shall be subject to rules governing normal promotion. Such cases shall, therefore, be regulated under the provisions of the Railway Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968 and instructions issued there under.

19. The MACPS contemplates merely placement on personal basis in the immediate higher Grade Pay/ grant of financial benefits only and shall not amount to actual/ functional promotion of the employee concerned. Therefore, no reservation orders/ roster shall apply in the MACPS, which shall extend its benefit uniformly to all eligible SC/ST employees also. However, the rules of reservation in promotion shall be ensured at the time of regular promotion. For this reason, it shall not be mandatory to associate members of SC/ST in the Screening Committee meant to consider cases for grant of financial up-gradation under the Scheme.

20. Financial up-gradation under the MACPS shall be purely personal to the employee and shall have no relevance to his seniority position as such there shall be no additional financial up-gradation for the senior employees on the ground that the junior employee in the grade has got higher pay/ Grade under the MACPS.

21. Pay drawn in the Pay Band and the Grade Pay allowed under the MACPS shall be taken as a basis for determining the terminal benefits in respect of the retiring employees.

22. If a Group ‘A’ Railway employee, who was not covered under the ACP Scheme has now become a title to say, third financial up-gradation directly, having completed 30 years’ regular service, his pay shall be fixed successively in next three immediate higher Grade Pays in the hierarchy of revised Pay Bands and Grade Pays allowing the benefit of 3% pay fixation at every stage. Pay of persons becoming eligible for second financial up-gradation may also be fixed accordingly.

23. In case an employee is declared surplus in his/ her organization and appointed in the same pay scale or lower scale of pay in the new organization, the regular service rendered by him/ her in the previous organization shall be counted towards the regular service in his/ her new organization for the purpose of giving financial up-gradation under the MACPS.

24. In case, an employee after getting promotion/ ACP seeks unilateral transfer on a lower post or lower scale, he will be entitled only for second and third financial up-gradation on completion of 20/30 years of regular service under the MACPS, as the case may be, from the date of his initial appointment to the post in the new organization.

25. If a regular permission has been offered but was refused by the employee before becoming entitled to a financial up-gradation, no financial up-gradation shall be allowed as such an employee has not been stagnated due to lack of opportunities. If, however, financial up-gradation has been allowed due to stagnation and the employee subsequently refuses the promotion, it shall not be a ground to withdraw the financial up-gradation. He shall, however, not be eligible to be considered for further financial up-gradation till he agrees to be considered for promotion again and the second or the next financial up-gradation shall also be deferred to the extent of period of debarment due to the refusal.

26. Cases of person holding higher posts purely on ad-hoc basis shall be considered by the Screening Committee along with others. They may be allowed the benefit of financial up-gradation on reversion to the lower post or if it is beneficial vis-à-vis the pay drawn on the ad-hoc basis.

27. Employees on deputation need not revert to the parent department for availing the benefit of financial up-gradation under the MACPS. They may exercise a fresh option to draw the pay in the Pay Band and Grade Pay of the post held by them or the Pay plus Grade Pay admissible to them under the MACPS, whichever is beneficial.

28. ILLUSTRATION.

A.(i) If a Railway servant (LDC) in PB-1 in the Grade Pay of Rs.1900 gets his first regular promotion (UDC) in PB-1 in the Grade Pay of Rs.2400 on completion of 8 years of service and then continues in the same Grade Pay for further 10 years without any promotion then he would be eligible for 2nd financial up-gradation under the MACPS in PB-1 in the Grade Pay of Rs.2800 after completion of 18 years (8 + 10 years).
(ii) In case he does not get any promotion thereafter, then he would get 3rd financial up-gradation in PB-2 in Grade Pay of Rs.4200 on completion of further 10 years of service i.e. after 28 years (8 + 10 + 10).
(iii) However, if he gets second promotion after 5 years of further service in PB-2 in the Grade Pay of Rs.4200 (Assistant Grade/ Grade C) i.e., on completion of 23 years (8 + 10 + 5 years) then he would get 3rd financial up-gradation after completion of 30 years i.e. 10 years after the 2nd ACP in PB-2 in the Grade Pay of Rs.4600.
In the above scenario, the pay shall be raised by 3% of the total pay in the Pay Band and Grade Pay drawn before such up-gradation. There shall, however, be no further fixation of pay at the time of regular promotion if it is in the same Grade Pay or in the higher Grade Pay. Only the difference of Grade Pay would be admissible at the time of promotion.

B. If a Railway servant (LDC) in PB-1 in the Grade Pay of Rs.1900 is granted 1st financial up-gradation under the MACPS on completion of 10 years of service in PB-1 in the Grade Pay of Rs.2000 and 5 years later he gets 1st regular promotion (UDC) in PB-1 in the Grade Pay of Rs.2400, the 2nd financial up-gradation under MACPS (in the next Grade Pay w.r.t. Grade Pay held by Railway servant) will be granted on completion of 20 years of service in PB-1 in the Grade Pay of Rs.2800. On completion of 30 years of service, he will get 3rd ACP in the Grade Pay of Rs.4200. However, if two promotions are earned before completion of 20 years, only 3rd financial up-gradation would be admissible on completion of 10 years of service in Grade Pay from the date of 2nd promotion or at the 30th year of service, whichever is earlier.

C. If a Railway servant has been granted either two regular promotions or 2nd financial up-gradation under the ACP Scheme of October, 1999 after completion of 24 years of regular service then only 3rd financial up-gradation would be admissible to him under the MACPS on completion of 30 years of service provided that he has not earned third promotion in the hierarchy.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Para 28(A)(i) & (ii)		Para 28(A)(iii)		Para 28(B)
Pay Grade 1900
1st Regular promotion on completion of 8 years	2400	2400	1st regular promotion on completion of 8 years	2000	1st ACP on completion of 10 years
2nd ACP on completion of 10 years in the same Grade Pay (i.e. 8 + 10 years = 18 years)	2800	2800	2nd ACP on completion of 10 years in the same Grade Pay (8 + 10 years = 18 years)	2400	1st promotion on completion of 15 years (i.e. 10 + 5)
3rd ACP on completion of further 10 years in the same Grade Pay (i.e. 18 + 10 years = 28 years)	4200	4200	Officer gets 2nd promotion on completion of 5 years from 2nd ACP (i.e. 18 + 5 years = 23 years of service)	2800	Officer gets 2nd ACP on completion of 20 years
		4600	3rd ACP on completion of 30 years	4200	Officer gets 3rd ACP on completion of 10 years i.e. in 30th year

Download Railway Board Circular RBE No.101/2009

Forward reference ⇒ RBE No. 215/2009,  RBE No. 217/2009,  RBE No. 25/2010, RBE No. 122/2010, RBE No. 143/2010, RBE No. 188/2010,  RBE No. 39/2011, RBE No. 20/2012, RBE No. 08/2013, RBE No. 10/2016,  RBE No. 155/2016,  RBE No. 113/2017, RBE No. 13/2020, RBE No. 88/2020, RBE No.31/2021,