Service Books
Maintenance of Service Books
4.1
The rules governing the maintenance of service books in respect of
Government servants are contained in the FRs&SRs and the GFRs. Some
important provisions of rules which should be kept in view while maintaining
service books are mentioned in the ensuing paragraphs.
[SR
197].
4.2
A Service Book should be maintained by the Head of Office for
every Government Servant (Gazetted and Non-Gazetted) holding a substantive post
on a permanent establishment or officiating in a post or holding a temporary
post likely to last for more than one year.
Custody
of Service Books
[SR
198].
4.3
A service book shall be maintained for a Government servant from
the date of his first appointment to Government service. It must be kept in the
custody of the Head of the Office in which he is serving and transferred with
him from office to office.
Attestation
of Entries in Service Books
[Government
of India
decision (1) below SR 199 in the Swamy's Compilation of FRs & S Rs, Part 1
(7th Edition)].
4.4
The Head of Office can delegate, to a subordinate gazetted officer
under him, powers to attest entries in the service books of all gazetted
officers (except his own) for the maintenance of which he is responsible. The
Head of Office should however scrutinize at least ten per cent of these
documents every year and initial the same in token of having done so.
Entries
of Foreign Service in Service Books
[SR
203].
4.5
If a Government servant is transferred to foreign service, the
Head of his Office or Department must send his service book to the Pay &
Accounts Officer who will return it after noting in it, under his signature,
the order sanctioning the transfer, the effect of the transfer in regard to
leave admissible during foreign service etc. On the Government servant’s
re-transfer to Government service his service book must again be sent to the
Pay & Accounts Officer who will then note in it the fact of recovery of
leave salary and pension contributions. No entry relating to the period spent
on foreign service should be attested by any authority other than the PAO. This
fact is ,however to be recorded by DDO in case of the merged DDO Scheme.
Leave
Account
[Rule
15 of CCS (Leave) Rules].
4.6
A leave account shall be maintained for each Government servant
(Gazetted or Non-Gazetted) by the Head of Office. Entries regarding leave in
the leave account and the service book should be made distinctly and attested.
Nature
of Entries in Service Books
[SR
199].
4.7
Every step in a Government servant’s offical life should be
recorded in his service book and each entry must be attested by the Head of
Office or if he himself is the Head of Office, by his immediate superior. The
Head of Office must see that all entries are duly made and attested and that
the service book contain no erasure or over-writing, all corrections being
neatly made and properly attested.
[Government
of India
Orders(1) below SR 199 of the "Swamy's Compilation of FRs & SRs (Part
1) (7th Edition)''].
4.8
The entries regarding increments, and fixation of pay should be
based on the Increment Certificates, and Pay fixation statements. The
declaration of the Government servant electing the new scale of Pay and the
statement showing the fixation of his initial pay in the relevant scale in
support of the entry in the service book should be pasted in the service book.
[Rule 4
of the LTC Rules].
4.9
The declaration of Home-Town for purpose of Leave Travel
Concession duly accepted by the competent authority should be pasted in the service
book.
(SR
200].
4.10
Every period of suspension from employment and every other
interruption in service must be noted promptly with full details of its
duration and be properly attested.
Periodical
Inspection of Service Books by the Govt. Servant Concerned
[SR
202].
4.11
The Head of Office should show the service book to each Government
servant under his administrative control every year, and obtain his signature
therein in token of his having inspected the service book. A certificate to the
effect that he has done so in repect of the preceding financial year should be
submitted by him to his next superior by the end of every September.
Entries
regarding Date of Birth
4.12
The provisions of Rules 79 and 80 of GFRs should be observed with
regard to the entry of the date of birth in the service book.
[Note 5
below FR 56].
4.13
No alteration in the date of birth of a Government servant should
be made except with the sanction of the Ministry/Department concerned of the
Central Government, under which the Government servant is serving, provided :
(a)
A request in this regard is made within five years of his entry into Government
service
(b)
it is clearly established that a genuine bonafide mistake has occured; and
(c)
the date of birth so altered would not make him ineligible to appear in any
School or University or UPSC examination in which he had appeared, or for entry
into Government service on the date on which he first appeared at such
examination or on the date on which he entered Government service.
Entries
regarding verfication of service
(GFR
81).
4.14
(i) In the beginning of each year all the service books should be
taken up for verification of service by the Head of Office in terms of Rule 81
of GFRs and a certificate in the following manner recorded therein over his
signature :- "Service verified upto (date) from ……………………the record from
which the verification is made”.
[Government
of India
Decision No.(1) below GFR 81].
(ii)
If any portion of service cannot be verified from office records, the Head of
Office should state distinctly that for the excepted periods (naming them) a
statement in writing by the Government servant as well as a record of the
evidence of his contemporaries ,is attached to the service book.
[Government
of India
decision(3) below GFR81].
4.15
In case of transfer of Government servant, the Head of Office
under whom he was originally employed should record the verification of service
in respect of the whole period during which the Government servant was employed
under him before forwarding the service book to the office where his services
are transferred.
Providing
certified copy of Service Book
[Government
of India
decision No.(5) below GFR 81].
4.16
A certified copy of service book may be supplied on payment of a
copying fee Rs. 5/- to a Government servant who asks for it on quitting
Government service, by retirement, discharge or resignation.
Note
regarding receipts of nominations for pension/ DCRG & other important to
entries
[Government
of India
Decision No. 1 below Rule 53 of CCS (Pension) Rules,1972].
4.17
A clear note should be made in the service book regarding the
receipt of nomination for DCR Gratuity and Family Pension and related notices
from the Government servant and where they have been lodged for safe custody.
[Government
of India
Decision(7) below GFR 81].
4.18
The orders of the competent authority regarding the counting or
otherwise of periods of extraordinary leave,or periods preceding breaks in
service or qualifying service for pension should be obtained invariably at the
very time the occasion arises and not later. Such orders should be noted in the
service book.
[Government
of India
Order No. (5) below SR 199 in Swamy's Compilation of FRs,Part 1 (7th Edition)].
4.19
General Provident Fund Account No. allotted to a Government
servant (including any subsequent changes in the Account No.) should be entered
on the right hand top of page 1 of his service book by means of a rubber stamp.
[Para
4.2 of M/F OM No.F.15(3)/78 WIP dated 30-10-80,read with OM
No..F.15(3)/78 WIP,dated 20-2-82].
4.20
The Head of Office should ensure that necessary note of the
membership of CGEGI Scheme has been made in respect of Government Servants who
were in service on 1st November,1980 and who did not exercise the option to opt
out of the scheme and those who joined the Government Service later.
[Para 9 of the M/F O.M. No. F. 15(3)/78 WIP, dated
31-12-80].
4.21
The Head of Office should obtain from every Government servant who
is a member of C.G.E.G.I. Scheme a nomination in Form 7/Form 8 as the case may
be, countersign it and paste it in the Service Book. Whenever the nomination is
revised by the Government servant, the fresh nomination should be similarly
counter-signed and pasted.
4.22
The photograph of the Government servant should be pasted on the
right side of page 1 of the service book.
4.23
Proper entries regarding medical examination of the Government
servant at the time of appointment and attestation forms verifying antecedents
and character etc. should be made at the appropriate place of the service book.