Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

Department of Personnel & Training

Establishment (Pay-I Section) 

Pay Fixation (Updated on 13.09.2022)

Department of Personnel and Training has issued various instructions from time to time on pay fixation of Government servants. These instructions are broadly categorized as under:

A. Pay fixation on promotion and availability of option.

B. Pay fixation on transfer to a lower post on own volition under FR 15(a).

C. Restriction of Officiating Pay under FR 35.

D. Stepping up of Pay.

2. All these instructions issued till date have been consolidated under easily comprehensible headings for the facility of reference and guidance of all concerned.

Part- A : Pay fixation on promotion and availability of option:

I. FUNDAMENTAL RULE

F.R. 22(I) – The initial pay of a Government servant who is appointed to a post on a time scale of pay is regulated as follows:

 (a) (1) Where a Government servant holding a post, other than a tenure post, in a substantive or temporary or officiating capacity is promoted or appointed in a substantive temporary or officiating capacity, as the case may be, subject to the fulfillment of the eligibility conditions as prescribed in the relevant Recruitment Rules, to another post carrying duties and responsibilities of greater importance than those attaching to the post held by him, his initial pay in the time-scale shall be fixed by giving one increment in the level from which the Government servant is promoted and he or she shall be placed at a cell equal to the figure so arrived at in the level of the post to which promoted or appointed and if no such cell is available in the level to which promoted or appointed, he shall be placed at the next higher cell in that level.

Save in cases of appointment on deputation to an ex cadre post or to a post on ad hoc basis or on direct recruitment basis, the Government servant shall have the option, to be exercised within one month from the date of promotion or appointment, as the case may be, to have the pay fixed under this rule from the date of such promotion or appointment or to have the pay fixed initially at the next higher cell in the level of the post to which he or she is promoted on regular basis and subsequently, on the date of accrual of next increment in the level of the post from which Government Servant is promoted, his pay shall be re-fixed and two increments (one accrued on account of annual Increment and the second accrued on account of promotion) shall be granted in the level from which the Government Servant is promoted and he or she shall be placed at a cell equal to the figure so arrived, in the level of the post to which he or she is promoted; and if no such cell is available in the level to which he or she is promoted, he or she shall be placed at the next higher cell in that level.

In cases where an ad hoc promotion is followed by regular appointment without break, the option is admissible from the date of initial appointment or promotion to he exercised within one month from the date of such regular appointment.

In cases where an officer has retired as ad hoc before being regularised to that post and later on has been assessed during the process of regularisation and found fit by the competent authority along with his or her juniors, who are still in service and are eligible to avail of the option facility from a date on which the retired employee was still in service, the same option facility shall also be extended to the retired employee, to be exercised within three months from the date when his or her junior became eligible to avail of option facility and in cases where such retired employee was himself the junior most, he or she may exercise the option facility within three months from the date when his or her immediate senior became eligible to avail of option facility:

Provided that where a Government servant is immediately before his promotion or appointment on regular basis to a higher post, drawing pay at the maximum of the level of the lower post, his initial pay in the level of the higher post shall be fixed at the cell equal to the figure so arrived at in the level of the post to which promoted or appointed by increasing his pay in respect of the lower post held by him on regular basis by an amount equal to the last increment in the level of the lower post and if no such cell is available in the level to which he is promoted or appointed, he shall be placed at the next higher cell in that level.

(2) When the appointment to the new post does not involve such assumption of duties and responsibilities of greater importance, he shall draw as initial pay, the stage of the time scale which is equal to his pay in respect of the old post held by him on regular basis, or if there is no such stage, the stage next above his pay in respect of the old post held by him on regular basis:

Provided that where the minimum pay of the time scale of the new post is higher than his pay in respect of the post held by him regularly, he shall draw the minimum as the initial pay:

Provided further that in a case where pay is fixed at the same stage, he shall continue to draw that pay until such time as he would have received an increment in the time scale of the old post, in cases where pay is fixed at the higher stage, he shall get his next increment on completion of the period when an increment is earned in the time-scale of the new post.

On appointment on regular basis to such a new post, other than to an ex-cadre post on deputation, the Government servant shall have the option, to be exercised within one month from the date of such appointment, for fixation of his pay in the new post with effect from the date of appointment to the new post or with effect from the date of increment in the old post.

(3) When appointment to the new post is made on his own request under sub-rule (a) of Rule 15 of the said rules, and the maximum pay in the time-scale of that post is lower than his pay in respect of the old post held regularly, he shall draw that maximum as his initial pay.

(b) If the conditions prescribed in clause (a) are not fulfilled, he shall draw as initial pay on the minimum of the time-scale:

Provided that, both in cases covered by clause (a) and in cases, other than the cases of re-employment after resignation or removal or dismissal from the public service, covered by Clause (b), if he—

(1) has previously held substantively or officiated in

(i) The same post, or

(ii) A permanent or temporary post on the same time-scale, or

(iii) A permanent post or a temporary post (including a post in a body, incorporated or not, which is wholly or substantially owned or controlled by the Government) on an identical time-scale; or

(2) is appointed subject to the fulfilment of the eligibility conditions as prescribed in the relevant Recruitment Rules to a tenure post on a timescale identical with that of another tenure post which he has previously held on regular basis;

then the initial pay shall not, except in cases of reversion to parent cadre, governed by proviso(1)(iii) be less than the pay, other than special pay, personal pay or any other emoluments which may be classed as pay by the President under rule 9(21)(a)(iii) which he drew on the last occasion, and he shall count the period during which he drew that pay on a regular basis on such last and any previous occasions for increment in the stage of the time-scale equivalent to that pay. If, however, the pay last drawn by the Governments servant in a temporary post had been inflated by the grant of premature increments, the pay which he would have drawn but for the grant of these increments shall unless otherwise ordered by the authority competent to create the new post, be taken for the purposes of this proviso to be the pay which he last drew in the temporary post which he had held on a regular basis. The service rendered in a post referred to in proviso (1)(iii) shall, on reversion to the parent cadre count towards initial fixation of pay, to the extent and subject to the conditions indicated below:-

(a) The Government servant should have been approved for appointment to the particular grade or post in which the previous service is to be counted;

(b) all his seniors, except those regarded as unfit for such appointment, were serving in posts carrying the scale of pay in which benefit is to be allowed or in higher posts, whether in the Department itself or elsewhere and at least one junior was holding a post in that Department carrying the scale of pay in which the benefit is to be allowed; and

(c) the service will count from the date his junior is promoted on a regular basis and the benefit will be limited to the period the Government servant would have held the post in his parent cadre had he not been appointed to the ex-cadre post.

(II) The President may specify post outside the ordinary line of service the holder of which may, notwithstanding the provisions of this rule and subject to such conditions as the President may prescribe, be given officiating promotion in the cadre of the service which the authority competent to order promotion may decide, and may thereupon be granted the same pay whether with or without any special pay attached to such posts as they would have received if still in the ordinary line.

(III) For the purpose of this rule, the appointment shall not be deemed to involve the assumption of duties and responsibilities of greater importance if the post to which it is made is on the same scale of pay as the post, other than a tenure post, which the Government servant holds on a regular basis at the time of his promotion or appointment or on a scale of pay identical therewith.

(IV) Notwithstanding anything contained in this rule, where a Government servant holding an ex-cadre post is promoted or appointed regularly to a post in his cadre, his pay in the cadre post will be fixed only with reference to his presumptive pay in the cadre post which he would have held but for his holding any ex-cadre post outside the ordinary line of service by virtue of which he becomes eligible for such promotion or appointment.

[1,3. Notification No. 1/10/89-Estt.(Pay-I) dated 30.08.1989]

[2. Notification No. 13/1/2017-Estt.(Pay-I) dated 19.11.2018]

[4. Notification No. 1/10/89-Estt.(Pay-I) dated 28.11.1990]

Note:  Fundamental Rules 22 C, 30 and 31 were omitted vide Para 3 of DoPT’s Notification No. 1/10/89-Estt.(Pay-I) dated 30.08.1989.

II. In context of CCS (RP) Rules, 2016 – with effect from 01.01.2016

(1) Availability of Option

FR 22(I) (a) (1) holds good with regard to availability of option clause for pay fixation, to a Government Servant holding a post, other than a tenure post, in a substantive or temporary or officiating capacity, who is promoted or appointed in a substantive, temporary or officiating capacity, as the case may be, subject to the fulfilment of the eligibility conditions as prescribed in the relevant Recruitment Rules, to another post carrying duties or responsibilities of greater importance than those attaching to the post held by him/her. Such Government Servant may opt to have his/her pay fixed from the Date of his/her Next Increment (either 1st July or 1st January, as the case may be) accruing in the Level of the post from which he/she is promoted, except in cases of appointment on deputation basis to an ex-cadre post or on direct recruitment basis or appointment/promotion on ad-hoc basis.

(2) Method of fixation of pay from DNI

(a) In case, consequent upon his/her promotion, the Government Servant opts to have his/her pay fixed from the date of his/her next increment (either 1st July or 1st January, as the case may be) in the Level of the post from which Government Servant is promoted, then, from the date of promotion till his/her DNI, the Government Servant shall be placed at the next higher cell in the level of the post to which he/she is promoted.

Illustration:

 (b) Subsequently, on DNI in the level of the post to which Government Servant is promoted, his//her Pay will be re-fixed and two increments (one accrued on account of annual increment and the second accrued on account of promotion) may be granted in the Level from which the Government Servant is promoted and he/she shall be placed, at a Cell equal to the figure so arrived, in the Level of the post to which he/she is promoted; and if no such Cell is available in the Level to which he/she is promoted, he/she shall be placed at the next higher Cell in that Level.

Illustration:

 (c) In such cases where Government Servant opts to have his/her pay fixed from the date of his/her next increment in the Level of the post from which he/she is promoted, the next increment as well as Date of Next Increment (DNI) will be regulated accordingly

. (3) ‘Option’ clause in promotion order

In order to enable the officials to exercise the option within the time limit prescribed, the option clause for pay fixation on promotion with effect from date of promotion/DNI shall invariably be incorporated in the promotion/appointment order so that there are no cases of delay in exercising the options due to administrative lapse.

[OM No. 13/02/2017-Estt.(Pay-I) dated 27.07.2017]

 III. Revision/Change of option

Pursuant to any unforeseen developments or change of rules, a Government Servant may give a revised option for pay fixation under FR 22(I)(a)(1) within one month from the date of orders of such unforeseen developments or change of rules. Acceptance of such revised option may thereafter be examined and decided on merits by the Ministry/Department concerned with the approval of Department of Personnel & Training. In case, it is decided to allow fresh option to the Government Servant concerned, the option once exercised shall be treated as final.

[Para 2 of OM No. 16/8/2000-Estt.(Pay-I) dated 25.02.2003]

  IV. Procedure for referring the cases to DoPT for clarification

Proposals on pay fixation, pay protection, etc. are to be referred to DoPT, through administrative Ministry/Department concerned, giving full facts of the case in chronological order with all relevant documents properly flagged and specifying the point of reference without ambiguity. It needs to be ensured that all the points listed out in the checklist are available in the file for proper appreciation of the case.

(a) CHECK LIST FOR CASES OF BELATED OPTIONS

1. Primary reason for request for exercising belated option;

2. Copy of the promotion order to be furnished;

3. Whether option clause was incorporated in the promotion order;

4. Primary reason for condonation of delay, whether it is due to Administrative fault or individual fault;

5. If Administrative fault whether responsibility has been fixed for the lapse;

6. Steps taken to avoid recurrence of such administrative lapse in future;

7. Option exercised by the official concerned;

8. Period of delay;

9. Reasons for delay;

10. Whether it is an isolated case;

11. Comparative pay fixation statement with/without option duly verified by the competent authority to be furnished;

12. Recommendation/views of IFU/FA on the specific point of reference. 1All the references should be made to DOP&T with the approval of the Secretary of the Administrative Ministry / Department;

13. Relevant rule(s)/instructions issued on the subject to be quoted;

14. Illustration of the case;

15. 1While sending the proposal, the name, designation of the Joint Secretary/Director (Phone number and e-mail id) who can be contacted for further correspondence to be indicated.

(b) CHECK LIST FOR CASES OF REVISED OPTIONS

1. Primary reason for the request for revised option;

2. Reason for not exercising revised option earlier;

3. Period of delay;

4. Reasons for delay;

5. Copies of earlier option and revised option exercised by the official along with the promotion order;

6. Quantum of loss, if revised option is not allowed, to be indicated;

7. Whether the proposal is covered under unforeseen development/change of rules as per this Department’s

OM No. 16/8/2000-(Pay-l) dated 25.02.2003;

8. Unforeseen development/change of rules due to which option sought to be revised need to be specified;

9. Whether the option was exercised by the individual within the stipulated period i.e. one month as envisaged under

OM No. 16/8/2000-(Pay-l) dated 25.02.2003;

10. Whether unforeseen development has any effect on the DNI/pay drawn by the individual prior to his date of promotion;

11. Whether it is an isolated case;

12. In case of retired officials, the date of their retirement and the copies of the representations made/option exercised by them to be furnished;

13. Comparative pay statement with/without revised option duly verified by the competent authority in a tabular form clearly specifying the arrears;

14. Recommendations/views of IFU/FA on the specific point of reference;

15. 1All the references should be made to DOP&T with the approval of the Secretary of the Administrative Ministry/Department;

 16. 1While sending the proposal, the name, designation of the Joint Secretary/Director (Phone number and e-mail id) who can be contacted for further correspondence may also be indicated.

[1. Para 3 of OM No. 43011/9/2014-Estt.D dated 28.10.2015]

[Para 2 and Annexure II-III of OM No. 17-5/2008-Pay.I dated 20.06.2008]