IREC Rule No.1334: (FR-46) Fees And Honoraria

1334. (F.R.46) Fees And Honoraria:-

(a)   Fees: A competent authority may permit a railway servant, if it be satisfied that this can be done without detriment to his official duties or responsibilities, to perform a specified service or series of services for a private person or body or for a public body including a body administering a local fund and to receive as remuneration therefore, if the service be material, a non-recurring or recurring fee.

Note: This clause does not apply to the acceptance of fees by Railway Medical Officers for professional attendance which is regulated by the Rules in Chapter-VI.

(b)   Honoraria: A Competent authority may grant or permit a railway servant to receive an honorarium as remuneration for work performed which is occasional or intermittent in character and either so laborious or of such special merit as to justify a special reward. Except when special reasons, which should be recorded in writing, exist for a departure from this provision, sanction to the grant or acceptance of an honorarium should not be given unless the work has been undertaken with the prior consent of the competent authority and its amount has been settled in advance.

(c)   Conditions Governing The Grant Of Fees And Honoraria: In the case of both fees and honoraria, the sanctioning authority shall record in writing that due regard has been paid to the general principle enunciated in Rule 237 (FR-11), and shall record also the reasons which in his opinion justify the grant of the extra remuneration.

Government Of India’s Orders: 

(1)   Temporary Increase In Works – Several instances have come to the notice in which recommendations have been made by various Departments for the grant of honoraria to members of their office on account of a temporary increase in their work due to the holding of special Conferences under the suspieces of a Department or Subordinate authority or of inter-departmental Committees. In the opinion of the finance Department, such temporary increases in work are normal incidents of Government service, and form part of the legitimate duties of Government servants according to the general principle enunciated in FR-11 (Rule 237). Those so employed have, therefore, no claim to extra remuneration.

[Authority: Government Of India, Finance Department No.F-5-VIII-RI/30, 03.09.1930]

(2)   Intimation to the Union Public Service Commission by Departments of the Government of India, or other Heads of Departments sub-ordinate to them, that particular Government servants have been appointed to the viva voce boards in connection with the recruitment examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, should be regarded automatically conveying the Government of India’s sanction to the acceptance by the said officers of honoraria at the fixed rates prescribed by the Union Public Service Commission, and to their drawing the traveling allowance admissible to them.

The employment by the Public Service Commission as examiners or moderators or any officers serving under the Government of India or Heads of Departments subordinate to them will also automatically imply the Government of India’s sanction to those officers undertaking the work and accepting honoraria at the fixed rates prescribed by the Commission.

[Authority: Government Of India, Finance Department No.F-1-XII-Ex 11/25, 16.07.1935, No.D-6434-Ex 11/36, 03.12.1936 and, Railway Board’s No.E-44-HO-11/2]

Audit Instruction: 

Recording of the reasons for the grant of Honoraria.-The rule requires that the reasons for the grant should be recorded in writing as it is intended that the grant of an honorarium or fee should be carefully controlled by Government and scrutinized by Audit, and that Audit should be given an effective opportunity of comment if it be deemed necessary. Audit Officers may, therefore, require that the reasons for the grant of an honorarium or fee should be communicated to them in each case.

[Authority: Ruling (26), Section-IV of Compilation of Audit Rulings]

Railway Ministry’s Decision: 

(1)(a)- A Railway servant appointed as an arbitrator in a dispute in which the railway Administration is a party should be from a Department different from the one to which the dispute pertains. A Railway servant appointed to act as an arbitrator in a dispute in which his own Department is involved should not be granted any honorarium.

Note: Department for the purpose of application of these orders is a Department of Railway. The intention is that each service (department) on a Railway should be treated as a separate department for the purpose. However appointment of an Engineer from the ‘Open Line’ of the Civil Engineering Department as an Arbitrator to deal with a case of Construction and vice versa would be treated as an appointment of an Arbitrator from a different Department.

(1)(b)- If he is appointed as an Arbitrator in a dispute involving a department other than his own, he may be paid an honorarium at the rate of Rs.80 per day or Rs.40 per half day subject to a maximum of Rs.1200 per case. For this purpose a day means more than two hours continuous work on a day and half day means work for two hours or less. He shall record a certificate in writing indicating whether he has done a day’s work or half day’s work on a particular day.

[Authority: RBE No.140/1992, No.E(G)89/HO1-34, 10.09.1992, ACS No.20]

(1)(c)- In either of the above two cases, when any costs on account of arbitration are awarded against a private party, the entire amount on recovery by the Railway concerned, shall be credited to Railway revenues and shall not be paid to the arbitrator.

(1)(d)- A railway servant may, with the prior permission of the competent authority as required under Rule 1334 [FR-46(a)], accept appointment as an arbitrator in a dispute between private parties. At the time of giving such permission, the competent authority shall decide whether consistent with his official duties, he may undertake the arbitration work and also whether he may accept any fee for it from the parties to the dispute. The fee from the private party shall be subject to the provisions of SR-12 that one third of any fee shall be credited to railway revenues, provided the amount retained by the railway servant concerned will not, merely by the operation of this rule, be reduced to below Rs.400, if non-recurring, or Rs.250 a year, if recurring.

[Authority: No.E(G)60/HO-1/25, 16.01.1961 and, No.E(G)62/HO/1/26, 13.11.1963]

(2)(a)- In cases where no sanction is required for broadcasts on All India Radio etc which are purely of a literary, artistic or scientific character, no permission is necessary for Railway servants to receive the honorarium.

(2)(b)- In cases where sanction to broadcast is necessary, such sanction, if given, should be taken to carry with it also the sanction to receive the honorarium.

[Authority: No.E(G)57/HO-1/2, 15.04.1957 and, No.E(G)63-HO/1/10, 15.06.1964]