Diwali Bonus: Government's gift to central employees, Finance Ministry announces to give Adhoc bonus on Diwali

The Finance Ministry has announced Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (Adhoc Bonus) to Central Government employees on the occasion of Diwali. Under this, all eligible employees will get 30 days salary. Those non-gazetted employees under Group B and Group C of the Central Government, who are not covered under any Productivity Linked Bonus Scheme, will also be given this bonus. The benefit of the Adhoc bonus will also be available to all eligible personnel of central paramilitary forces.

Temporary employees will also be benefited

According to the order issued by the Ministry of Finance, a rule has been made to determine the amount to be paid under an ad-hoc bonus. A bonus is added based on the average salary of the personnel, as per the calculated ceiling, whichever is less. If a worker is getting seven thousand rupees, then his monthly bonus for 30 days will be around Rs 6907. The benefit of such a bonus will be available only to those Central Government employees who have been in service as of 31 March 2021. He has been given duty continuously for at least six months during the year 2020-21. According to the order of the Ministry of Finance, the employees who are temporarily appointed on an Adhoc basis will also get this bonus, provided there is no break in their service.

Such employees who have been out of service, have resigned, or have retired on or before 31 March 2021 will be treated as a special case. Under this, those employees who have retired or died illegally on medical grounds before March 31, but have done regular duty for six months in a financial year, will be considered eligible for an Adhoc bonus. For this, the bonus will be fixed on a 'pro-rata basis' based on the nearest number of regular services of the employee concerned.

These workers will be eligible

Those employees, who are working on deputation, foreign service, a union territory, or any PSU as of 31 March 2021, then the lending department, ie the lending department, will not give this bonus. In such a case, it becomes the responsibility of the borrowing organization to provide Adhoc bonus, PLB, Engracia and incentive schemes, etc., provided such provisions are in force. If an employee is in the grade of 'C' or above and is called back from foreign service midway during the financial year, then the rule of Adhoc bonus has been made in this regard. Under this, if the parent department of that employee has received bonus and exgratia amount from the foreign department in the financial year, then that amount will be given to the employee concerned. Even after reverting, if the bonus is owed by the central government to the employee, in such a situation, the central government can ban his ad-hoc bonus.

If an employee from State Government, Union Territory, and PSU joins the Central Government on reverse deputation, then they will be given an ad-hoc bonus. Such employees, who have come back to the job after retiring from government service, will be treated as new employees and the bonus will be fixed. Employees who are on half pay leave, EOL, or have taken academic leave during the financial year, if they have taken any leave beyond the rules other than the said period, then that period will not be counted. However, that period break in service will not be considered for the Adhoc bonus. The contractual employee, who is eligible for other allowances like dearness allowance and interim relief etc., will also get an ad-hoc bonus. If an employee does not fall in the category of the above allowances, then he will be given a bonus according to casual labor.

Part-time workers will not be eligible

If an employee has been suspended in the financial year, then separate rules for the bonus have been made for him. Such workers, when they rejoin the service and get all the earlier benefits, will be considered eligible for an Adhoc bonus. Personnel transferred to various Ministries and Departments will be considered eligible for an Adhoc bonus if there is no break in their service. In such a case the service period of both the departments will be added. Such personnel who have migrated from one department to another after passing the competitive examination will also be eligible for an Adhoc bonus. However, in such cases, the amount of bonus will be released by the department where the employee has been working as of 31st March 2021. Whether those employees who have been transferred from a government department will be eligible for an Adhoc bonus, it has been said that their bonus will be counted by the department where they were in service as of March 31.

This bonus will not be available to part-time workers working on a normal fixed pay. A rule has also been made for those employees who were working in different departments for the last three years and were in any department as of 31 March 2021. Their qualification will be decided by the tenure of three years. They will get this bonus if they have moved from one office to another for 240 days in a year and are not getting gracias or other allowances. If someone is a casual laborer and has been regularized in the financial year, but he does not fulfill the eligibility criteria of six months regular service as of 31st March 2021, he will not get the benefit of an Adhoc bonus. He cannot be given the benefit of this bonus like a regular employee.