Master Circular No. 49 on “ ALLOTMENT OF QUARTERS AND RETENTION THEREOF ”, a compilation of instructions on the subject was last brought out and circulated vide Railway Board’s letter No. E[G]92 QR1-20 dated 19-1-93. Since then the various provisions of instructions have undergone major changes and some new provisions have also been introduced. With the objective to bring about all the current basic instructions at one place, the Master Circular has been updated by incorporating the modifications / additions to the instructions in this revised Master Circular. The revised Master Circular is as under:
1.0 Classification of staff as “essential and non-essential” for allotment of quarters
1.1 One of the benefits to which Railway employees are entitled to is provision / allotment of residential accommodation at the place of posting, on payment of a standard rent which is at subsidized rates.
For the purpose of allotment of quarters, Railway staff are categorized into two categories, i.e., essential and non-essential. Separate pools of allotment are maintained for essential and non-essential staff. As the local conditions vary, Railway Board have not laid down any rules / instructions for uniform application and the actual classification as per local conditions has been left to the discretion of Zonal Railway Administrations.
[Ref: No. E[G]57 LG 5-1 dated 21-1-1958]
1.2 Out of the quarters set apart for essential category staff, separate pool of quarters should be maintained for the running staff, the number of quarters in such a pool should be proportionate to the strength of running staff as against non-running essential staff. Allotment of any quarter that falls vacant in this pool will be made to “running” staff only on his / her turn as per the separate Priority Register, maintained for this purpose.
[Ref: No. E[G]69 QR1-15 dated 30-10-1976]
1.3 The quarters of the loco running staff pool, on vacation, should be allotted only to the loco running staff.
[Ref: No. E[G]79 QR 1-32 dated 20-08-80]
2.0 Entitlement of various types of house accommodation
|
Category of staff/officers and pay scales |
Entitlement |
|
All Group ‘D’ staff |
Type –I |
|
All Group ‘C’ staff who are in pay scales, the maximum of which is equal to or less than Rs.7000/- |
Type -II |
|
All Group ‘C’ staff who are in pay scales, the maximum of which is equal to or less than Rs.9800/- but the minimum of which is equal to or more than Rs.4500/- |
Type-III |
|
All Group ‘C’ staff who are in pay scales of Rs.6500-10500 and Rs.7450-11500 |
Type-IV |
|
[a] All Assistant Officers |
Type-IV |
|
[b] All Senior Scale Officers drawing a salary less than Rs.12000/- |
Type-IV |
|
All Senior Scale Officers drawing pay of Rs.12000/- or more and all JAG/SG/SAG Officers |
Type-V |
Note-I: No existing Type-IV or other type of quarters will be transferred from Non-gazetted pool to Gazetted pool merely because the number of Group ‘C’ staff eligible for such quarters in accordance with the above instructions, happens to be less than the number of available quarters.
Note-II: Employees in old pay scale of Rs.1320-2040 [Revised pay scale Rs.4000-6000] who have already been allotted Type III quarters in terms of earlier orders dated 24-07-89 may retain the Type III quarters. However, all new allotment should be made as per entitlements in this letter.
[Ref: No. 98/LMB/10/62 dated 10-1-2000,
98/LMB/10/62 dated 21-09-2000]
3.0 Entitlement / allotment for staff quarters to the running staff
|
Category of staff |
Revised Pay scale [in Rs.] |
Entitlement |
|
Second Fireman |
2750-4400 |
Type-II |
|
Asst. Guard / Brakeman, Sr. Second Fireman, First Fireman, Diesel Asstt., Electric Asstt. |
3050-4590 |
Type-II |
|
Sr. Asst. Guard / Brakeman, Sr. Fireman, Sr. Diesel Asstt., Sr.Electric Asstt., Shunter |
4000-6000 |
Type-III |
|
Goods Guard |
4500-7000 |
Type-III |
|
Sr. Goods Guard, Passenger Guard, Sr. Shunter, Goods Driver |
5000-8000 |
Type-III |
|
Sr. Passenger Guard, Mail / Express Guard, Sr. Goods Driver, Passenger Driver / Motorman [Passenger Trains and EMU Service] |
5500-9000 |
Type-IV |
|
Sr. Passenger Driver / Sr. Motorman [ Passenger Trains and EMU Service], Mail / Express Driver [Mail / Express /Superfast trains) |
6000-9800 |
Type-IV |
[Ref: No. 2000/LMB/10/6 dated 22-11-2001]
4.0 Rules regarding allotment of Railway quarters to husband and wife posted at the same station
Allotment of quarters to gazetted and non-gazetted staff, where two employees of opposite sexes in occupation of two separate quarters at the same station, allotted under normal rules, marry one another, shall be regulated as under: -
a. No Railway employee (Gazetted or non-gazetted), shall be allotted a railway quarter if the spouse has already been allotted a quarter at the same station, unless such quarter is surrendered. This will, however, not apply where the husband and wife are residing separately in pursuance of an order of judicial separation made by any court.
b. Where two employees in occupation of separate quarters at the same station allotted under railway rules, marry one another, they shall, within one month of the marriage surrender one of the residences.
c. Where two employees (husband, and wife) are in occupation of separate residences at the same station, one allotted under Railway Rules and another from a different pool on account of the allottee being an employee of another Government Department, any one of them shall surrender his/her residence within one month of the marriage.
d. If a residence is not surrendered as required under (b) or (c) above, the allotment of the Railway residence shall be deemed to have been cancelled on the expiry of such period.
e. In the event of either of the two employees (husband & wife) being transferred to another station, he/she (as the case may be), shall be entitled for allotment of Railway quarter under the relevant rules.
[Ref. No. E(G)73 QR 1-44 dated 02.07.1974]
f. Wife / husband of an employee sent on deputation could be considered for allotment of the same quarter, already allotted to one of the spouse, if she/he was otherwise eligible in the normal course taking her/his date of registration for quarter from the date of her/his appointment / transfer / posting at a particular station.
[Ref. No. E(G)90 QR 3-16 dated 10.10.91]
5.0 Allotment of Railway quarters – Reservation for SCs/STs
5.1 Reservation of 10% in respect of Type I and Type II Railway quarters should be made in favour of SC/ST employees in all the areas where the number of quarters is 50 or more. It is further desired that representative of SC/ST employees who have been duly recommended by the SC/ST Railway Employees Association should also be included in the housing allotment committee in all the places wherever it exists.
[Ref: No. 82-E[SCT]26/2 dated 27-9-83 and 2002-E[SCT]I/21/1 dated 20-11-02]
5.2. Reservation in allotment of quarters will apply only in non-essential categories.
5.3. The reservation is made against the total number of quarters at a station and not against the number of quarters in a particular pool where the number of quarters is less than 50.
5.4. Two waiting lists are to be maintained, one general waiting list and another special waiting list of SC/ST Railway employees for allotment against 10% quota in Type I and II and 5% in Type III and IV. The SC/ST employees who are senior enough and are covered in general waiting list in their turn will be given allotment from the general pool quota. The special list will be operated only if the accommodation provided on the general list falls short of this percentage.
[Ref: No. 84-E[SCT]I/21/1 dated 22-08-86]
5.5. The reserved quota is exclusively reserved quota for SC/STs and allotments made to SC/STs from the general list is not countable towards the reserved quota which has to be filled by allotment to SC/ST employees who are not covered against the general [unreserved] points of the roster within the vacancies of quarters to be filled up at a particular point of time. In other words, SC/ST employees allotted Railway quarters on their own service length seniority in the general list are not to be adjusted against reserved quota.
[Ref: No. 97-E[SCT]I/22/5 dated 09-10-97]
5.6. For reckoning the number of quarters in place or unit, 50 should be the total number of type I & II quarters taken together in that place or unit;
5.7. Reservation percentage will be applied separately to Type I and Type II quarters;
5.8. Waiting lists have to be prepared separately for each type of quarter.
(Ref: 99 /E/SCT/!/21/1 dt.25.6.99)
6.0. Out of turn allotment of quarter
6.1 Out of turn allotment of quarter wherever conceded, should be made strictly on the basis of date of registration in the out of turn register to be maintained for the purpose. Placing of an employee in the out of turn list, however, is left to the discretion of the competent authority, based on merits of each case.
[Ref. No. E(G)66 QR 1-21 dated 12.10.1966]
6.2 Allotment to handicapped employees
Requests from the handicapped persons appointed on the Railways under special schemes should also be entertained for registration in the out of turn register on merits of each case, with due regard to the degree of their disability.
[Ref. No. E(G)66 QR 1-21 dated 12.10.1966]
6.3 Ad-hoc allotment on medical grounds of heart ailment etc.
Heart ailment, having the following symptoms, should be included for ad-hoc allotment on medical grounds. The concession should, however, be restricted to self-ailment only, as indicated below: -
"Heart ailment having symptoms of Grade III and Grade IV which includes serious disabilities like Angina Grade III and IV congested Cardiac Failure Grade III and IV or Malignant Hypertension with symptoms of Grade III and IV."
6.4 Ad-hoc allotment on other medical grounds
With regard to eligibility for ad-hoc allotment on other medical grounds, such as Pulmonary T.B, and Cancer, illness of parents and other members of the family should be excluded, only the illness of the Government servant himself and/or members of his/her family i.e. wife/husband and the children, should alone be considered for the concession of ad-hoc allotment on these two grounds.
6.5 Existing 5% reservation of vacancies in general pool for, ad-hoc allotment on medical grounds and physical handicap would continue.
[Ref. No. E(G)85 QR 1-8 dated 05.06.1986]
6.6 Out of turn allotment –father to son/ daughter/ dependent
Requests from eligible dependents/specified relations of retired Railway employees and of deceased Railway employees who are appointed on compassionate grounds, may be considered by the competent authority only in cases where the compassionate appointments have been made within the prescribed period of 24 months. In case, the compassionate appointee had remained in occupation of the Railway accommodation unauthorisedly beyond the permitted period, that in itself would not confer any right in favour of the compassionate appointee in the matter of regularisation of the Railway accommodation in his/her name. Further the Railway Administration should also initiate eviction proceedings soon after the prescribed period for retention of accommodation is over. The special dispensation allowed in favour of the eligible wards of retired/deceased employees and their scope is to be confined only to such of the wards, as are regular employees. Thus the casual labour and the substitutes with or without temporary status are excluded from their scope. The requests are to be considered as under: -
a] When a railway employee who has been allotted railway accommodation retires from service or dies while in service, his/her son, daughter, wife, husband or father may be allotted railway accommodation on out of turn basis provided that the said relation was a railway employee eligible for railway accommodation and had been sharing accommodation with the retiring or deceased railway employee for at least six months before the date or retirement or death and had not claimed H.R.A. during that period. The same residence might be regularised in the name of the eligible relation if he/she was eligible for a residence of that type or higher type. In other cases a residence of the entitled type or a type next below is to be allotted.
b] Requests for out of turn allotment of Railway accommodation from the eligible dependents / specified relations of deceased Railway employees who are appointed on compassionate grounds may be considered for allotment of Railway quarter of one type below the entitlement of the deceased Railway employee, minimum being Type-I and restricting the allotment upto Type-IV failing which Type IV Spl or the entitled category of accommodation to the compassionate appointee, whichever is higher, subject to fulfilling the laid down conditions. This will be applicable to all Group A, B, C & D Railway employees.
c] Provided that in case where the retiring employee, including those who take voluntary retirement, or any member of his family, owns a house in the place of his/her posting, the specified relative will not be eligible for allotment of railway quarter on out of turn basis.
d] In case of appointment on compassionate grounds, Railway accommodation may be regularized where such appointee possessing minimum educational qualification undergoes induction training provided other conditions regarding eligibility etc. are fulfilled. It is, however, clarified that such an allotment shall be purely temporary, and on adhoc basis, provided such induction training is regularized as regular appointment in due course. In case the trainee fails to qualify in the final examination and is subsequently discharged from service, his/her allotment of quarter shall be cancelled.
6.7 In the event, a quarter belonging to a particular pool is allotted to the eligible dependent of an employee on out of turn basis on retirement / death of an employee who was having a quarter in another pool, thereby causing a shortfall in the quota of quarter in that pool, the deficiency so caused in that pool of quarters should be made good at the earliest available opportunity, in order that the balance is restored at the earliest.
Note:
i. Orders regarding non-drawal of house rent allowance are applicable only in cases where the dependent is employed in the station where the Railway employee has been allotted railway accommodation.
ii. The concession of ad-hoc allotment would not be available in the case of a dependent who secures employment in the Railway after the date of retirement of parent or during the period of re-employment.
iii. Type 'A' accommodation may be regularised in the case of eligible dependent on his request, even if, the employee is eligible for Type 'B' or higher type of accommodation.
iv. The concession of ad-hoc allotment to the eligible dependent would not be available in case any other dependent is already in occupation of Government accommodation.
v. Ad-hoc allotment of lower type of accommodation has to be restricted to the same area or adjoining area where retired employee is having the accommodation. However, licence fee/damages rent will have to be paid by the retired employee as per relevant rules/extant instructions if there is delay in allotment of alternative accommodation due to restriction of allotment of such colony.
vi. The date of regularisation should be from the date of cancellation in case the eligible dependent is already in Railway service and is entitled for regularisation .
vii. Where arrears are due from retired Railway employee, a statement indicating arrears due, should be furnished to the dependent and he should be asked to furnish documentary evidence/certificate regarding payment of licence fee/damages from the office where the retired employee was working during the period in case recovery has already been made and if not he should be asked to make payment of the amount. This should be a condition of ad-hoc allotment and should be made clear in the letter sanctioning ad-hoc allotment.
viii. The said employee, who has been sharing accommodation with the retiring or deceased employee, is not eligible for HRA. It should be ensured that no out of turn allotment of accommodation is made to such employee, in case he/she has been drawing HRA by suppressing the fact that he/she was sharing the accommodation allotted to his/her father son/ husband/ wife."
[Ref: Letters No. E(G)88 QR 1-3 dated 21.6.1990, E[G]66 QR1-11 dated 25-6-66, E[G]85 QR3-2 dated 29-08-86, E[G]85 QR1-9 dated 15-1-1990, E(G)90 QR 1-11 dated 15.3.1991 and 1.7.1991
E(G)90 QR 1-18 dated 26.3.1991, E[G]91 QR1-10 dated 04-12-92
E(G)98 QR 1-11 dated 17.8.1999, E[G]85 QR1-14 dated 18-8-86, E[G]2006 QR1-14[B] dated 20-11-2006]
7.0 Allotment of Railway Quarter to TA Personnel
7.1 All the Railway personnel serving in the Railway Engineers Group Units [TA] should be treated as essential staff for the purpose of allotment of Railway accommodation.
[Ref: E[ML]74 ML3-34 dt. 6-6-74]
7.2 From amongst the unhoused TA personnel, some of the smarter employees who show leadership and enthusiasm in TA may be given preference over other TA personnel in allotment of quarters out of turn. Such allotments, however, should not exceed 10% of the unhoused TA personnel subject to minimum of 5 at bigger stations.
7.3 In assessing the eligibility / suitability of such out of turn allotments, the recommendation of the commanding officer of the TA units should be treated as final.
[Ref:No. E[G]96 QR1-42 dated 3-11-97]
8.0 Misuse of Railway accommodation
8.1 Railway accommodation allotted to a Railway servant is meant only for his/her bonafide use and cannot be used for any purpose other than residence. In order to prevent misuse of railway accommodation in any manner, a clear provision to this effect should invariably be made in Quarter Allotment letters issued to Railway Servants. The provision should also clearly specify that any violation in this respect would result in cancellation of allotment of the accommodation besides initiation of disciplinary action under Railway Servants (D&A) Rules.
[Ref: E(G)/2002 QR1-3 dated 29.04.02]
8.2 Sub-rule (1) of Rule 15 of Railway Services (Conduct) Rules provides that, no railway servant shall, except with the previous sanction of the Government engage directly or indirectly in any trade or business, or negotiate for, or undertake any other employment. Also, in terms of sub-rule (3) of Rule 15 of Railway Services (Conduct) Rules, a railway servant is required to report to the Government if any member of his family is engaged in a trade or business or owns or manages an insurance agency or commission agency. For the purpose of these sub-rules, "Government" means the Railway Board in the case of all gazetted and non-gazetted staff in the railway.
Instances have come to notice wherein commercial activities are carried on from the railway quarters allotted to Railway Servants for residential purposes. In this connection instructions have already been issued under Board's letter No.E(G)2002 QR 1-3 dated 29.4.02 (RBE No.54/2002) clarifying, inter alia, that Railway accommodation allotted to a Railway servant is meant only for his/her bonafide use and cannot be used for any purpose other than residence. Hence, when a request is received from a Railway Servant seeking sanction of the government under sub-rule (1) of Rule 15 or when an intimation is given by him/her regarding business/Commercial activity by any member of his/her family under sub-rule (3) of Rule 15, he/she should also indicate the address from which the activity will be conducted. It should be ensured that such activity is not being conducted and/or will not be conducted from the government/railway accommodation. An undertaking to this effect may also be obtained from the Railway Servant concerned and enclosed with the proposal being sent to Railway Board for further necessary action.
[Ref: No. E[D&A]2000/GS/1-8 dated 3-9-2002]
9.0 Sub-letting and vacation of Railway accommodation
9.1 Save as otherwise provided in any other law for the time being in force, no Railway servant shall sublet, lease or otherwise allow occupation by any other person of Government accommodation which has been allotted to him.
9.2 As soon as the charges of sub-letting are established by the pool holder, the allotment of quarter will be cancelled and the disciplinary authority shall initiate disciplinary proceedings against the railway servant concerned. In such cases, the Competent Authority may consider placing the delinquent Railway servant under suspension also. It may also be ensured that chargesheets are issued immediately in cases where employees are likely to retire shortly or where they have already retired, since such cases are likely to become time barred for initiation of disciplinary proceedings by virtue of the misconduct being more than four years old.
9.3 A Railway servant shall, after the cancellation of his allotment of Government accommodation vacate the same within the time limit prescribed by the allotting authority.
( Ref. Rule 15A of Railway Services(Conduct)Rules,1966 read with
Board’s letter No.E(D&A)98 GS1-1 dt.19.6.98)
9.4 The Estate Officers/ Allotment Authorities on the Railways, etc. should carry out checks/inspections every six months to ensure that the houses are occupied by the allottee Railway servants only and are not sublet to outsiders in contravention of the extant instructions.
( Ref. No.E(G)86 QR 1-6 dt.30.9.1986)
See the Master Circular No. 49 on Quarters Part 2 & Annexures