DoP: Procedure/timeline for considering transfer requests under Rule 38

No. X-12/6/2021-SPN-II(2)
Government of India
Ministry of Communications
Department of Posts

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg
New Delhi – 110001
December 31st, 2021

To,

a) All Chief Postmaster General
b) Chief General Manager, PLI / Parcel / BD Directorate
c) Chief General Manager, CEPT / Director RAKNPA / Director of all PTCs
d) Addl. Director-General Army Postal Service
e) All General Manager (Finance) / Director Postal Accounts / DDAP

Subject: Transfer Policy Guidelines dated 17.01.2019

Madam / Sir

I am directed to say that Para 3(C) of transfer policy guidelines, issued vide letter no. 141 -141 /2013-SPN-II dated 17.01.201 9, as amended from time to time, prescribes procedure/timeline for considering transfer requests under Rule 38 of Postal Manual Volume IV.

2. This procedure/timeline have been reviewed and the revised procedure/timeline is enclosed in Appendix -I.

3. Above modifications may be brought to the notice of all concerned for timely implementation.

4. Director (SPN) will be the nodal officer for implementation of the revised system who can be contacted at Tel no. 011 – 23096092 for any clarification. In Circles, the DPS(HQ) concerned will be the nodal officer.

Yours faithfully,

(Muthuraman C)
Assistant Director General (SPN)

APPENDIX – I

Procedure for Submission / Consideration of Transfer under Rule 38 or otherwise

Para-3(C) of Transfer Policy Guidelines, circulated vide communication No. 141- 14112013-SPB-II dated 17.01.2019, as amended from  time  to time, shall  be substituted by the following:

1. An application for Inter-Circle / Intra-Circle transfer under Rule 38 in Form – I duly signed by the official shall be submitted to the Head of the Division / Unit where the official is posted. An advance copy of the request shall not be sent to the Authority where the transfer is sought.
2. Application (PDF format) can be submitted through eMail also. All Divisions / Units shall give wide publicity of the official email id of the Division / Unit where an official can send a request for transfer under Rule-38.
3. Submission of Application and Order of Priority:-
   1. An official who fulfils the stipulated conditions as circulated from time to time for transfer under Rule-38 may apply at any time as per his convenience in the manner provided above. The system of submitting applications during the specified window is dispensed with.
   2. The date and time of receipt of the completed application in the Division / Unit shall be the reference point for determining the order of priority of all such applications.
   3. In case of a tie in date and time of receipt of the application date of joining in the present cadre shall be considered for deciding order of priority. If still there is a tie, date of birth shall be considered for deciding order of priority.
   4. Applications received during a month shall be arranged cadre-wise, as per date and time of receipt.
   5. However, applications received from (i) officials with benchmark disability (ii) officials appointed under compassionate grounds and (iii) official/dependant family members suffering from a terminal illness in this order shall be placed at the top of the list of the requests received during a month irrespective of the date on which such request was received. Among such applicants, the date and time of receipt of applications shall be the basis to decide the priority and in case of a tie, the procedure mentioned in (c) and (d) above will be followed.
   6. Applications received from officials who do not fulfil the eligibility criteria as of the date of application shall be rejected outright.
4. Divisional Cadre officials including Postal Assistant of Postal Division and Sorting Assistant of RMS Divisions may give a choice of a maximum of ten (10) Divisions / Units of one Circle in order of preference. In such cases transfer will be considered for any one of the indicated Divisions / Units in order of preference and if she/he is not accommodated in the requested  Divisions  / Units,  she/he will be kept under the waiting list for consideration subsequently.
5. In the case of Circle cadre officials like PA(CO/RO), PA(SBCO), Inspector Posts, ASP, etc. will indicate the only name of the Circle where a transfer is sought.
6. If an official, who is already on the waiting list based on a previous request, submits a fresh application / revised application then she/ he will forfeit her/his seniority based on previous requests and such fresh / revised application shall be considered afresh.
7. Divisional  Cadre official whose transfer request is already on the waiting list at the time of coming into force of these revised guidelines may submit revised request indicating a preference for 10 Divisions of the same Circle within one (l) month from the date of coming into force of these revised guidelines and in such case, the official shall retain his original priority. [Change of Circle shall be treated as a fresh request. Requests received after the stipulated time period shall be treated as fresh requests.]
8. Part-II of Form – I shall be completed after verifying the service particulars of the official. Printout of the application in Form – I received in Division / Unit through eMail shall be taken, and Part-II shall be completed.
9. Application(s) received during a month and found completed in all respects shall be forwarded to the Head of Circle latest by the 5th day of the following month through eMail (in PDF Format). While forwarding the applications Division / Unit Head shall also forward the following statements:-
   1. List of officials seeking Intra-Circle Transfer
   2. List of Officials seeking Inter-Circle Transfer – arranged Circle-wise
   3. Vacancy Position in each grade [(i) Actual  vacancy in case of PA/SA, (ii) Category-wise and recruitment  mode-wise  vacancy  in  other cases.]
10. After receipt of the list of applications from all Divisions / Units, Circle shall arrange the applications as provided in Point (iii) hereinabove to decide the Priority List for consideration of transfer.
11. Inter-Circle transfer requests shall be sent by the Circle by the 10th of the month through eMail along with a copy of relevant Form-I to Circle(s) concerned for preparation of Priority List in other Circle(s).
12. Priority List shall be prepared in the following manner:-
    1. Two separate Priority Lists shall be prepared – one for Intra-Circle and another for Inter-Circle – for each cadre.
    2. Applications received during a month will be arranged in the manner provided in Point (iii) hereinabove and shall be added to the respective waiting list brought forward from the previous month.  [This  process  shall  be  repeated  for  subsequent months where fresh requests shall be added below the requests in the Priority List for the previous month.]
13. Preparation of Priority List for the first time as per these revised guidelines:-
    1. Transfer requests considered during the year 2021 (where transfers would be effective only after 01.01.2022) should not be decided and transfer orders may not be issued. ln case, wherever transfer orders have been issued by any of the Circle, the same stands withdrawn/cancelled.
    2. Priority list prepared during the year 2021 (including transfers approved and orders stands withdrawn as per para (a) above) shall be kept frozen in the same order of priority, which shall be split/prepared into two parts viz. Intra-Circle transfer priority list and Inter-Circle priority list.
    3. Thereafter, requests received after these new guidelines come into force shall be added below the respective starting Priority List as mentioned at (a) above.
14. Updation of Intra-Circle Priority List shall be completed by the 10th of the month. Similarly, the Preparation of Inter-Circle Priority List shall be completed by the 20th of the month.
15. Assessment of vacancy for considering Transfer  Request:-
    1. Based on the information received from Division / Unit, as per Point-(ix)(c) above, and information available in the Circle Office Division / Unit – wise vacancy for each category/mode of appointment available for transfer shall be prepared by the Circle Office.
    2. Vacancy already reported to Staff Selection Commission for Direct Recruitment and vacancy notified/calculated for recruitment through an examination conducted by the Department shall be excluded while deciding the available vacancy as at (a)above.
    3. Circle shall assess vacancy for the recruitment year 2022, i.e. for the period 01.01.2022 to 31.12.2022 and distribute it amongst various modes of recruitment and within each mode amongst various categories as prescribed. Vacancies thus arrived will be frozen for reporting for various modes of recruitment.
    4. As these vacancies are forecasted, the vacancies would not be available on O 1.0 l.2022 but will arise in subsequent months of the year 2022. Hence, the monthly cycle of transfer will operate to cover foreseen as well as unforeseen vacancies arising during the preceding month.
    5. Vacancies frozen as mentioned in (c) above, shall be readily available for reporting to SSC or notification of LGO examination by all Circle. However, Circle shall continue considering transfer against vacancies becoming available till the preceding month. This process shall be repeated till vacancies of December 2022 is taken into account for transfer purpose.
    6. After completing the activities mentioned above, Circle shall calculate vacancies that arose during the year 2022 and remained unfilled even after considering all inward transfer requests. Since Inter-Circle transfer request shall be allowed for appointed officials only, at end of the recruitment year, there shall be the change in vacancies for each of the Circle, but the vacancies in total for all Circles combined shall  not  undergo  any  change  (except  for the addition of unforeseen vacancies)
    7. The final vacancy figure on 31.12.2022 shall be reported to the Directorate by 15th January of next year as a final vacancy position which will not undergo any further change.
    8. The aforesaid procedure shall be repeated for each recruitment year.
16. After preparation of Intra-Circle Priority List, taking into consideration the vacancy position assessed as above, Circle shall release the approved list of Intra-Circle transfers indicating the Division / Unit by the 15th of the month.
17. After deciding the approved list of Intra-Circle transfer, Circle shall consider Inter­ Circle transfer requests. After taking into consideration the vacancies available accommodation report for officials who can be accommodated indicating the Division / Unit and waiting list number in other cases shall be communicated to Circle (s) concerned by 20th of the month.
18. After receipt of accommodation report from other Circle (s), Circle shall release the approved list of Inter-Circle transfer indicating the Division / Unit of posting and communicate to all concerned by 25th of the month.
19. Officials approved for both Intra-Circle transfer and  Inter-Circle transfer shall be relieved by the 20th of the following month to join the new unit. In case any official approval for transfer is not relieved, reasons thereof and likely date of relieving may be communicated to the Head of Circle. Thereafter, Circle Office shall inform the concerned Circle / Division / Unit.
20. Relieving of the official shall not be denied solely on grounds of shortage of staff if working strength of the cadre in the Division / Unit is not less than 66.66%. This shall be observed only while relieving the official on transfer and not while forwarding transfer requests to Circle Office. However, the Head of  Circle shall be competent to relieve an official, whose request for transfer under Rule-38 (both inner-circle and intra-circle) has been approved, even if the working strength of a Division / Unit is less than 66.66% of the sanctioned strength, on case to case basis in very deserving cases only.
21. Requests of transfer under Rule 38 can be considered/approved by the competent authority even during the pendency of any vigilance case / disciplinary proceedings against an official. However, the controlling officer shall not relieve an official approved for transfer till disciplinary proceedings are concluded.
22. An official approved for transfer under Ru le-38 may submit a written request to the controlling officer to delay the relief.  In such cases, a maximum of 90 days may be allowed. [n case the official requests for more than 90 days, she . he shall forfeit the right to avail the approved transfer. However, such an official may submit a fresh request.
23. All communications relating to transfer under Rule-38 shall be made through eMails to adhere to the stipulated timeline.
24. Approved list of transfer and waiting list (both Intra-Circle and Inter-Circle) shall be published on the website of Department of Posts as well as Circle concerned. These lists shall be updated after every cycle of transfer, by the last day of the month.
25. An illustration for carrying out different activities of Inward / Outward transfer requests is enclosed.