Dr Jitendra Singh launches e-Service Book of DoPT employees

Dr Jitendra Singh launches e-Service Book of DoPT employees

Online Vigilance System of Board and below Board Level Executives of CPSEs launched

The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh launched Online Vigilance System of Board and below Board Level Executives of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) here today. He also launched e-Service Book of the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) employees on the occasion. The Cabinet Secretary Shri P K Sinha, the Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Dr P K Mishra, Central Vigilance Commissioner Shri K. V. Chowdary, Vigilance Commissioners Shri Rajiv and Dr T. M. Bhasin, CBI Director Shri Alok Kumar Verma, Secretary CVC, Smt Nilam Sawhney, Chairman, Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), Shri Sanjay Kothari, Secretary, DoPT Shri B. P. Sharma, Secretary to the Prime Minister, Shri Bhaskar Khulbe and senior officers of DoPT were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh said the launch of the online vigilance system is indeed a breakthrough. He said this will bring transparency and accountability in the system. As we move ahead with this initiative, many practical issues will keep arising and they will be tackled in due course, he added. Referring to the launch of e-Service Book, Dr Jitendra Singh said that in the long run it is going to touch each and every Central Government employee in the country. He said that most of the issues arise out of Service Book related matters and delay in disbursement of pensions, which will be resolved by this initiative. Dr Jitendra Singh said that these initiatives are in tune with the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s mantra of ‘Maximum Governance and Minimum Government’.

The Central Vigilance Commissioner Shri K. V. Chowdary said that the online vigilance system will be updated regularly and it is a major step in the process of promotions and appointments and will bring transparency in the process. It will minimize the scope of any confusion, he said. The CVC said that this will also curtail the delay in the processes, the cases which used to take months will now be resolved in one or two days. He said that improvements will be brought in as and when needed.

The Online Vigilance System is a technology based mechanism introduced to obtain vigilance status of 120-130 Board Level executive appointments made annually of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) timely, accurately and objectively so that process of their appointment is expedited. The system would enable efficient vigilance clearance of officers on real time basis who apply for these senior level posts. This system would facilitate CVC to decide on Vigilance Clearance early based on updated information. System will cover all CPSEs, Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions. The Online system will have modules for DoPT, CVC, CVO, CBI, PESB and ACC. To make the system secure, the Web portal has the feature of authentication of users from Ministries/Departments by DoPT and the users of CPSEs by the concerned Ministry/Department. The users can log in based on e-sign (OTP to be sent to the email/mobile every time). The system also maintains transaction log. The implementation of online vigilance status of board level executives of CPSEs would require feeding/updating of data pertaining to the details of employee’s vigilance profile, i.e. pending disciplinary proceedings, status of complaints received, details of prosecution sanction, Agreed List, ODI etc. at regular intervals. The data will be updated every month by the CVOs. After a series of sensitisation meetings, at present, 143 CPSEs and 26 Ministries have entered data related to 402 board level officers and 1799 below board level officers of CPSEs. This system would be operational on receipt of the ‘Security Certificate’.

The e-Service Book, launched by Dr Jitendra Singh, is a document to record all the events of a Government servant in his/her entire service period and career, recording each and every administrative action concerning the Government servant right from the stage of his recruitment till his retirement to reflect the history of service of a Government employee. The format of e-service book was finalised on December 5, 2016 and it was decided to roll it out in DoPT initially so that necessary changes if required can be made along with credentials of software. Accordingly data of 661 employees of DoPT got verified and details as such Aadhaar, mobile no, DoB, leave balance, LTC details, salary details, designations, photographs etc were updated. Physical service book of employees also got scanned and uploaded as legacy data. It is decided to integrate Personnel Information Management System (PIMS) with Public Financial Management System (PFMS) so that all financial data will flow from PFMS to PIMS (e-service book), in general terms in case of change in salary particulars due to promotion, increment, DA etc. Change made in one system will automatically reflect in other system which will reduce chances of errors etc. It has also been decided to develop all other applications impacting service book such as Promotions, Advances, Family declarations of employees etc. 27 such applications have been identified for development; out of this 12 applications will be developed by 31st May 2017 and remaining by 31st December 2017.

DoPT has successfully implemented e-service book of its 661 employees and is now taking concrete steps to roll out of e-service book in respect of all Central Govt. employees in a time bound manner with the support of NIC and involvement of Cadre Controlling Authorities. In this regard a workshop of all Cadre Controlling Authorities (CCAs) is being organised in April 2017 to discuss roll out plan in all Ministries and Departments.

E-service book for all the employees working in attached offices, subordinate offices and autonomous bodies for which DoPT is administrative department would be undertaken shortly and it will be completed for approximately 10,000 employees by 30th June 2017. It is planned to roll out e-service book of all civilian employees (approximately 41 lakh) of Govt. of India by 31st March 2018 in consultation with all CCAs.

The launch of e-Service book is expected to bring many positive outcomes. The shift to electronic service book would free up significant manpower to concentrate on core works of the Department. It will lead to stoppage of physical movement of Service Book and other documents between the Departments that will save time of the organisation and problem of missing Service Book will be eliminated. This will also enable timely verification of Service Book that will facilitate timely processing and finalization of pensions. Availability of centralized data will enable government for policy research and planning as educational qualifications and other competencies and deficiencies may be easily obtained. It will enable Government to take transfer and posting decisions more pragmatically based on reliable first hand data.