Suspension, Arrest and Subsistence Allowance: Questions and Answers

Read the order closely and keep the envelope or the receipt showing the date. Note the rule it cites, who signed it, and the headquarters it fixes for you. Then write asking for subsistence allowance from the date of suspension and submit the non-employment certificate every month. Do not leave headquarters without written permission. You can appeal under Rule 23 of the CCS (CCA) Rules within 45 days, but first see whether a charge memo follows. Our page on suspension of central government employees covers the full picture.

Because suspension is not a penalty. Rule 10 of the CCS (CCA) Rules, 1965 allows it where disciplinary proceedings are pending or contemplated, where a criminal case is under investigation, inquiry or trial, or where your activities are said to harm the security of the State. The idea is to keep you away from the post while facts are examined. For the same reason it has to be reviewed at fixed intervals and cannot simply run on for years without a fresh look.

The appointing authority, any authority to which it is subordinate, the disciplinary authority, or another authority empowered by the President (Rule 10(1)). In most offices that means the head of office or the officer who appoints to your post. If an officer below your appointing authority signed the order, the rule requires him to report the circumstances to the appointing authority at once. Ask whether that report was made. Our guide on who can act against Group A, B and C staff explains the levels.

The core of it is right: subsistence allowance starts at an amount equal to half pay leave salary, which is half of basic pay, with DA on that half (FR 53). HRA is different. It is a compensatory allowance and can continue during suspension if you show you are still paying rent or living where you lived, so give a certificate or rent receipt and ask for it to be added. Payments linked only to actually working, such as overtime, stop. If the first payment has not come within the month, write to the DDO with a copy of the suspension order.

Very likely, because the custody ran beyond 48 hours. Rule 10(2)(a) treats an employee detained in custody, police or judicial, for more than 48 hours as suspended from the date of detention. Count from the time of arrest shown in the arrest memo, not from when you were produced in court. If you were out within 48 hours, there is no deemed suspension, though the department can still suspend you under Rule 10(1) because a criminal case is pending. See our page on arrest and 48 hours in custody.

It can. Government instructions expect an employee who is arrested, or someone on his behalf, to inform the office promptly, and hiding an arrest has itself been made a charge. If nobody wrote, send a letter now giving the dates of arrest, custody and release, attach the bail order, and ask for instructions. A late but honest letter is far better than the office finding out from the police station or a newspaper.

No. A deemed suspension continues until the competent authority modifies or revokes it (Rule 10(5)). After release, report to the office with the bail order and ask in writing for revocation and permission to join. For deemed suspension, the 90-day review period counts from the date of release or the date the appointing authority learns of the release, whichever is later. So tell the office about your release in writing on the same day; that letter starts the clock.

Yes, at the start. An initial suspension order need not have an end date. What keeps it in check is the review. Under Rule 10(6) and 10(7), the order must be reviewed before 90 days are over; if it is not extended after review, it stops being valid. Each extension can be for 180 days at most. So an open-ended order becomes a problem only when a review date passes without a proper decision. Our guide on suspension extended without a review order explains what to check.

Long suspension during a trial does happen, but each extension needs a fresh, reasoned review. In Ajay Kumar Choudhary v. Union of India (2015), the Supreme Court said suspension should not continue beyond three months if the charge memo or chargesheet has not been served within that time, and that any extension after service needs reasons. Courts have accepted longer suspension in serious corruption trials, but they check whether the reviews considered the slow pace of the trial and the option of a non-sensitive posting.

Whether keeping you out of office is still needed, not your guilt. It considers how serious the charge is, the stage the inquiry or trial has reached, whether you could influence witnesses or records, and whether a transfer would do the same job. You can send a short written representation before the review date: that the investigation is complete, that the witnesses are now in another district, that the records are already seized. Facts like these carry more weight than pleas of innocence.

Yes, that is the kind of case where an increase fits. After three months, FR 53(1)(ii)(a) lets the authority raise the allowance by up to 50 per cent of the amount paid in the first three months, which takes it to 75 per cent of pay plus DA on it, where the delay is not your fault. Write to the authority with copies of the order sheets showing who asked for the adjournments. If the delay is yours, it can instead be cut by up to 50 per cent. Our guide on subsistence allowance from 50 to 75 per cent has more.

It should not proceed if the non-payment keeps you from taking part. In Ghanshyam Das Shrivastava v. State of M.P. (1973), the Supreme Court set aside an inquiry held while the employee could not attend because his subsistence allowance had not been paid. Write to both the disciplinary authority and the inquiry officer, saying the allowance is unpaid and explaining how that stops you travelling or preparing. Keep proof of the letters. Raise it during the inquiry itself; raising it only in the appeal is weaker.

It is a monthly statement that you did not take up any other employment, business, profession or vocation during the period, and FR 53(2) makes it a condition for paying subsistence allowance. If you missed some months, give separate certificates for each of those months now; the withheld amount should then be released. Never sign one that is untrue, for instance if you ran a shop or took paid tuitions, because a false certificate becomes a fresh charge. See our guide on the non-employment certificate.

No. FR 55 bars granting leave to an employee under suspension, since you are not on duty to begin with. If you fall ill on an inquiry date, send a medical certificate to the inquiry officer and ask for an adjournment; you remain on suspension, not on leave. If you need to be away from headquarters for a family reason, ask the authority for permission to leave the station rather than applying for leave.

Yes, you can ask in writing. The order usually fixes your last place of posting as headquarters, which can be hard if your family has moved or you were living in a government quarter you have had to give up. The authority may agree if your presence is not needed for the inquiry or investigation. Get the permission in writing before you shift. Leaving headquarters without it is one of the commonest additional charges against suspended employees.

Yes, ask, though the authority should not refuse. Write a few days ahead giving the court, case number and date, and attach the summons or the last order sheet. Permission for court dates is routine; the trouble starts when people simply go and are later shown as absent from headquarters. Keep the order sheet of each date showing your presence, and send a short note when you are back. If permission is refused, ask for the refusal in writing and show it to the court; a summons cannot simply be ignored.

Most likely it went into a sealed cover. Under the procedure upheld in Union of India v. K.V. Jankiraman (1991), the DPC assesses an employee under suspension, but its finding is kept sealed. If you are fully exonerated, the cover is opened and, if you were found fit, you are promoted from the date your junior was, usually with arrears. If a penalty is imposed, the cover is not acted on for that DPC. See our page on sealed cover promotion.

Yes. Suspension does not extend service, so you retire on superannuation in the normal way. The suspension ends with retirement, and any pending proceeding continues under Rule 8 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 as if you were still in service. You get provisional pension meanwhile, and gratuity is held back until the case ends. Part of the leave encashment may also be withheld. Our page on provisional pension while a case is pending explains the money side.

It is likely to be held up. Where an employee is under suspension, the appointing authority can withhold permission for voluntary retirement, and a pending notice is usually not allowed to take effect until the case ends. Write and ask plainly whether your notice has been refused or kept pending, because that decides your retirement date and your pension. A resignation from someone facing proceedings is also normally kept pending till the case is decided, and resigning usually means giving up pension, so take advice before choosing that route.

Not really. Subsistence allowance is salary for income tax purposes, so tax at source is deducted as on any salary, though on a smaller amount. Check that the DDO has recalculated your projected annual income using the lower figure; otherwise too much tax gets cut each month. If you are later reinstated with full pay for the period, that balance comes as arrears of an earlier year, and you can claim the relief allowed for salary arrears. Keep the month-wise statements for both purposes.

Compulsory deductions such as income tax, licence fee for a government quarter and repayment of government loans and advances, at rates the authority fixes. GPF subscription is not deducted during suspension. Voluntary items like insurance premiums or cooperative society dues are cut only with your written consent. The office should not recover from the allowance any loss to government for which you are being charged, because that would be punishing you before the inquiry ends.

Normally yes. Where the competent authority holds that the suspension was wholly unjustified, which usually follows full exoneration, FR 54-B gives full pay and allowances for the whole period, less the subsistence allowance already paid, and the period counts as duty for all purposes. The authority must pass a specific order under FR 54-B. If none comes within a couple of months of the exoneration, write asking for it, citing the date of the final order.

Usually in your favour. Government instructions under FR 54-B say that where proceedings for a major penalty end with only a minor penalty, the suspension can generally be treated as wholly unjustified, so full pay follows and the period counts as duty. The authority can depart from this only for recorded reasons, for example if you caused the delay. Ask for an FR 54-B order citing the instruction, and check its current text first. Advocate B.K. Singh often finds this step simply forgotten after a minor penalty.

It means no pay beyond the subsistence allowance already received, and the period will not count for increments, or for pension unless the order says otherwise. You can ask the authority to convert the period into leave of any kind due to you, which can protect your increments and qualifying service. Before treating the period as non-duty, the authority must give you notice and consider your reply. If no notice came, that is a ground to challenge the order.

Not ordinarily. A suspension under Rule 10(1) takes effect from the date of the order, and a backdated order is open to challenge. The exceptions are built into the rule itself. Deemed suspension runs from the date of custody or conviction under Rule 10(2). And where a penalty of dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement is set aside by a court and a further inquiry is ordered, Rule 10(4) treats you as suspended from the date of the original penalty.

Possibly suspended. Rule 10(3) says that where a penalty of dismissal, removal or compulsory retirement imposed on an employee who was under suspension is set aside in appeal or review and the case is remitted for further inquiry, the suspension is deemed to continue from the date of the original penalty. If you were not under suspension when dismissed, this sub-rule does not apply, and you should report for duty. Write to the office asking which position it takes.

Yes. Rule 23(i) of the CCS (CCA) Rules allows an appeal against an order of suspension, including deemed suspension, to the appellate authority, ordinarily within 45 days. Grounds can include an authority without power, a missed review, no link between the charge and the post, or a transfer being enough. Many employees skip this and go straight to CAT, where they are then asked why the departmental remedy was not used under Section 20. Read our page on exhausting departmental remedies.

The borrowing organisation can suspend you, but it must inform the lending authority promptly of the circumstances (Rule 20 of the CCS (CCA) Rules). It can also start disciplinary proceedings. If it decides a major penalty is called for, it usually places your services back with the parent department, which then decides. If you are repatriated while suspended, the parent department takes over the suspension and its reviews, so ask both offices who is now responsible.

Full pay and allowances for the suspension period. Under FR 54-B, where a suspended employee dies before the disciplinary or court proceedings end, the period from suspension to death is treated as duty for all purposes, and the family is paid full pay and allowances for it, less the subsistence allowance already paid. The pending departmental proceedings come to an end with the death. The family should claim family pension, gratuity and other dues in the normal way alongside this.

Not for that reason alone. Initial suspension orders are usually brief, and courts accept that they need not discuss evidence. What the order must show is the power and the ground under Rule 10(1). Reasons matter much more at the extension stage: after Ajay Kumar Choudhary, an extension beyond three months needs a reasoned order. Ask for copies of each review committee recommendation and extension. Advocate B.K. Singh reads the extension orders before the first order, because the defects usually sit there.

Yes. You are still a government servant, so the CCS (Conduct) Rules, 1964 continue to bind you. Public criticism of the government, contacting witnesses about your case, or taking up private work can each lead to a separate charge. Talk about the case only with your lawyer, your defence assistant and your family. Many suspended employees damage their own case by posting about it on social media or approaching colleagues who will be witnesses.

Not while the suspension lasts. Increments do not accrue during suspension unless the period is later treated as duty. When it ends, the FR 54-B order decides the question. If the period is treated as duty, increments fall due on their normal dates and the arrears are paid. If it is treated as non-duty, your increment date moves forward. Ask the authority to say expressly in its order how increments will be handled, so the pay bill section does not guess.

If the sentence was more than 48 hours of imprisonment and you were not dismissed at once, you are deemed suspended from the date of conviction (Rule 10(2)(b)). The department can also dismiss you on the basis of the conviction under Rule 19(i), without a full inquiry, after considering the circumstances. Suspension of sentence does not wipe out the conviction. If the appeal court acquits you, apply at once for reinstatement and for treatment of the period. See our page on criminal trial and departmental proceedings.

Yes, under Rule 10(1)(b), because a criminal case is under investigation, inquiry or trial. There is no deemed suspension without custody, so the authority has to apply its mind and pass a specific order. Whether suspension is justified depends on the charge. It is common in corruption, moral turpitude and serious violence cases, and much less so in, say, a family dispute or a road accident case unconnected with your work.

Keep it to a page or two and focus on what has changed. Mention the date and ground of suspension, then what has happened since: investigation complete, chargesheet filed in court, witnesses already examined, inquiry delayed by others. Offer to work at a non-sensitive post or another station. Attach the bail order or court record. Do not argue your innocence at length; the authority is deciding whether suspension is still needed, not guilt. If you want the request checked or drafted, contact Advocate B.K. Singh.