DOP F. No. 141-141/2013-SPB-II dated 17/01/2019 - Guidelines for Transfer ~ India Posts' Retired Officers' Association

DOP F. No. 141-141/2013-SPB-II dated 17/01/2019 - Guidelines for Transfer

Guidelines for Transfer of Postal Officials

These guidelines govern transfers for Group 'C', Group 'B' (gazetted and non-gazetted) officials, and Assistant Superintendents of Posts, with exceptions for Postmen, Village Postmen, and MTS.
Transfers at one's own request (Rule 38) require satisfactory probation completion or two years of service, except for those with disabilities or facing terminal illness in their family.
Rule 38 transfers must be to similar vacancies (e.g., UR to UR, Direct Recruit to Direct Recruit) and are limited to two inter-circle and two intra-circle transfers per career, with an additional chance for those with disabilities.
The application period is from April 1st to June 30th, with processing involving CPGMs, divisional recommendations, and consideration of vacancy availability.
Final transfer lists are published by November 30th, and Rule 38 requests are prioritized before announcing vacancies for recruitment.

1.Applicability: -

These guidelines shall be applicable to the following: -

i. Group 'C' officials

ii. Group 'B' (non-gazetted) officials

iii. Assistant Superintendent of Posts (Group 'B' Gazetted)

2. Transfer under Rule 37 of Postal Manual Volume IV: -

Notwithstanding anything contained in these guidelines an official is liable to be transferred to any part of India unless it is expressly ordered otherwise for any particular class or classes of officials.

Provided that Postmen, Village Postman and MTS should not, except for very special reasons to be recorded in writing, be transferred from one Division to another.

3.A.(i) Transfer at one's own request under Rule 38 of Postal Manual Volume IV: - General Conditions:

As a general rule, an official shall not be transferred from one unit to another, either within the same Circle, or to another Circle unless he has completed probation period satisfactorily.

(ii) Transfer of an official when requested for own convenience, shall not be discouraged if they can be made without injury to the rights of others.

(iii) As it is not possible to accommodate an official borne on one gradation list into another gradation list without injury to the other members in that gradation list, such transfers shall not ordinarily be allowed except by way of mutual exchange. Transfers by way of mutual exchange, if in themselves inherently unobjectionable, shall be allowed. But in order to safeguard the rights of employees borne in the gradation lists of both the offices, the official brought in shall take the place, in the new gradation list; that would have been assigned to him had he been originally recruited in that unit or the place vacated by the official with whom he exchanges appointment, whichever is the lower.

(iv) When an official is transferred at his own request but without arranging for mutual exchange, he shall rank junior in the gradation list of the new unit to all officials of that unit on the date on which the official joins the new unit.

(v) If the old and the new unit form parts of a wider unit for the purpose of promotion to a higher cadre, the transferee (whether by mutual exchange or otherwise) will retain his original seniority in the gradation list of the wider unit.

(vi) An official transferred from one unit to another will be allowed to seek re transfer to his/her old unit. However, such cases shall be considered as a fresh transfer case under Rule 38 subject to all other provisions of these guidelines.

(vii) To remove any doubt, it is clarified that an official on re-transfer to a unit from where he/she was transferred earlier shall not be entitled to the seniority or any other special privilege to which the official would have been entitled by virtue of his/her position in the gradation list of the old unit before such initial transfer. Seniority of such official will be determined in the manner provided in para 3(A)(iii), 3(A)(iv) & 3(A)(v) herein above. However, if an official who had appeared in a Departmental Examination before transfer under this rule, he/she will not forfeit the right of being considered for promotion in the old unit on the basis of such Examination, but, will not have any such right in the new unit. If an official qualifies in the Departmental Examination which he/she appeared in old unit, such official shall directly join the promoted post in the old unit and such appointment in the old unit shall not be treated as transfer under this rule.

(viii) Transfer under Rule 38 shall be permitted only against similar type/categories vacancy i.e. Direct Recruit shall be transferred against Direct Recruitment vacancy and promotee against a promotion vacancy. Further Unreserved (UR) candidate shall be transferred against UR vacancy, OBC candidate against OBC vacancy, SC candidate against SC vacancy and ST candidate against ST

vacancy.

[Explanation: SC/ST/OBC candidate recruited against UR vacancy shall be considered as SC/ST/OBC for transfer under Rule 38.]

(ix) Under Rule 38, inter-Circle and intra-Circle transfer from one distinct cadre to another viz. Post Offices to Circle Office, Regional Office, SBCO, Postal Assistant to Sorting Assistant etc. or vice versa shall not be allowed.

(x) Only such official who have completed probation or put in minimum service of 2 years in the grade where there is no probation period shall be eligible for transfer under Rule 38:

Provided that the condition of 2 years or probation period shall not be applicable for Persons with Disabilities (PwD):

Provided further that the condition of 2 years or probation period shall not be applicable if employee/his or her spouse/fully dependent children are suffering from Terminal illness. Transfer case of such officials shall be referred to Directorate with due recommendation of CPMSG concerned supported by relevant documents. It shall be open to the Directorate to seek second medical opinion of the appropriate authority.

Provided further that an official who has been transferred to a unit shall not be eligible for transfer under this rule before completion of 2 years of service in new unit.

(xi) Under Rule 38, an official will be eligible for two Inter-Circle transfer and two Intra-Circle transfer during entire service.

(xii) One additional chance for transfer in both the categories, viz. Inter-Circle and Intra-Circle, will be allowed to Persons with Disabilities (PwD). Employee with disability who has been appointed without availing relaxed standard of merit for PH candidates or an employee who suffered disability after initial employment, shall be allowed transfer as of a PwD candidate, subject to submission of appropriate certificate as per Government of India's instructions in support of claim of being disabled.

(xiii) An Assistant superintendent of Posts shall not be transferred under rule 38 to a circle where all his senior borne originally in the grade of Inspector posts of that circle are not promoted to Assistant Superintendent of Posts, excluding those who have not been promoted due to disciplinary action or who have denied promotion.

Explanation: For the purpose of this clause 'senior borne originally in the grade of Inspector posts of that circle' means those Inspector Posts who were appointed first time as Inspector Posts in that Circle and shall not include such Inspector Posts who is transferred from other Circle thereby becoming junior to all Inspector Posts on the date of joining the Circle.

Illustration: An official 'X' in the grade of IP on transfer from Circle -A to Circle- B, under Rule 38, become junior to all officials in the grade of IP in Circle-B on the date of joining irrespective of the fact that many such officials may have been appointed as IP on the basis of examination held later than the examination in which 'X' qualified. When another official 'Y' in Circle (including Circle-A), after being promoted as ASP, seeks transfer under Rule-38 to Circle-B, his transfer shall be allowed if all officials originally borne in the grade of IP in Circle B and senior to 'Y' have been promoted as ASP. Further, transfer of 'Y' shall not be denied on the ground that 'Y' was originally junior to 'X' who is yet to be promoted as ASP by virtue of being junior to all officials in the grade of IP in Circle-B on the date of joining. Example:-

In the above table, 'X' is senior to 'Y', 'Z' and 'W' by virtue of higher rank in 2008 Examination. However, if 'X' is transferred to Circle B on 01.01.2016, he will become junior to 'Z', 'W' and 'V' in Circle B. If 'Y' after promoted as ASP seeks transfer to Circle B, his transfer will be allowed if 'Z' is also promoted as ASP even though 'X', 'W' and 'V' are not promoted.

(xiv) Where spouse of an employee is working, guidelines issued by Department of Personnel & Training vide O.M. No. 28034/9/2009-Estt. (A) dated 30.09.2009 as amended from time to time regarding posting of husband and wife at same station shall be taken into account while considering request for transfer under Rule 38

Authority competent to approve transfer under Rule 38: -

(I)Cases where all conditions are met:

(i) Inter Circle - Chief Postmaster General (CPMG) of both Circles

(ii) Intra- Circle - Chief Postmaster General concerned

(II) Cases where any of the conditions of these guidelines is not met - Directorate

(i)Maintenance of request register & Schedule for transfer under Rule 38: -

An application for Inter-Circle/Intra-Circle transfer in Form-1 shall be submitted to the Chief Postmaster General of the Circle where the official is working. Advance copy of application should not be sent to the authority where transfer is sought.

(ii) The application for transfer under Rule 38 shall be received in the office of Chief Postmaster General (CPMG) between 1st April to 30th June of the year. Applications, received after closing of normal office hour of 30th June shall not be entertained in any circumstances.

(iii) Applications received till the closing hours shall be recorded in outward register in Form-2 to be maintained in Circle Office. The official having more length of service in a unit (Circle or Division, as the case may be) will be placed above the official(s) having less length of service in a unit. Separate Outward Register shall be maintained for each type of post such as ASP/IP/PA/SA etc. For Divisional Cadre posts the entry in the outward register shall be made division- wise.

(iv) Request of those officials who fulfill all eligibility criteria for Rule 38 transfer as on 30th June shall only be entered in the Outward Register. Request of the officials who do not fulfill eligibility criteria as on 30th June shall be rejected straightaway and the officials will be informed accordingly by the office of CPMG. Eligible requests received during 1st April to 30th June shall be entered in the outward register immediately below all pending requests from previous

year. The valid list of transfer requests as per outward register shall be circulated/published in the India Post/Circle website by the office of CPMG by 31st July for information of all concerned.

(v) If the information furnished by an official is later on found to be incorrect such application shall also be rejected and relevant entry in the outward register shall be deleted.

(vi) Official who has completed required probation period of service by 30th June but orders regarding completion of probation have not been issued shall also be considered. However, in case the probation period is extended before the official is relieved, the official shall not be transferred, even after issue of approval for transfer. Mere transfer of an official shall not be construed as completion of probation for which specific orders are required to be issued.

(vii) Office of CPMG shall prepare Circle-wise list of cases of inter-circle transfer and send to respective circle by 31st July requesting their accommodation report. Copy of the application form shall also be sent.

(viii) On receipt of transfer request lists from other circles, office of CPMG will prepare composite inward transfer list for each type of posts/cadre (Division wise for Divisional cadre) incorporating both Intra-Circle and Inter-Circle transfer requests. Order of priority in the composite inward request list shall be prepared in the manner provided in point (iii) above. Inward transfer list, thus, prepared will be entered in inward request register in Form-3 for each type of post/cadre, to be maintained in Circle Office.

(ix) After preparation of outgoing and incoming request register, the office of CPMG shall share, by 31st August, both lists with concerned Division(s) to provide recommendations/comments on each request by 30th September. Copy of application of each official shall also be sent. While giving recommendations/comments, the Divisional Head shall take into consideration availability of vacancy in respective category (UR/SC/ST/OBC) /mode of recruitment (Direct Recruitment/Promotion). Since vacancy may arise over a period of one (1) year, details of Occurrence of vacancies category- wise/recruitment mode-wise shall also be communicated. The Divisional Head shall also verify and confirm the information in the application form in respect of official for whom he/she is the controlling authority. This exercise for Circle cadre officials shall be done by the office of CPMG itself within stipulated date i.e. 30th September.

(x) Transfer of officials shall not be denied solely on the ground of shortage of staff where working strength of the cadre in the concerned unit is 75% of sanctioned strength or more. However, the unit head (Head of Circle or Head of Division as the case may be) may permit transfer in deserving cases for reasons to be recorded in writing even if the working strength of a cadre is less than 75%.

(xi) On receipt of information from Divisions, Office of CPMG will decide the approved list of transfer as per priority lists vis-à-vis availability of vacancies and shall communicate, by 31st October, the accommodation report to other circles in respect of inter circle transfer.

(xii) After taking into consideration the accommodation report from other circles, the office of CPMG shall decide and publish the final list of Inter-Circle and Intra- Circle transfer by 30th November indicating the relieving date for each official. The controlling officer of the official approved for transfer shall relieve the official as per the schedule approved by the Office of CPMG.

(xiii) The officials who don't figure in the approved list of transfer shall be in the waiting list for consideration in subsequent year. The waiting list shall also be published for information of all concerned.

(xiv) Before announcing vacancies for a particular recruitment year whether under Direct Recruitment, Departmental Examination or Promotion, request received under Rule 38 shall be considered first. Only after considering all such requests vacancies shall be announced for different modes of recruitment.

(xv) Requests of transfer under Rule 38 can be considered/approved by the competent authority even during the pendency of any vigilance case/disciplinary proceedings against an official. However, the controlling officer shall not issue orders to relieve an official approved for transfer unless such official is clear from vigilance angle. Accordingly, if an official approved for transfer is not clear from vigilance angle, the controlling officer shall inform the official as well as the controlling officer of the unit where the official is approved for transfer preferably 15 days before the approved date of transfer. However, if such an official is later on cleared from vigilance angle, the controlling officer shall initiate the process of relieving in consultation with the controlling officer of the unit where the official is approved for transfer.

4. Request for temporary inter-Circle transfer.

Request for temporary inter-Circle transfer shall not be entertained except only in deserving cases for reasons to be recorded in writing. The guidelines in this regard are as under:

(i) Temporary inter-circle transfer shall be approved only by the Directorate on the recommendation of both CPMSG. The parent Circle of the official shall forward the proposal to the Directorate inter alia including the recommendation of the other Circle.

(ii) The Circles shall not entertain requests for inter-Circle transfer on temporary basis in a routine manner. Such requests shall be considered by the Circles in the first instance under Rule 38 of Postal Manual Volume IV and instructions issued by the Directorate from time to time, if they are otherwise eligible. If the case is not considered under Rule 38, the reasons therefor may be recorded.

(iii) Such inter-Circle transfer cases of officials on temporary basis, referred to Directorate, will be considered only when both the CPMSG of the Circles have agreed to in deserving cases after the genuineness of ground for such transfer stated by the official is established.

(iv) Inter-Circle transfer on temporary basis shall be available to only those officials, who have completed probation period, wherever applicable, and in other cases on completion of two years of service in the grade.

(v) Temporary transfer shall be allowed to an official for a maximum period of three years, in the entire service, in one spell or two spells. However, there shall be a minimum gap of 3 years between two spells of temporary transfer.

(vi) Grant of temporary transfer from one Circle to another will be considered by the Directorate initially for a period of one year only on recommendations of the CPMSG concerned. Extension of temporary transfer beyond one year may be sent to the Directorate by the borrowing Circle with the consent of parent Circle atleast 45 days before completion of approved period.

(vii) Inter-Circle transfer on temporary basis from one cadre to another cadre, e.g. Postal Assistant to Sorting Assistant etc. shall not be permissible. Circles should not forward such request to the Directorate.

(viii) If the official is promoted during the period of temporary transfer, such official shall be relieved immediately but not later than one month to join the promoted post, failing which, he/she shall be debarred for promotion for one year.

(ix) Requests of temporary transfers and extension thereof already granted to the officials by the Directorate before issue of these guidelines will also be regulated as per these new guidelines.

5. Rotational Transfers

Rotational transfer of employees shall be regulated as under:

(i) Post tenure of an employee shall be 3 years and station tenure shall be 6 years. However, an employee may be transferred before completion of post/station tenure on administrative grounds for reasons to be recorded in writing by an authority who is superior to the authority competent to order such transfer. The Authority Competent to approve the rotational transfer in normal course will initiate the proposal with proper justification for approval of the Superior Authority.

(ii) Matching of human resource with requirements of posts and placing officials in the choice stations may be considered in the overall context of administrative requirement and austerity measures.

(iii) Inter-station transfers should be restricted to minimum in view of the austerity measures.

(iv) Each Circle shall publish schedule, cut-off date etc. of rotational transfer immediately after circulation of these guidelines but not later than 30 days keeping in view the academic sessions prevailing in the particular Circle or State. Schedule subsequently under any circumstances unless there is change in once published shall not be changed academic session.

(v) All such officials who are due for rotational transfer on completion of post tenure/station tenure shall be asked to give at least three options of the place of posting/station with reasons to enable the authorities to consider the same while effecting transfer. However, such request shall be considered subject to administrative convenience and availability of post.

(vi) On completion of post-tenure of three years, all officials will be posted in same station to the extent possible. Where it is not possible to do so without shifting some of them outside their present stations, they may be posted outside their present stations to the extent administratively feasible.

(vii) In respect of cities where the whole city forms a Postal Region, on completion of station tenure of six years, a Circle cadre official shall be transferred out of the Division where he is working. In other words, a division within such Postal Region shall compute as a station for Circle cadre officials.

(viii) If officials belonging to various cadres are waiting since long for their posting to particular stations and it has not been found possible to accede to their request for one reason or other, such pending requests for transfer may be acceded to in really deserving cases by transferring out officials having longest stay in such stations.

(ix) All Sub Postmaster/Postal Assistant in a single handed or double handed Post Offices must be shifted on completion of their post tenure of three years positively, even if it involves moving out of station of their present postings. Further, as per the instructions, concerning preventive vigilance measure, issued by Investigation Division of the Directorate vide their letters No. 8- 4/2005-Inv. Dated 22.09.2005, 12.01.2012 and 05.12.2012, officials who have been posted as Sub Postmaster/Postal Assistant in a single handed or double handed post office irrespective of period of posting/completion of tenure should not be posted back to the same office even after a break. In other words, officials of single handed and double handed Post Office can have only one posting in such offices during their service period.

(x) However, Divisional Heads, subject to following conditions have been vested with the powers to consider an official, who had earlier served in the single/double handed office to be posted back to the same office or other single and double handed office in the division:

(a) The Divisional Head will satisfy himself/herself about the antecedents and character of the officials for whom the provision are being relaxed; and note to this effect will be given in the file.

(b) No official will be posted back to the same single-handed/double handed post office on transfer/deputation or otherwise before a break of full tenure period.

(c) Information about cases of relaxation so exercised by the Divisional Head will be communicated to the Regional Postmaster General/Chief Postmaster General as the case may be, in a half yearly statement.

(xi) Officials, other than Sub Postmaster/Postal Assistants in a single handed or double handed Post Offices, who are due for retirement within one year shall not be transferred, unless otherwise specially specified or there are very special reasons to be recorded in writing by the Head of the Circle. Further, official due for retirement within two years shall not be posted as Sub Postmaster/Postal Assistants in a single handed or double handed Post Office.

(xii) Extension of post tenure in respect of all Group 'C' staff, other than Sub Postmaster/Postal Assistant in a single handed or double handed Post Offices, may be allowed in deserving cases for a period of one year by the Regional Postmasters General/ Chief PMG after recording full justification on file. Such extensions to Group 'B' officials shall be granted by the Head of the Circle after due consideration. In no case, post tenure of an official shall be extended beyond one year.

Next-day delivery services

(xiii) Rotational Transfer of officials working in Saving Bank Control Organization shall be made within the cluster of Divisions. However, in exceptional circumstances, DPS (Hqs.) in consultation with Accounts Officer ICO (SB) may consider movement of SBCO officials outside the cluster.

(xiv) An Official on his transfer, after joining the station assigned to him, shall not be considered for retransfer for a period of two years to the station from which he was transferred. Two year break is; however, only a minimum condition and it will not entitle an officer/official to claim retransfer to the old station in preference to others who have spent longer period out-side. Retransfer before completion of two years may be considered only in extreme public interest or on extreme compassionate grounds in exceptional cases with the approval of the Head of the Circle.

(xv) Mail Overseers, Postman and Multi-Tasking Staff are exempted from rotational transfer except on administrative grounds. Heads of Circles shall formulate and circulate policy regarding beat rotation of Mail Overseers and Postman.

(xvi) Where spouse of an employee is working, guidelines issued by Department of Personnel & Training vide O.M. No. 28034/9/2009-Estt. (A) dated 30.09.2009 as amended from time to time regarding posting of husband and wife at same station shall be taken into account while implementing rotational transfer guidelines.

(xvii) For Persons with Disabilities, guidelines issued by Department of Personnel & Training vide O.M. No. A-B 14017/41/90-Estt. (R) dated 10.05.1990, para 2 H of Department of Personnel & Training O.M. No. 36035/3/2013-Estt. (Res.) dated 31.03.2014 and O.M. No. 42011/3/2014-Estt. (Res.) dated 06.06.2014 as amended from time to time regarding posting of such employees shall be considered while implementing rotational transfer

(xviii) For employees having differently abled dependents, guidelines issued by Department of Personnel & Training vide O.M. No.42011/3/2014-Estt. (Res.) dated 08.10.2018 as amended from time to time regarding posting of Government employees who have differently abled dependents shall be taken into account while implementing transfer guidelines.

(xix) It may be ensured that women employees are posted/transferred to an office only after ensuring that basic and essential amenities for women as required are available there.

(xx)New products/services and modern technology are being introduced in the Department of Posts in a big way. Heads of Circles/Regional Heads/Divisional Heads/Unit Heads therefore, should build up a pool of trained officials to handle these new products and technology related jobs so that manpower is readily available to replace the officials presently working on completion of tenure and to ensure achievement of desired objectives. Proper succession planning will have to be made by the HOCs/Regional/Divisional/Unit Heads well in time. The Department has already taken necessary steps to train its manpower for successful implementation of IT Project. It should not be difficult to replace such officials on completion of tenure. As such, the competent authority should ensure transfer of such staff on completion of post tenure/station tenure.

(xxi) Rotational Transfer order shall be implemented within 45 days of its issue. When orders are not implemented within 45 days, Circle shall report such instances to the Directorate with reasons and names of officer/official responsible for non- implementation of the transfer orders within stipulated time.

6. Provisions of these guidelines are in addition to the provisions of Postal Manual Volume IV and therefore provisions of Postal Manual Volume IV which are not incorporated here shall continue to prevail. In case of conflict between any provision of the Postal Manual Volume IV and these guidelines, relevant provision of these guidelines shall prevail and the provision of the Postal Manual shall be deemed to be modified.

7.Bringing of direct or indirect political or other outside influence regarding posting/transfer would attract the provisions of Rule 20 of CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964, as per which an appropriate disciplinary action may be initiated against the officer/official.