Glossary of Service Law Terms

At a glance. Service law has its own vocabulary of rules, schemes and abbreviations. Below, each term is explained in two or three simple sentences, in the order you are likely to meet it: first the tribunal and its procedure, then discipline, pay and promotion, and finally pension and retirement.

Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)

A specialised tribunal created under Article 323A of the Constitution and the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, whose Sections 19, 20 and 21 deal with filing, going to the department first and time limits. It hears disputes about recruitment and service conditions of people who work for the Union government and for bodies notified under the Act. Its orders can be questioned before a Division Bench of the High Court.

Principal Bench

The seat of the tribunal at New Delhi, where the Chairman ordinarily sits. Apart from cases arising in its own area, it can take up matters that the Chairman sends to it from other benches.

Regional bench

CAT works through benches spread across the country, for example at Chandigarh, Allahabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. A case is normally filed where the employee is posted or where the dispute arose, and a retired person may also file where he or she now lives.

Original Application (OA)

The petition that starts a case before CAT under Section 19 of the Act. It identifies the order being challenged, sets out the facts in date order, lists the legal grounds and states exactly what relief is sought.

Representation

A written request to the competent authority asking it to put right a grievance, such as a wrong pay fixation or a denied promotion. Section 20 expects the employee to use this route, or a statutory appeal, before filing, and the tribunal can be approached once six months pass without a decision.

Limitation (Section 21)

The time allowed for filing an OA. It is one year from the date of the final order, or, where a representation or appeal was made and not decided, one year counted from the end of the six months the department had to decide it.

Condonation of delay

If the time limit has passed, the applicant can file a separate application under Section 21(3) asking the tribunal to excuse the delay. It must give a believable reason for the gap, and the tribunal decides it before looking at the main case.

Interim relief

A temporary protection granted under Section 24 while the OA is pending, such as halting a recovery from salary or keeping a transfer on hold. The tribunal looks at whether the case appears sound at first sight and whether waiting would cause harm that is hard to reverse.

Counter reply and rejoinder

The counter reply is the written answer the department files to the OA, usually explaining the reasons for the order and attaching the records it relies on. The rejoinder is the applicant's response to it, meant to deal with new facts or documents raised by the department rather than to repeat the application.

Miscellaneous application (MA)

An application moved within a pending or decided OA for a side issue. Common examples are a request to excuse delay, to amend the pleadings, to list the case early or to extend the time given for compliance.

Review application

A request to the same bench to reconsider its own order because of a mistake that is obvious from the record or an important fact that could not be produced earlier. It must normally be filed within 30 days of receiving the order, and it is not a second round of arguments.

Contempt petition

A petition filed when the department deliberately fails to obey a CAT order. Section 17 gives the tribunal the same power to punish for contempt as a High Court, and in practice the petition often prompts quick compliance.

Writ petition against a CAT order

An order of CAT can be challenged before the High Court under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution. Since the Supreme Court decided L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India in 1997, such petitions are heard by a Division Bench of the High Court that has territorial jurisdiction over the bench.

Special leave petition (SLP)

A petition to the Supreme Court under Article 136 seeking permission to appeal against a High Court judgment. Leave is discretionary, so the petition must show a serious question of law or a clear injustice.

Service matter

Defined in Section 3(q) of the Act to cover the conditions of service of an employee, such as pay, allowances, pension, seniority, promotion, leave and disciplinary action. If a dispute is not a service matter in this sense, CAT cannot hear it.

Section 14(2) notification

A notification by which the Central Government brings a society, corporation or autonomous body within CAT jurisdiction. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti are well known examples, and staff of such bodies then file in CAT instead of the High Court.

Persons outside CAT

Some groups cannot use CAT. Members of the armed forces go to the Armed Forces Tribunal, while staff of the Central Armed Police Forces, public sector undertakings and banks that have not been notified under Section 14(2) take service disputes to the High Court.

Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT)

A separate tribunal under the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007 for serving and retired members of the Army, Navy and Air Force. Civilian employees working in defence establishments are not covered by it and come to CAT instead.

CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965

The Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules govern suspension, penalties, disciplinary inquiries and appeals for most central civil employees. They also decide which officer is the disciplinary authority and which is the appellate authority.

Suspension

An order that keeps an employee away from duty while an inquiry or criminal case is under way. Under Rule 10 of the CCS (CCA) Rules it has to be reviewed before 90 days run out, and it lapses if not extended on review.

Deemed suspension

Suspension that takes effect by operation of law, without a separate decision on merits. It applies when an employee stays in police or judicial custody for more than 48 hours, or is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for more than 48 hours and is not removed at once.

Subsistence allowance

The amount paid to a suspended employee in place of salary. It starts at the leave salary admissible on half pay leave, with dearness allowance on it, and after three months it may be raised or cut depending on who is responsible for the delay.

Charge memorandum

The formal document, often called a chargesheet, that starts disciplinary proceedings under Rule 14 or Rule 16. It contains the articles of charge, a statement of the conduct alleged, and the lists of documents and witnesses the department will rely on.

Rule 14 inquiry

The full departmental inquiry needed before a major penalty can be imposed. An inquiry officer hears the evidence that the presenting officer brings on behalf of the department, the employee can inspect documents and cross-examine witnesses, and the findings are given to the employee for comment before any penalty is decided.

Defence assistant

A serving or retired government servant chosen by the charged employee to help in the inquiry. A practising lawyer can act only where the presenting officer is a lawyer or the disciplinary authority allows it.

Minor and major penalties

Rule 11 of the CCS (CCA) Rules lists the penalties. Censure, withholding of promotion, recovery of loss and withholding of increments without lasting effect are minor; reduction in rank, compulsory retirement, removal and dismissal are major and need a full inquiry.

Statutory appeal

An appeal against a penalty order to the appellate authority named in the rules. Under the CCS (CCA) Rules it should be filed within 45 days, and using it is usually expected before a case goes to CAT.

Dies non

A period of absence that is treated as neither duty nor leave, so it earns no pay and does not count towards increments, leave or pension. Unlike a break in service, it does not wipe out earlier service, and it is often applied to unauthorised absence or strike days.

FR 56(j)

The Fundamental Rule that lets the government retire an employee early in public interest, after he or she reaches 50 or 55 years of age depending on the group and age of entry. The decision rests on a review of the whole service record, with three months' notice or pay in lieu.

APAR

The Annual Performance Assessment Report, which records the grading and remarks given to an employee each year. The entire report must be disclosed, and the employee can make a representation against any entry, usually within fifteen days.

Benchmark grading

The minimum grading, such as Good or Very Good, that an employee must have in recent APARs to be found fit for promotion. If a below-benchmark grading was never shown to the employee, the Supreme Court has held it cannot be used against him or her without a chance to represent.

DPC

The Departmental Promotion Committee, a panel of officers that assesses employees in the zone of consideration and recommends who should be promoted. Its minutes are often the key document in a promotion dispute and can be obtained through RTI or in the counter reply.

Sealed cover procedure

When an employee under suspension, facing a chargesheet or facing prosecution is considered by a DPC, the result is kept in a sealed envelope instead of being acted on. If the employee is fully cleared, the cover is opened and promotion is given from the date juniors were promoted.

Vigilance clearance

A certificate from the vigilance wing that nothing is pending against an employee, needed for promotion, deputation, foreign posting and similar moves. It can be withheld only on grounds set out in government instructions, not on a vague complaint.

Proforma promotion

A promotion granted on paper to an officer who is working outside the parent cadre, for instance on deputation, so that seniority and pay are protected when a junior back home is promoted. It is usually given under the next below rule, and the term is also used for a notional promotion from an earlier date.

Next below rule

A principle recorded under FR 30 that protects an officer serving outside the regular line. If the person immediately junior in the parent cadre gets promoted, and the officer would also have been promoted but for the outside posting, he or she receives the benefit on paper.

No work, no pay

The general rule that wages are paid only for duty actually performed. Courts make an exception where the employee was kept out of work for no fault of his own, for example through a wrongful denial of promotion, and then arrears may be ordered.

MACP

The Modified Assured Career Progression scheme, in force from 1 September 2008. An employee who has not been promoted gets a financial upgrade to the next level in the pay matrix after 10, 20 and 30 years of regular service, subject to benchmark and vigilance conditions.

Pay matrix

The pay structure introduced by the Seventh Pay Commission, arranged as numbered levels with cells showing each stage of pay. Promotion, MACP and increments move an employee to a defined cell, so most fixation disputes come down to which cell was correct.

Pay fixation

The working out of the exact pay an employee should draw on appointment, promotion, upgradation or pay revision. It is done under FR 22 and the pay rules, and a mistake here carries forward into every later increment and into pension.

Stepping up of pay

A correction that raises a senior employee's pay to the level of a junior who draws more in the same cadre and post. It is allowed only where the anomaly results directly from applying the pay rules, not from a personal benefit given to the junior.

Notional increment

An increment that would have fallen due on the day after retirement, for example on 1 July for someone retiring on 30 June. Following the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling on this point and later government instructions, it is counted for working out pension, though not paid as salary.

Recovery of excess payment

When the department claims back money it says was paid by mistake. In State of Punjab v. Rafiq Masih (2015), the Supreme Court barred such recovery from lower grade staff, retirees, those about to retire and in a few other situations where it would be unfair.

Lien

The right of a government servant to hold a regular post substantively and to return to it after deputation, leave or a probation spell in another post. An employee cannot hold a lien on two posts at the same time, and a lien is lost only in the ways the rules allow.

Deputation

A temporary posting outside the parent department, usually for a fixed tenure, with a deputation allowance where admissible. At the end of the term the officer returns to the parent cadre unless absorbed under the rules of the borrowing organisation.

Hard area allowance

An extra payment to central employees posted at stations notified as remote or difficult, such as parts of the North East, Ladakh and the island territories. After the Seventh Pay Commission several such allowances were grouped under new heads like the Tough Location Allowance, so the name and rate depend on the notification for that station.

Compassionate appointment

A job given to a dependant family member of a government servant who died in service or retired on medical grounds, to help a family in sudden financial difficulty. It is governed by the DoPT scheme of 2013 and is limited to a small share of direct recruitment vacancies.

Regularisation

Converting a casual, daily wage or contract worker into a regular employee. After Secretary, State of Karnataka v. Umadevi (2006), it is available only in narrow cases, such as long service against a sanctioned post where the first engagement was not illegal.

Proper channel

The route by which a representation or appeal travels from the employee through the immediate superior to the authority that can decide it. Sending it through proper channel keeps a record, and an advance copy can be sent directly when time is short.

CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021

The current rules that govern pension, family pension and gratuity for central civil employees covered by the old pension scheme. They replaced the 1972 rules, and many rule numbers changed in the process.

Qualifying service

The service that counts when pension is calculated. At least ten years of qualifying service is needed for a pension under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, and periods like dies non are left out.

Provisional pension

Pension paid on a temporary basis when the final amount cannot be settled at retirement, most often because departmental or judicial proceedings are still pending. Gratuity is usually withheld until those proceedings end, after which final pension is fixed and arrears adjusted.

PPO

The Pension Payment Order issued by the accounts office on retirement, which authorises the bank to pay pension. It records the basic pension, commuted amount and family pension details, so any error in it should be raised quickly.

Commutation of pension

An option to take a lump sum on retirement in exchange for giving up a part of the monthly pension, up to 40 per cent. The surrendered part is restored after 15 years from the date of commutation.

Family pension

The monthly pension paid to eligible family members after the death of an employee or pensioner, under Rule 50 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021. It is paid at an enhanced rate for a fixed period and then at the normal rate, and the order of eligible members is laid down in the rule.

Gratuity

A lump sum paid on retirement, or to the family on death, worked out on the basis of qualifying service and last pay, subject to a ceiling fixed by the government. Delay in paying it without a valid reason can attract interest.

GPF

The General Provident Fund, a savings account for employees covered by the old pension scheme. Monthly subscriptions earn interest at a rate the government announces, advances and withdrawals are allowed for set purposes, and the balance is paid out on retirement.

CGHS

The Central Government Health Scheme, which gives medical care to serving and retired central employees and their dependants in the cities it covers. Disputes usually concern reimbursement of emergency treatment at a hospital that is not on the empanelled list.

OPS

The old pension scheme, a defined benefit pension of half the last pay or average emoluments for full qualifying service. It covers those appointed before 1 January 2004 and certain later entrants given a one-time option under government orders.

NPS

The National Pension System, which applies to central government employees who joined on or after 1 January 2004. It is a contribution-based scheme in which both the employee and the government pay into an individual account, and the pension depends on the amount built up.

UPS

The Unified Pension Scheme, available from 1 April 2025 as an option for central employees covered by NPS. It promises an assured payout of half the average basic pay of the last twelve months for 25 years of qualifying service, with a proportionate amount for shorter service of at least ten years, and a family pension for the spouse.

CPENGRAMS

The online grievance portal of the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare, used to register complaints about delayed or wrong pension. A complaint there can count as a representation and often gets a quicker response from the paying office.