EPFO-Empanelment of retired officers as Inquiry Officers for conducting Departmental Inquiries-Procedure

EPFO-Empanelment of retired officers as Inquiry Officers for conducting Departmental Inquiries-Procedure

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation
Ministry of Labour, Govt. Of India

HR/AVS/10(2)16/ERO/21447                                                                                                       Dated: 22 MAR 2017

CIRCULAR

Subject: Empanelment of retired officers as the Inquiry Officers for conducting Departmental Inquiries- regarding.

Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) proposes to setup a panel of retired officers as Inquiry Officers for conducting departmental inquires as per guidelines laid down by the Department of Personnel & Training vide their O.M. No. 142/40/2015-AVD-1 dated 07.01.2016 (copy enclosed).

2. Interested retired officers who retired from the post not below the rank of Deputy Secretary in the Central Government or equivalent in the Employees’ Provident  Fund  Organization  (EPFO) or in the State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings and who are eligible to be appointed as Inquiry Officer for the purpose  of conducting  departmental  inquiry  as per  terms  & conditions  stipulated  in the aforementioned  DoP&T’s  OM  dated  01.2016  are requested  to  submit their  application  latest by I Oth April, 20017 in the prescribed format for empanelment  as  Inquiry  Officer  to  the  Addl. Central  P.F.Commissioner  (HQ)HR,  EPFO,  14-Bhikaiji Cama Place,  New  Delhi-110066  along with a copy of their PPO.

3. Persons who have already sent their application in this regard need not apply

Enclosure: DoPT’s O.M. dated 07.01.2016

(C.Chakraborty)
Addl. Central P.F.Commissioner  (HRM)

F. No. 142/40/2015-AVD.I
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training

New Delhi Dated, the 7th January, 2016

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject:- Procedure  for  empanelment  of  retired  officers  as  the  Inquiry Officers for conducting Departmental Inquiries- reg.

The undersigned is directed to state that the issue of utilizing the services of retired officers for conducting departmental inquiries had  been  under consideration of the Department. It has now been decided that panels of retired officers from the Ministries/Departments under Government of India and PSUs would be created and maintained by the respective Cadre Controlling Authorities for conducting Departmental Inquiries against the delinquent officials.

2. Procedure for empanelment of retired officers as the Inquiry Officers – Panels of retired officers not below the rank of Deputy Secretary in Central Government and equivalent officer in the State Governments/PSUs to be appointed as the Inquiry Officer for the purpose of conducting departmental inquiries would be maintained levellrank wise and place-specific by each cadre controlling authority where its offices are located.

3. Validity of the panel – The panel of the retired officers created for the purpose of appointing Inquiry Officers for conducting departmental inquiry will be valid for a period of three The respective Cadre Controlling Authority will ensure that a panel of retired Inquiry Officers is available with them.

4. Following are the eligibility conditions for appointment of willing retired officers as the Inquiry Officers to conduct departmental inquiries:-

• The retired officers willing to serve as the Inquiry Officer should not be more than 65 years of age as on the 1st April of the year of his/her
• He/she should be in sound health- both physically and
• He/she should not be an accused officer in any pending inquiry and should be of impeccable

5. The respective Cadre Controlling Authority will immediately take necessary action for inviting applications from willing and eligible retired officers to serve as the Inquiry Officer for conducting departmental In this regard, a format for inviting applications is annexed.

6. A three-member committee consisting of Joint Secretary level officers including CVO of the concerned Ministry/Departments/PSUs would be constituted by the respective cadre controlling The other two members can be from the same Ministry/Department or from the attached or subordinate office. After receipt of willingness of the retired officers, names of the officers will be screened by the committee so constituted and panel of officers (Database) will be created rank-wise viz., Deputy Secretary, Director, Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary, Secretary, etc. Approval of Minister-in-charge may be solicited for making the panel of the officers. Appointment of Inquiry Officer, from the panel of eligible retired officers, will be done by a random draw of lot. The Committee constituted for making panels of retired officers as the Inquiry Officer has to keep in mind that applications of retired officers willing to serve as an Inquiry Officer should be scrutinized carefully to ensure that the applicant meets the eligibility criteria.

7. The number of disciplinary cases assigned to an Inquiry Officer may be restricted to 20 cases in a year, with not more than 4 cases at a time.

8. Terms and conditions for appointment of retired officers as the Inquiry

The designated Inquiry Officer shall require to give an undertaking as follows:-

• that he/she is not a witness or a complainant in the matter to be inquired into or a close relative or a known friend of the delinquent Government Officer.

• shall maintain strict secrecy in relation to the documents he/she receives or information/data collected by him/her in connection with the inquiry and utilize the same only for the purpose of inquiry in the case entrusted to him/her.

9. No such documents/information or data shall be divulged to anyone during the Inquiry or after presentation of the Inquiry All the records, reports etc. available with the Inquiry Officer shall be duly returned to the authority which appointed him/her as such, at the time of presentation of the Inquiry Report.

10. The Inquiry Officer shall conduct the inquiry proceedings in the official premises provided by the Department/Organization, which engages him/her.

11. The Inquiry Officer shall undertake travel for conducting inquiry (in unavoidable circumstances) with the approval of the Disciplinary Authority.

12. The Inquiry Officer shall submit the inquiry report after completing the inquiry within ninety days from the date of his/her appointment as the Inquiry Extension of time beyond ninety days can be granted only by the Disciplinary Authority.

13. The rates ofhonorarium and other allowances payable to the Inquiry Officer will be as under:-

Payment will be made to the Inquiry Officer only when the report is accepted by the Disciplinary Authority. In case it is not possible to proceed with the matter due to stay by courts etc., the Inquiry Officer may be discharged from his/her duties and payment of honorarium and other allowances will be made on pro rata basis.

14. Before the payment is received by the Inquiry Officer, it will be his/her responsibility to ensure that:-

• All case records and inquiry report (two ink signed copies) properly documented and arranged is handed over to the Disciplinary Authority.

• The report returns findings on each of the Articles of Charge which has been enquired into should specifically deal and address each of the procedural objections, if any, raised by the charged officers as per the extant rules and instructions

• There should not be any ambiguity in the inquiry report and therefore every care should be taken to ensure that all procedures for conducting departmental inquiries have been followed in accordance with the relevant rules/instructions of disciplinary and appeal Rules to which the delinquent Government officials are

15. Letter regarding engaging a retired officer as the Inquiry Officer will only be issued with the approval of the Disciplinary Authority of the Ministry/Department/ Office

16. The Department of Personnel & Training (AI) may be consulted in case of clarification( s) on any of the issues related to empanelment of retired officer as an Inquiry Officer for conducting departmental inquiries.

17. The services of Inquiry Officers whose performance is not upto the mark will be terminated with the approval of appointing

(K.Srinivasan)
Under Secretary to the Government of India
Tel.No. 23040291