Master Circular No.59: Payment of Wages Act, 1936
No.E(LL)99/PW/MC/3, dated 28.06.2000 (RBE No. 34/2000)
Master Circular No.59
Sub: Payment of Wages Act, 1936 – Master Circular. (MC No.59)
Master Circular No. 54/1994 on Payment of Wages Act, 1936 which was circulated to the Railways vide Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)93/PW/MC, dated 21.07.1994 (RBE No. 58/1994) has now been updated. A copy of the updated Master Circular No. 59/2000 is sent herewith for information and guidance.
Master Circular No.59 on the subjected cited above was last circulated to the Railways vide Railway Board’s circular No.E(LL)93/PW/MC, dated 21.07.1994 (RBE No. 58/1994) which has now been updated and issued as under:-
1. Recovery for loss of duty card passes from the wages of the defaulting employees:
Deductions for loss of duty card passes are permissible under Section 7(2)(c) from the wages of Railway employees governed by the PW Act.
[Authority: E(Trg)61 PS/5-2/8, dated 29.07.1967]
2. Submission of Annual Returns:
The Railways are required to submit Annual Return on the working of PW Act in the prescribed form to the Official concerned of the Central Industrial Relations Machinery under the Ministry of Labour not later than 15th February of the succeeding Year.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letters No.E(LL)71/AT/PW/1-8, dated 27.05.1971 and
No.E(LL)92/AT/PW/6, dated 27.10.1992]
3. Relief Fund for Refugees of Bangladesh:
It is not permissible under the PW Act to make deductions from the salary of the employees governed by the Act towards Relief Fund for Bangladesh refugees.
[Authority Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)71/AT/PW/1-11, dated 09.08.1971]
4. Payment of Dues – Machinery for ensuring prompt payment:
Railways should take immediate steps to ensure that all payments were made in the month to which they pertain, thus avoiding the need for supplementary bills and should concentrate particularly on timely sanction of leave and drawal of increments when due.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LWA)69 AT/PW/1-44, dated 23.10.1972]
5. (a) Festival Advance:
It was brought to the notice of the Railway Board that Festival Advance was being granted to the employees on the consideration that the employee applying for such advance should belong to the community which celebrates the festival.
The position was examined by the board in consultation with the Ministry of Finance and it was clarified that the rules do not contemplate any restriction on the type mentioned above.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)71/AT/PW/1-5, dated 31.12.1973]
5. (b) Festival Advance – Change in the pay limit and the amount of advance on the basis of Central Fifth Pay Commission:
In pursuance of the decision taken by the Government on the Fifth Pay Commission’s recommendations relating to festival advance Government has decided that non-gazetted employees who are in receipt of basic pay not exceeding Rs.8300 (Rupees Eight Thousand Three Hundred) per month shall be eligible for festival advance and the amount of advance shall be increased from the existing Rs.600 (Six Hundred) to Rs.1500 (One Thousand Five Hundred).
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)97 FA/1, dated 06.01.1998 (RBE No. 04/1998)]
6. Appointment of Inspectors:
The Central Government in the Ministry of Labour vide Notification No.S.31025/14/74-LR III (WC), dated 26.02.1976 circulated under Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)76 AT/PW/1-7, dated 18.03.1976 and Ministry of Labour’s Notification No.S/31014/1/82/WC/PW, dated 04.09.1982 circulated under Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)82/AT/PW/1-7, dated 09.11.1982 appointed the following Officers as Inspectors, for all persons employed on a Railway (otherwise than in a factory) to whom the Payment of Wages Act applies:
(1) Chief Labour Commissioner (Central)
(2) Joint Labour Commissioner (Central)
(3) All Deputy Chief Labour Commissioners (Central)
(4) All Regional Labour Commissioners (Central)
(5) All Assistant Labour Commissioners (Central)
(6) All Labour Enforcement Officers (Central)
7. Post Office Recurring Deposit Rules, 1970:
A copy of Post Office (Recurring Deposit) Rules, 1970, issued by the Ministry of Finance vide their Notification No.F.3(8)-NS/70, dated 28.02.1970 were forwarded to the Railways for information and guidance. It was laid down that steps be taken early to ensure that the Scheme envisaged in these Rules was introduced in the Railways in the same way as that of Cumulative Time Deposit Accounts under the Pay Roll Savings Scheme.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)73 AT/PW/1-8, dated December, 1976]
8. Land Licensing Fee – Permissibility of recovery from salary:
Ministry of Railways decided in consultation with the Ministry of Labour that deductions towards Land Licensing Fee levied under Grow More Food Scheme could be made from the wages of the Railway employees concerned under Section 7(2)(e) of the Payment of Wages Act.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)77 AT/PW/1-5, dated 22.12.1977]
9. Deductions towards every Chief Minister’s Fund:
Ministry of Labour vide Notification No.S.31014 (12) 77-WC (PW), dated 25.05.1978 the specified every Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for the purpose of Clause (p) of Sub-section (2) of Section 7 of the Act.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)78 AT/PW/1-18, dated 17.11.1978]
10. Recovery of Co-operative dues of West Bengal Co-operative Society Act, 1973, towards repayment of loan; etc:
It was held by the Railway Board in consultation with Legal Advisor and the Ministry of Labour that Payment of Wages Act, 1936, over-ride the provision of Section 51 of the West Bengal Co-operative Society Act, 1973. As such, u/s 7(2) read with Section 7(3) and Section 24 of the Payment of Wages Act, deductions from wages for payment of any co-operative society could be made on the if concerned co-operative society had been approved by the Central Government and total deductions authorized u/s 7(2) would not exceed 75% of the wages.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)79 AT/PW/1-15, dated 25.07.1979]
11. (a) Advance payment of salary to staff on eve of important festivals:
It has been desired that in connection with the above, Railways should furnish detailed information to the Board well in advance of the festival, as under:
(1) Category of staff for whom advance payment of salary was required
(2) Their wage period
(3) Their normal date(s) of payment
(4) Holidays/ RH with dates to be observed by the staff
(5) (a)Proposed date(s) of payment & (b) reasons for advance payment
(6) FA&CAO’s concurrence/ comments
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)81 AT/PW/1, dated 16.11.1981]
11. (b)Proposals for change in assumed period of attendance for advance payment of salary to workshop staff on account of important festivals:
The concept of assumed attendance for payment of wages to workshop staff is generally not permissible. However, this may be permitted by Board in exceptional cases, once or twice in a year. For this purpose, certain guidelines laid down by the Board in their letter dated 16.10.1992 (RBE No. 173/1992) have to be scrupulously followed.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)92 AT/PW/1, dated 16.10.1992 (RBE No. 173/1992)]
12. Simplification of the work of calculation of Over-time arrears consequent on retrospective revision of Dearness Allowance rates in the case of Railway employees governed under Hours of Employment Regulation or Factories Act, 1948:
The arrears of overtime allowance should be paid on actual basis viz. the actual extra overtime due on the difference of actual wages due and drawn by the employee during the relevant period. As an aid to work out the arrears payable, a ready-reckoner has been circulated to the Zonal Railways.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)90 AT/PW/1-3, dated 11.03.1994]
13. Amendment to Payment of Wages (Railways) Rules, 1930 relating to adjustment of unpaid wages to Staff Benefit Fund:
A copy of Ministry of Labour’s Notification No.S-31012/8/82-WC(PW), dated 09.12.1998 was circulated to all Zonal Railways and Production Units under Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)84 AT/PW/1-4, dated 14.03.1989. In view of the said Notification Government has decided to amend the existing paras No.316 and 319 of the Indian Railway Accounts Code Part-I (1990 Edition) and Minor Sub-head No.660 and the Detailed Head No.661 and 662 as well as explanatory notes 660-661-662 in Abstract ‘K’ Appendix-I and Appendix-II of Indian Railway Financial Code Volume-II (1983 Edition) as per ACS No.9 & 10 A1 and 46, 47 & 48 F-II.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.94/AC-II/21/9, dated 27.01.1997]
14. Recovery towards housing loan taken from LIC, HDFC & other Central/ State Government agencies:
The Railway cannot make recovery u/s 7 of PW Act for housing loan advanced by LIC/ HDFC etc.
It is the personal responsibility of the employee to make timely repayment of loan installments to the lending agencies. The Railway administration should not taken upon itself this responsibility.
[Authority: Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)92/PW/7, dated 07.12.1992 addressed to GM/ Southern Railway]
15. Appointment of Authority under Payment of Wages Act:
Central government declared that every person who is or has been approved by the State Governments and Union Territories to be an Authority under Section 15(1) and Section 24 of PW Act for an area in any of the following States, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry shall be deemed by virtue of such appointments to have been appointed by the Central Government as Authority to hear and decide all claims on the subject of persons employed or paid within that area in Railways etc.
[Authorities: Ministry of Labour’s Notification No.S.31012/3/89-WC (PW), dated 04.09.1989
circulated under Railway Board’s letter No.E(LL)89 AT/PW/1-2, dated 12.12.1989]
16. 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 from time to time 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 old cases, the 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 while 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.
Download Master Circular No.59
Forward reference ⇒ RBE No.