F. No. 11016/31/2020-Ad.V/7247 Government of India Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (Office of Chief Vigilance Office) 6th Floor, C-Wing, Hudco Vishala Building, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-66. Dated : 29th September 2021
Your kind attention is invited to instructions issued from time to time by the Board regarding the handling of disciplinary cases. As you are aware, there are several clear-cut stages in a disciplinary proceeding, an indicative flow chart of which is enclosed at
Annexure-I.
2. The following instructions (enclosed at Annexures-II, III and IV, respectively) are flagged for reference in this regard:
(i) Instructions issued vide F. No. C-11016/5/2010-Ad.V dated 23.09.2010,inter alia stated that:
a) departmental proceedings (including deemed to be proceedings) under Rule 9 of CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972 in respect of retired officers other than Group A, are required to be sent to the Board/Ad.V for obtaining orders of President in terms of Rule 9(2)(a) of the said Rules; and
b) cases for obtaining sanction orders of President in terms of Rule 9(2)(b) of CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972, for initiation of the departmental proceedings, if not instituted while the Government servant was in service, whether before his retirement, or during his re- employment, are also received in Board/Ad.V.
(ii) Vide Board's letter F. No. C-11016/03/2016-Ad.V dated 23.06.2016 Single Window System in CBIC was introduced for submitting proposals in respect of retired officers other than Group ‘A’officers which are to be decided under Rule 9 of CCS(Pension), Rules, 1972.
(iii) Vide F. No. C-11016/03/2016-Ad.V dated 12.04.2019 the Single Window System was also extended to the cases of Appeal, Revision and Review under Rule 23, 29 & 29(A) of CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 respectively.
3. In modification of the above-referred instructions, the following procedure is prescribed for disciplinary cases under Rule 9 of CCS (Pension) Rule, 1962 and revision and review cases under Rule 29 and 29 A of CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 respectively:
i. The jurisdictional Commissionerate/Directorate shall follow the procedure prescribed as clarified vide letter F.No. C-11016/5/2010-Ad.V Dated 10th March, 2010 and will forward the case records in terms of UPSC letter F.No. 39011/08/2016-Estt (B) dated 28.12.2018 with proforma/check list to jurisdictional Zonal Unit of DGoV instead of Ad. V section of the Board.The following points may be followed and adhered to while submitting the proposal to Zonal Units of DGoV :
a. The case records should be arranged in separate folders as prescribed under the Single Window System, i.e. 1. Complaint/ Report of Preliminary Enquiry etc;
2. Charge sheet with enclosures etc; 3. Correspondence Folder of 10; 4. Daily Order Sheets, General Examination of CO, Deposition of Witnesses; 5. Prosecution and Defence Exhibits duly marked and initialed by IA 6. PO Brief, Defencebrief, I0 Report, Disagreement Note, Representation of CO on Disagreement Note/ I0 Report, Original DA's parawise comments on representation of CO; 7. Miscellaneous Acts/ Rules/Judgements etc; 8. APAR folder.
b. Copies of all documents should be legible, otherwise same are bound to be returned by UPSC after approval of case by the President for reference to UPSC for their advice on quantum of penalty.
c. Annexures of various documents should be duly attested and placed alongwith primary documents (for, ease of checking documents, the page numbers should be mentioned on the primary documents including Annexures of charge-sheet).
d. Pages should be serially numbered and all pages should be either original or authenticated.
e. A Shadow file of all documents sent and attested copy of all Relied UponDocuments should be maintained in the Commissionerate / Directorate, till the issue of final order and conclusion of appellate proceedings, if any.
f. A chronology of events in following format may be submitted for ease of reference by the Competent Authority.
I Sr. No |Date | Chronology of events | Remarks/Folders No./ page No |
g. Details of Court cases, if any, in the Disciplinary proceeding may be invariably provided in the proposal by the concerned Commissionerate / Directorate.
h. Updated details of the disciplinary proceedings against the co-accused, if any, shall also be provided by the Commissionerate/Directorate.
ii) The case documents as per check list prescribed by UPSC will be scrutinized by the officer(s) in jurisdictional Zonal unit of DGoV. If the records are found complete in all respect, receipt of the proposal will be duly acknowledged. If the records are not found complete, a deficiency note shall be issued specifying therein exact details of the record found deficient.
iii) The Jurisdictional Zonal unit of DGoV will examine the case records and forward the proposal to CVO for further approvalof the President along with all the connected case records.
iv) In case the proposal is for exoneration of the Charged officer, after approval of the President, case records shall be forwarded to CVC by Pr. ADG/ADG, DGoV(Hgrs.) of the concerned jurisdiction in the prescribed format for Second stage advice with due approval of the CVO.
v) CVO, CBIC after receipt of CVC's advice will forward the proposal for acceptance or otherwise to the President. The file will be processed by the jurisdictional unit of DGoV for forwarding it to the President.
vi) Case where the President differs with the Inquiry Report and recommendations of the original Disciplinary Authority, disagreement note shall be issued to the charged officer by the Ad.V Section with due approval of the President. The file then be sent to concerned zonal unit who shall obtain CO's representation on it and process the same for further decision by the President on exoneration / penalty, as the case may be.
vii) In composite cases, where CVC in second stage advice recommends exoneration and dropping of charges, instead of zonal unit of DGoV, DGoV headquarter will process and obtain the President's approval for the same. In case of concurrence, final order shall be forwarded to Ad.V for issue else matter shall be transferred to zonal unit of DGoV for further processing.
viii) In cases approved for exoneration by the President, if consultation with CVC is not required, the concerned zonal unit will forward the case records along with approved draft of final order to Ad.V for issue of final order.
ix) In case the President has approved the case for making reference to UPSC for advice on quantum of penalty, case records as per procedure prescribed by UPSC vide letter F.No. 39011/08/2016-Estt (B) dated 28.12.2018will be forwarded by jurisdictional zonal unit of DGoV to Ad.V section, who shall submit the same to UPSC.
X) In case deficiency memorandum is issued by UPSC subsequent to submission of case records by Ad.V, case records along with deficiency memorandum will be forwarded by Ad. V to jurisdictional zonal unit of DGoV for rectification of deficiencies. Case records after due rectification of deficiencies will be forwarded back to Ad. V by jurisdictional zonal unit of DGoV for re-submission to UPSC
xi) After receipt of advice from UPSC, same shall be provided by Ad. V section to the concerned zonal unit of DGoV. The zonal unit on receipt of the UPSC advice will deliver the same to CO to seek his/her representation and will examine the same and forward proposal to CVO for consideration of the President, along with all the connected case records.
xii) In case of disagreement of the President with advice of UPSC/CVC, zonal unit of DGoV will forward the case records to DoPT through designated officer in office of CVO after due approval as per the extant guidelines issued vide DoPT OM No 39023/02/2006-Estt(B) dated 02.03.2016 and 05.12.2006.
xiii) Case records will be forwarded to Ad.V when disciplinary proceedings have attained finality orrevision or review petition has been decided by the President, for issue of Final Orderas the case maybe.
xiv) Proposal requiring sanction of President in terms of Rule 9(2)(b) of CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, for initiating departmental proceedings will be forwarded by the concerned Commissionerate / Directorate along with complete case records in terms of para 2.3 of letter F.No. C-11016/5/2010- Ad.V dated 10.03.2010 and draft charge memorandum to jurisdictional zonal unit of DGoV. Jurisdictional zonal unit of DGoV will examine the case records and forward the proposal to CVO for consideration of the President. After due approval of the President, the file will be forwarded to Ad.V and the sanction orders of President in terms of Rule 9(2)(b) of CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972 will be issued and file will be forwarded to jurisdictional zonal unit of DGoV for further action.
XV) Rule 29 and Rule 29A of CCS (CCA) Rules also provides that the President under his or its own motion or otherwise may confirm, modify or set aside order, confirm, reduce, enhance or set aside the penalty imposed, impose penalty or remit the case to the authority which has made the order or pass such orders as it may deem fit. The appellate authority who has passed order in appeal in case of final order passed by Disciplinary authority in ‘non Group A’ cases may forward the order in appeal to concerned jurisdictional zonal unit of DGoV who will examine the order and put up to CVO with proposal for any action by the President under his or its own motion or otherwise under the provision of Rule 29 and Rule 29A ibid.
4. A tabular representation of the existing and proposed system is attached at Annexure V.
5. The following is also clarified:
(i) Cases as per list attached at Annexure VI are transferred forthwith to concerned Zonal unit of DGoV for further necessary action as per instructions above.
(ii) The existing cases under subject rules already submitted to Ad.V and accepted without any deficiency will continue to be handled by Ad.V.
(iii) The legal work relating to the cases with Ad.V shall continue to be handled by ADG (Vigilance Litigation) vertical in Ad.V.
(iv) For the transferred and new cases, the legal work shall be handled by the Zonal Units of DGoV in co-ordination with ADG (Vigilance Litigation) at DGoV Headquarters.
6. A monthly report of all such cases under Rule 9 of CCS(Pension) Rule, 1972 and Rule 29 and 29 A of CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 shall be forwarded by DGoV Zonal Units to DGoV Headquarters and Ad.V section for monitoring.
7. Difficulty, if any, in the implementation of these instructions may be brought to the notice of Board for necessary corrective action.
Enclosed : As above: Annexures | to VI
Copy to:
1. Sr. PS to Revenue Secretary
2. Sr. PPS to Chairman, CBIC
3. PPS to Member(Admin), CBIC
4. CVO, CBIC
5. Pr. DG, Directorate General of Vigilance, CBIC
6. Pr. ADG / ADG of all zonal units of DGoV
7. ADG/ DS/ US/AC/ All dealing hands Group B, Ad. V
