The Central government, on Tuesday, reintroduced the Diwali bonus for its workforce in categories including Group C, Group D, and specific segments of Group B.
According to an official memorandum from the Department of Expenditure under the Finance Ministry, employees in Group C, Group D, and contractual positions will be eligible for a bonus this year, contingent upon meeting certain service-related criteria.
The memorandum stipulates that the maximum bonus payment under these directives will be equivalent to a monthly salary of Rs 7,000. The bonus will extend to qualified personnel within the central paramilitary and armed forces.
As per the directive, employees who were actively employed as of March 31, 2021, and have served at least six consecutive months during the fiscal year 2020-21 will qualify for this provisional bonus.
Conditions laid down by the government —
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Only those employees who were in service as of 31.3.2023 and have rendered at least six months of continuous service during the year 2022-23 will be eligible for payment under these orders. Pro-rata payment will be admissible to the eligible employees for a period of continuous service during the year from six months to a full year, the eligibility period being taken in terms of the number of months of service (rounded off to the nearest number of months).
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The quantum of non-PLB will be worked out on the basis of average emoluments/calculation ceiling whichever is lower. To calculate non-PLB for one day, the average emoluments in a year will be divided by 30.4 (average number of days in a month). This will, thereafter, be multiplied by the number of days of bonus granted. To illustrate, taking the calculation ceiling of monthly emoluments of Rs 7000 (where actual average emoluments exceed Rs 7000), non-PLB for thirty days would work out to Rs 7000x30/30.4- ₹6907.89 (rounded off to Rs 6908).
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The casual labour who have worked in offices following a 6 days week for at least 240 days for each year for 3 years or more (206 days each year for 3 years or more in the case of offices observing 5 day week), will be eligible for this non-PLB (ad-hoc bonus) payment. The amount payable will be (Rs1200x30/30.4 i.e. Rs 1184.21/- (rounded off to Rs.1184/-). In cases where the actual emoluments fall below Rs.1200/- p.m., the amount will be calculated on actual monthly emoluments.
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All payments under these orders will be rounded off to the nearest rupee.
The notification stated that the expenditure on this account will be debitable to the respective object head in terms of the Department of Expenditure's notification dated December 16, 2022.
As per the government, the expenditure to be incurred on account of this ad-hoc bonus is to be met from within the sanctioned budget provision of concerned ministries/departments for the current year.