Master Circular No.5: Service Book / Records

RBE No.163/1990, No.E(NG)90/FRI/Master Circular, dated 26.09.1990

Sub: Service Book/ records.

1. At present the orders relating to service records/ books are contained in the number of office circulars orders issued from time to time. The question of consolidation of these existing orders/ instructions into one Master Circular has been under consideration of the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board). They have now decided to issue a consolidated order on the subject as below for the information and guidance of all concerned.
2. It was decided by the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) on 24.02.1977 that the revised form of service book prescribed by the Ministry of Finance, Deptt. of Expenditure in their OM dated 11.03.1976 and 06.10.1976 should be adopted on the Railways also. It was also decided that the revised service book form will be applicable to the new entrants and that in case of existing Railway servants, the new form the be adopted as and when the stock of the old form is exhausted and in that case the existing entries need not be re-written for the new form. A copy of the form of revised service book as circulated, is enclosed herewith.
3. Subsequently, it was decided by the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board), as a result of a reference from Railways, that the following additions may be made to the revised Service Book circulated:

(1) Part-I (Bio-data)
Below column 13 of the Para 1.

Col-14: Designation of the appointing authority; and
Col-15: Signature of the appointing authority

(2) Last item of the revised service book

(a) Date of appointment
(b) Place of appointment
(c) Capacity on appointment
(d) Pay and scale on appointment
(e) Reference to appointment letter No. and date
(f) Religion of the appointee

4. The cost of the photograph to be affixed by the employee on the front page of part 1 of the Revised Service Book is to be borne by the government.

5. It should be ensured that at the time of entry into service, the date of birth of an employee is entered invariably both in figures and words as already provided for in Col.6 of the Revised Service Book.

6. When a Railway employee qualifies in the Diploma Course of Institute of Rail Transport, a suitable entry in regard to the same should be made in his service record.
6.1 When a Railway employee acquires any qualification in the field of scouting, a suitable entry in regard to the same should be made in the service record.
6.2 When staff are awarded at all Indian Railways level for commendable contribution for progressive of Hindi, an entry be made in the service record and a copy of certificate placed on their C.Rs.

7. The Railway Reforms Committee, inter alia have made the following recommendations in connection with the maintenance of service records of the employees:

Recommendation No.92
“Service records office staff should be kept up to date in order to cut down grievance handling time. This should be the special charge of the Personnel Branch and form part of the duties of the Personnel Inspectors.”
Recommendation No.151
“Personal Inspectors should ensure that entries in the Service Records are not allowed to become more than one month behind the current position.”

8. Both the above recommendations have been accepted by Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) and that they desire that this should be not only be brought to the notice of all concerned but also should be kept in view while updating/ maintaining the entries in the Service Records.

9. In order to strengthen the procedure in regard to Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme, 1988, it has been decided that Form No.13 as in the proforma placed below should be included in the Service Books of all the existing members as well as the new members admitted to the scheme hereafter. Every year in the month of January and at the time of transfer of the members of the scheme, the head office shall record a certificate as given below, in the remarks Column (Col. No. 7) of the Form No. 13 over his dated signature.
“Subscription at the rate of Rs. ……………… appropriate to Group ……… of the scheme recovered from pay and allowance for the period from January ………. to December ……….

9.1 All other events in the nature of promotion, transfer on deputation/ Foreign Service, absorption in Public Sector Undertakings/ Autonomous Bodies, retirement etc. occurring during the service career of the member of the scheme should also be recorded under Column No. 6 of the above Form No. 13 duly attested by the appropriate authority over his dated signature.

10. The service book/ record should be shown every year to the employee who is governed by the Pension Rules and the signatures obtained in token of having perused the entries in the Service Book/ Record with particular reference to qualifying service.

11. General

(a) While referring to this circular, the original letters referred to herein should be read for a proper appreciation. This circular is only a consolidation of the instructions issued so far and should not be treated as a substitution to the originals. In case of doubt, the original circular should be relied upon as authority.
(b) The instructions contained in the original circulars referred to have only prospective effect from the date of issue unless specifically indicated otherwise in the concerned circular. For dealing with the old cases, instructions in force at the relevant time should be referred to; and
(c) If any circular on the subject, which has not been superseded, has not been taken into consideration in preparing this consolidated letter, the said circular, which has been missed through oversight, should be treated as valid and operative. Such a missing circular, if any may be brought to the notice of the Railway Board.

List of important circulars issued on the above subject – Service Book/ Record

Download Railway Board Circular No.163/1993

Forward reference⇒RBE No.