No. 15011/2/E.

II (B)/ 76
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Expenditure

New Delhi, dated the 11th August, 1976

Office Memorandum

Subject: Overtime Allowance to Central Government employees.

The undersigned is directed to state that a need has been

felt for some time past
of consolidating at one place the instructions/ orders
issued by this Ministry from
time to time. Accordingly in supersession of all
the previous orders on the subject,
the grant of overtime allowance to Central
Government employees will be
governed by the following orders. The Ministry of
Home Affairs etc. are
requ3sted that these orders may be brought to the notice
of all the administrative
authorities under them for information/ guidance and
compliance.

2. Eligibility

All non-gazetted Central Government servants and also gazetted Government

servants who fall in the excepted category mentioned at para 5(a) of these
orders,
paid from Civil Estimates (including those working in the Union
Territories
Administration) of the following categories, Vis. (i) office staff
and (ii) those staffs
whose prescribed hours and nature of work are comparable
to those of "Office
staff" shall in future, be governed by these
orders.

Administrative Ministries will be competent to decide, in

consultation with their
Internal Financial Advisers, as to which staff falls in
category (ii) above. The
Comptroller & Auditor General of India will
exercise that power in respect of the
staff of the Indian Audit and Accounts
Department.

3. Condition for the grant.

(a) The work in all offices should be so organized as

ordinarily to be capable of
being done during the normal office hours. The
question of overtime work to be
done should are only in special circumstances
and where working beyond the
prescribed office hours is a regular feature the
offices and the officers should so
stagger the working hours that the staff
working in the office or attaché to officers
attend to such work by rotation.

(b) Where, in special circumstances, it becomes necessary to

perform overtime
work, the competent authority may authorize such overtime work,
after
satisfying himself that the work is of such an urgent nature that it
cannot be
postponed in the public interest till the next working day and the
competent
authority shall, as far as possible, specify beforehand the time upto
which a
Government servant may be required to perform overtime work. In this
regard
following further instructions may be strictly observed:-
(i) If an employee is required to attend office earlier than
the prescribed hours of
work, he should normally be allowed to leave office
correspondingly early.
Where, however, it is not feasible to allow him to leave
office early, he may be
paid overtime allowance after deducting the normal one
hour of free work.. If
such an employee is also required to work beyond office
hours on that day
overtime allowance may be allowed for the total period of
overtime work
performed before and after the prescribed hours of work after
deducting from
the total normal one hour of free work..

(ii) The staff who are required to perform overtime duty for
the full prescribed
hours of work on Sundays (or other weekly or fortnightly
off-day or Second
Saturdays) or on other holidays/ public holidays should, as a
rule, be granted
compensatory leave in lieu. Employees who are required to work
on such days
beyond full day may be allowed a day’s compensatory leave in lieu
of the full
day’s work and paid overtime allowance for the excess time put by
them minus
one hour free duty. In cases where an employee is required to work
for half a day
or less, e.g. from the time the office opens till lunch time, two
such half days
should be taken a equivalent to one full day for the purpose of
grant of
compensatory leave. Where necessary half a day’s compensatory leave
may be
given.

Cash compensation in the form of overtime allowance for duty

on Sundays/
weekly or Fortnightly off-days/ Second Saturdays/ public holiday may
be granted
only in very exceptional circumstances where an officer not below the
rank of
Joint Secretary in the Secretariat Offices or the Head of the Department
in the
case of Attached, Subordinate or other offices is satisfied and certifies
that it is not
possible to grant compensatory leave.

Note 1:- Whenever duty is performed beyond a full day (beyond

full prescribed
hours of work), overtime allowance for such duty is to be
granted only after
deducting one hour free duty. If an employee comes to office
late, with or without
previous permission, on any day and is required to work
beyond office hours on
that day, the following deductions should be made in
calculating overtime
allowance:-

(a) the normal one hour of free work; and

(b) the time by which he comes late.

Note 2:- Normally compensatory leave under these orders

should be granted
within one month of its becoming due. This condition may be
relaxed in
exceptional circumstances to be decided upon by an officer of the
rank of Joint
Secretary in the case of Secretariat staff and Head of the
Department in the case
of staff of attached, subordinate or other offices, who
will satisfy himself and
certify that the grant of compensatory leave to all the
staff within a month would
cause serious dislocation of current work.. There
will be no limit upto which
compensatory leave may be allowed to accumulate but
not more than two days
compensatory leave may be allowed to be availed of at a
time.
(iii) The total overtime allowance payable to a Government
se5vant in terms of
these orders shall not exceed one-third of their monthly
emolument payable
during the month as defined in rule 4(b) below. While the
ceiling referred to
above will normally apply to personal staff also, in special
cases, such staff may
be paid overtime allowance in excess of the ceiling if the
officers to whom they
are attached certify that they have satisfied themselves
that the overtime work
performed by their personal staff necessitating the
payment of overtime
allowance in excess of the ceiling was necessary in the
public interest. But in any
case it should not exceed 50% of their emoluments as
defined in these orders.

Note:- Payment of overtime allowance upto the ceiling of 50%

of emoluments"
referred to above will not be applicable to the personal
staff posted by informal
arrangements. The concession will be limited to those
personal staff posted/
sanctioned by the Department of Personnel &
Administrative Reforms or
authorized by the competent authority.

In calculating overtime allowance under these orders, the

actual time taken for
lunch break should be deducted from the total hours for
which the staff
concerned is eligible for the allowance.

Overtime allowance under these orders may not be paid to

Government servants
required to perform duty at the site of an exhibition/ fair,
in addition to his
normal duty.

All the regular class IV staff, including Waiters, Cooks,

Sweepers, Farashes and
Chowkidars, whose hours of work have been prescribed by
the competent
authority and who are at present eligible to overtime allowance
may be paid
overtime allowance as the same rate admissible to other class IV
staff working in
offices except those who are paid overtime allowance under any
statutory rules
in force.

DEFINITIONS

For the purpose of these orders, unless the context otherwise

requires:-

(a) A competent authority means:-

In the case of Secretariat and attached offices an officer

not below the rank of an
Under Secretary to the Government of India or
comparable status;

In the case of an office under the supervision of a

Government servant holding a
non-gazetted post, a Government servant authorized
by the Head of the
Department to exercise the powers of a competent authority:

In the case of any other office, the Head of office declared

a such for that office
under the appropriate rule of GFE or under Rule 10(A) of
the DFP Rules 1958 or
any other officer in that office of a rank not lower than
that of the Head of Office;
and

In respect of the personal staff of Ministers and officers

above the rank of Joint
Secretary, their private Secretary, if the Private
Secretary is a gazetted officer, will
be the competent authority under these
orders.

(in respect of the personal staff of officers of the rank of

Joint Secretary, the Joint
Secretary concerned or an officer of his rank may be
regarded as the competent
authority).

(b) Emoluments mean pay as defined in clause (c) below and

all allowances
including Winter Allowance & Hill compensatory allowance be
excluding house
rent allowance, conveyance allowance, horse allowance, traveling
/ daily
allowance, permanent traveling allowance and clothing/ uniform
allowance. In
the case of re-employed pensioners, emoluments shall also include
pension to the
extent indicated vide para 6 below:-

Note 1:- The list of excluded allowances above is not

exhaustive. The other
allowance like children educational allowance, Messing
allowance etc., which are
not admissible to all Government Servants working at a
place may be regarded as
excluded category of allowances. The Project allowance
to the extent it does not
include an element of excluded an element of excluded
category can be included
in the emoluments for the purpose of Overtime
allowance.

Note 2:- In the case of those employees who have opted to

remain on pre-revised
scales of pay under the Central Civil Services (Revised
Pay) Rules, 1973 the term
emoluments will also include interim relief admissible
to them.

( c) Head of a Department means the authority declared as

such under
Supplementary Rule 2(10);

(d) Overtime work means work done in excess of one hour over
the prescribed
hours of work on any working day and includes work done on any
Sunday or any
other holiday;

(e) Pay means pay as defined in Fundamental Rules 9(21) (a).

Note:- As the overtime allowance payable in terms of these

orders is based on
emoluments which term includes dearness allowance, it will
have to be
recalculated, if any change- upwards or downwards- in emoluments is
given
effect from a retrospective date. As a result of recalculation of Overtime
Allowances, arrears are to be paid or, as the case may be , recoveries of over
payments are to effected.

(f) Prescribed hours of work means hours of work prescribed

in any office in
respect of employees working in this office.

5. CATEGORIES OF GOVERNMENT SERVANTS TO WHOM THESE ORDERS

WHALL
NOT APPLY EVEN THOUGH THEY MAY BE OF THE NATURE OF OFFICE STAFF OR
STAFFS
WHOSE PRESCRIBED HOURS AND NATURE OF WORK ARE COMPARABLE
TO THOSE OF ‘OFFICE
STAFF’

These orders shall not apply to:-

(a) Government servants holding gazetted posts except that:-

The concessions of overtime allowance may be extended to
officers holding the
post of Private Secretaries, Additional Private Secretaries
, Assistant Private
Secretaries or First Personal Assistants to Ministers Deputy
Ministers even though
these posts are gazetted posts, in those cases in which:-

(i) Just before their appointment to such posts, they had

held non-gazetted posts;

(ii) They have not been allowed full pay of the said gazetted
posts but their pay
has been restricted under FR 35 to below the minimum of the
pay of those posts;
and

(iii) their pay, as defined in para 4 (e) above does not

exceed Rs. 750/-:

(iv) The grant of overtime allowance in above cases will also

be subject to those
orders, including ceiling limits etc.

Note: The overtime allowance will also be admissible to

officers of the Central
Secretariat Stenographers Service, not approved for
appointment to Grade I of
the service, but appointed as first personal
Assistants to Ministers, if the total pay
plus the special pay admissible falls
below the minimum of the Grade I of the
Central Secretariat Stenographers
Service.

(b) Government servants holding non-gazetted posts whose pay,

as defined under
these orders exceeds Rs. 750/- p.m..

( c) Government servants who hold supervisory posts not

excluded b clauses (a)
and (b) above, unless they fulfill the following
conditions:-

(i) They are in direct and continuous contact with staffs

supervise:

(ii) They work the same hours as the staff under them; and

(iii) They are themselves subject to the kind of supervision

which would enable
them ordinarily to obtain prior approval for overtime.

(d) Field staff and Inspection staff.

(e) Government servants who are governed by the Factories

Act, 1948, or the
Minimum Wages (Central) Rules, 1950, and are paid overtime
allowances in
accordance with the provisions of Section 59 of the Factories Act,
1948 or Rule 25
of the Minimum Wages (Central) Rules, 1950 as the case may be:

(f) Staff Car Drivers.

(g) Resident (night duty) clerks and Peons attached to them

in jthe Secretariat and
certain other offices.

(h) Persons not in whole-time employment.

(i) Personal paid out of contingencies.

(j) Persons paid otherwise than on a monthly basis.

(k) Persons employed on contract except when the contract
provides otherwise;
and

(1) Such of the Government servants employed in the

Government of India
Presses, the Government Controlled Ports, the Mercantile
Marine Department, the
Customs (including Land Customs) Department, the Central
Excise Department
and the Overseas Communication Service, as are already in
receipt of overtime
allowance under other schemes.

5. (a) Re-employed pensioners

The drawal of overtime allowance jin the case o re-employed

pensioners shall be
regulated as indicated below:-

(i) in the case of officers whose pay plus pension exceeds

the sanctioned
maximum pay of the post, overtime allowances shall be calculated
on that
maximum plus the includible allowance referred to in paragraph 4(b)
above as
may be admissible to them;

(ii) in the cases of officers whose pay on re-employment in

civil posts is fixed
without taking into account the entire pension or part
thereof the amount of
pension so ignored shall be ignored for calculating
emoluments under para 4(b)

(iii) in other cases, the overtime allowance shall be

calculated on pay plus
pension plus the includible allowances referred to in
paragraph 4(b) above as
may be admissible to them.

(b) Persons in receipt of emoluments from foreign

Governments:

Persons in receipt of any emoluments of the nature of pay,

leave salary or
pension from foreign Governments (eg. Burma Ceylon, Pakistan,
etc.) in addition
to pay from the Government of India shall subject to the total
emoluments not
exceeding the limits prescribed for eligibility for overtime
allowance, draw the
allowances on the basis of their pay plus the includible
allowances referred to in
paragraph 4(b) above as may be admissible to them from
the Government of
India alone.

Note:- For the purpose of sub-paragraphs (a) and (b):-

(i) "Pension" means gross pension including

temporary increase in pension,
death-cum-retirement gratuity and other
retirement.

(ii) The amount of pension shall be the amount originally

sanctioned (i.e. before
commutation, in any) less the amount of pension, if any,
held in abeyance as a
condition of re-employment

( c) Workshop staffs:

(1) Where the payment of overtime allowance is regulated

under the Factories Act or other statutory enactment, it will
continue to be
so regulated.
(2) In the case of the overtime allowance payable
otherwise
than according to the statutory provisions, the Third Pay
Commission have made the following recommendations:-

(i) Where the system of overtime

wok continues, the
period of
overtime should be made
admissible only if the work put in
during a working week of 6 days
exceeds 48 hours; in reckoning
these
48 hours the period allowed
for total breaks should be
included;

(ii) In Government Presses, where

the prescribed
weekly hours are
less than 48, the work done
between the prescribed
hours and
the weekly norm of 48 hours is
compensated in the form of
overtime allowance at double the
time rate. Compensation for such
work
should be only at the time
rate in future.

It has been decided that these recommendations will not

apply
to existing employees working in the industrial establishment
of the
Government. They may continue to be governed by
existing rules. Attempts
should, however, be made to apply the
recommendation to those who join
service on or after
3.12.1974 and to employees of new industrial units. For
this
purpose, it may be necessary to to amend standing orders,
given notice
of change etc. The administrative Ministries are
requested to try the system
as recommended by the Pay
Commission wherever they find it feasible and in
any case
wherever a new industrial units are established. In such cases
the
rates of overtime allowance which may by prescribed by
rules or orders
should also be in accordance with the Pay
Commissions’ recommendations.

Non-industrial staffs in workshops

In the case of non-industrial staffs in workshops whose

hours
of work and holidays are the same as those of industrial staffs,
the
existing rates of overtime allowance may continue, if such
non-industrial
staffs are already covered by a scheme of
overtime allowance.

If such non-industrial staffs are not at present covered

by any
scheme of overtime allowance, they may be allowed overtime
 allowance
but only at the time rate for work in excess of the
prescribed hours but not
in excess of 48 hours in a week or 9
hours on any day. For work in excess of
9 hours on any day or
48 hours in a week, the non-industrial staff in
workshops may
be given overtime allowance at the same rates as is admissible
to the industrial staffs provided the Head of the establishment
certifies
that:-

(a) the non-industrial staffs have the same hours of work

and
holidays as the industrial staffs; and

(b) the nature of duties of the non-industrial staffs in

such that
their presence throughout is necessary for the efficient
working
of the industrial staffs.

Where the above two conditions are not fulfilled, the rate of
overtime allowance
for the non-industrial staffs for work in excess of 9 hours a
day or 48 hours a
week will be the time rate.

(III) If the hours of work and holidays of the non-industrial

staffs are not the
same as for industrial staffs the rate of over time allowance
for the non-industrial
staffs shall be the time rate for overtime work done in
excess of one hour over
the prescribed hours of work, unless there already
exists any scheme for
payment of overtime allowance to such employees which is
more liberal, in
which case the existing scheme will continue in force.

Note 1:- For this purpose, "time rate" shall mean

the single hourly rate of over
time allowance admissible in singular
circumstances to the corresponding
industrial staffs, in the same workshop/
establishment.

Note 2:- "Industrial staffs" in the above clause

refers to "workers" as defined in
Section 2(1) of the Factories Act.
1948 and non-industrial staffs refer to the staff
other than ‘workers’

Note 3:- The term "Workshop for this purpose shall mean
a factory registered as
such under factories act, 1948.

Note 4:- Where under the relevant enactments of the State

Legislatures, the term
"worker" includes also the non-industrial staff
in the industrial establishments,
payment of overtime allowance will be
regulated according to the provisions
contained in these enactments."

7. RATES OF OVERTIME ALLOWANCE

Where a Government servant to who this order applies is

required to perform
overtime work, he shall be entitled to overtime allowance in
respect of the
overtime work done by him in accordance with the following
rates:-

The rates of overtime allowance and the basis of reckoning

them will, for the
present, be as under:-
 Emoluments Overtime allowance per hour
Rs. Up to the first one hour. Thereafter in excess
of the
prescribed hours of work

Below Rs. 275 Nil 0-95

275 and above but below Nil 1.25

Rs.325
Nil 1.55
325 and above but below
Rs.375 Nil 1.80

375 and above but below Nil 2.05

Rs.425
Nil 2.35
425 and above but below
Rs.475 Nil 2.60

475 and above but below Nil 2.90

Rs.525
Nil 3.20
525 and above but below
Rs.575 Nil 3.46

575 and above but below

Rs.625

625 and above but below

Rs.675

675 and above

     

8. Where overtime allowance is payable to a Government

servant for the
overtime work performed by him, he shall not be entitled to
receive any other
remuneration (whether in the form of conveyance charge or
compensatory leave
or other-wile), in respect of such overtime work.

Provided that where a Government servant has been recalled

from his residence
to perform overtime work, the competent authority may allow
conveyance
charges to such a Government servant in addition to the overtime
allowance
admissible to him.

EXPLANATION 1: The first one hour of overtime work on a

working day shal be
free only where a Government servant works in continuation
of the prescribed
hours of work. Where a Government servant is recalled from his
residence to
perform overtime work, overtime allowance may be paid for the
entire period of
overtime work including the first one hour.
EXPLANATION 2: The overtime work in excess of one hour upto
half an hour and
thereafter every period upto half an hour be reckoned as half
hour e.g. a person
working for 2 hours and 10 minutes in excess of one hour
beyond the prescribed
hours of work will get overtime allowance for 2-1/2 hours.

EXPLANATION 3: The overtime allowance payable to Government

servant shall
be calculated to the nearest multiple of five paise, the fraction
of three paise and
more being rounded off to the next higher multiple of five
paise and fractions
below three paise being ignored.

EXPLANAION 4: If, for special reasons (such as the demise of

a dignitary a
working day is declared as a holiday before the time prescribed
for the opening
of the office, it shall be treated just like a Sunday or other
holiday for the purpose
of the payment of Overtime allowance on a day, on which
the office is closed for
special reasons after the prescribed opening time but
before the prescribed
closing time, shall be treated as a holiday only from the
time the orders for
closing the office reach the office.

EXPLANATION 5: The overtime allowance payable under these

orders shall be
classified as "honorarium" under F.R. 9(9) and shall
not be treated as ‘pay’ as
defined in F.R. 9 (21) or for the purposes of the
supplementary Rules.

EXPANATION 6: Government servants will also the eligible for

overtime
allowance for performing overtime work while on tour, subject to
observance of
the conditions prescribed under these orders, namely limit of 1/3rd
/50%
applicable to total overtime earnings, deduction of one hours free work,
maintenance of overtime register, grant of compensatory off, etc., and also
subject to strict compliance with the conditions indicated below:-

(i) Employees who are not at present entitled to

overtime allowance at their head quarters under the
existing rules or
schemes, shall not be entitled to
overtime allowance on tour

(ii) Subject to (i) above, on employee would be

entitled to overtime allowance on tour, provided
overtime work in ordered
on the spot (a) by his
superior official in the tour party; or (b) where
an
employee on tour is attaché to a local office at his
tour station by
the competent authority in such local
office at the tour station.

Note:- Where the superior official, who orders his

subordinate official on tour to
perform overtime work is a non-gazetted officer,
or is not the competent
authority to order overtime work at the head-quarters
under the existing rules,
he shall, on return to headquarters, submit a report
to his controlling gazetted
officer and / or to the competent authority, as the
case may be, explaining the
circumstances necessitating the detailing of staff
on overtime duty, and seeking
his approval.
 (iii) Subject to (i) above, an employee on temporary
transfer not exceeding 90 days would also be entitled
to overtime
allowance provided the overtime work
has been ordered by his superior
official on the spot.

(iv) For purposes of calculation of overtime, the time spent

in travel shall be
excluded . In other words, overtime shall be restricted to
the period between the
time when a halt on tour begins and the time when such
halt ends.

(v) Overtime allowance regulated under any statutory rules

will continue to be
governed by such rules only.

9. CERTIFICATE: A certificate to be signed by the drawing

officer in Form I shall
be attached to the bill in which overtime allowance is
drawn in respect of every
Government servant to whom the overtime allowance is
payable.

10. REGISTER:

(i) A register of overtime wok shall be maintained in Form II

in each office in
which entries shall be made as and when overtime wok
authorized by the
competent authority is performed by th4 Government servant
concerned.

(ii) This register shall be examined by superior officers and

shall be liable to
examination by Audit at the time of inspection or audit and
any instance of
undue grant of overtime allowance shall be brought to the notice
of the higher
authorities. The superior officer shall particularly scrutinize
cases where the
same employee has been paid overtime allowance for more than 10
days in a
month.

Note: The administrative Ministries / Departments concerned

will take a decision
as to who should be regarded as "Superior
Officer" for the purpose of these
orders.

11. If, in respect of any of the categories of staff excluded

from the purview of
these orders, these is no scheme of overtime allowance
already in force and it is
considered necessary to have such a scheme, a
suitable scheme may be evolved
in consultation with the Ministry of Finance,
provided (a) the staff in question has
prescribed hours of work; (b) the nature
of work performed by the staff lends
itself to a scheme of overtime allowance;
(c) the staff is subject to the kind of
supervision which would enable it
ordinarily to obtain prior approval for
working overtime and (d) the scheme is
in conformity with the principles laid
down in this Office Memorandum.

12. If any doubt arises relating to the interpretation of

these orde4s it may be
referred to the Ministry of Finance.

13. These orders shall take effect from the date of issue.

14. In so far as the persons working in the Indian Audit and

Accounts Department
are concerned, these orde5rs issue after consultation with
the Comptroller and
Auditor General of India.
15. Hindi version of this O.M. will follow.

Sd/_
(R.L. Bahl)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India

To, All Ministries / Departments of dthe Gover. Of India (as

per standard list)

Copy forwarded to :-

1. C & AG of India, New Delhi w.r.t. his U.O. No.

690/Audit/ 26-74 dated 30.6.1974

2. UPSC, New Delhi

3. Election Commission, New Delhi

4. Rajya Sabha Secretariat (Admn. Br.), New Delhi.

5. Lok Sabha Secretariat (Admn. Br.), New Delhi

6. Supreme Court of India, New Delhi

7. Central Vigilance Commission

8. All State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.

9. Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, New

Delhi

10. Ministry of Finance (Defence Division) and E-Coord Branch

11. Shri K.V. Ramana Murthy, Deputy Secretary (AG), Min/

Defence

12. Railway Board, New Delhi

13. Secretary, Staff Side, National council, 9-Ashoka Road,

New Delhi

14. All Members of the Staff Side of the National Council of

JCM

15. Indian Red Cross Society, I-Red Cross Road, New Delhi

16. All India Services Division, Department of Personnel

& Administrative
Reforms

Sd/_
(R.L. Bahl)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India

FORM- I
(Certificate)
 (See Paragraph 9)

Certified that the Government servant / Government servants

in whose casse the
overtime allowance has been claimed in this bill was/ were
required under
specific orders to

Sit late in office after having put in work during prescribed

hours on
____________________________________________________________

attend office on _________ Sunday/ holiday for disposal of

urgent work which, in
public interest, could not be postponed till the next
working day.

Certified that the amount claimed in this bill is in

accordance with the rates
specified in paragraph 7 of the Government of India,
Ministry of Finance
(Department of Expenditure)’s Office Memorandum
No.15011/2/E.II(B)/76, dated
the 11th August 1976 and is according to
the principles laid down therein and
does not exceed the ceiling on overtime
earnings prescribed in these orders,
necessary certificates having been obtained
from the officers concerned for
payment of overtime allowances to the personal
staff in excess of the prescribed
ceiling.

Also certified that the Government servant(s) concerned did

not received any
other remuneration/ conveyance charge of compensatory leave for
the
performance of that overtime work.

()

(Signature of Drawing Officer)

FORM-II

Overtime Register (See paragraph 10)

Sl. Name Designation of Emoluments Hours of Hours of

No. the Govt. overtime work overtime
servant authorized by work
required to the competent performed by
perform authority the Govt.
overtime work servant

1 2 3 4 5 6

Nature of the Why the work could not be Amount of Initial of

work performed during the overtime competent
performed prescribed hours of week allowance paid authority
during overtime
hours
 7 8 9 10