DEFINITION OF TERMS USED IN KERALA SERVICE RULES [Rule 12, Part-I]

Definitions of Important terms used in Kerala Service Rules are given below. Only important and frequently used terms are included in alphabetic order.

1. Cadre.- means the strength of a service or part of a service sanctioned as a separate unit.[12(4)]
2. Compensatory Allowance.- means an allowance granted to meet personal expenditure necessitated by the special circumstances in which duty is performed. Eg. HQA, CCA, HTA etc.. It includes Travelling Allowance. [12(5)] See Rule 44 under Chpter 4 and Appendix IV for detailed rules and eligibility of each allowances in different occasions.
3. Competent Authority.- Competent authority in respect of any officer, in so far as any power delegated under these rules is concerned, means the authority to which such power has been delegated and where no such specific delegation has been made, the competent authority is, unless otherwise stated, the authority in whom the power to appoint such officer has been or is vested from time to time by the State Government. [12(5A)]
4. Day.- means a calendar day, beginning and ending at midnight; but an absence from headquarters which does not exceed 24 hours shall be reckoned for all purposes as one day, at whatever hours the absence begins or ends. [12(6)]
5. Duty .- Duty includes- [12(7)]
   1. Service as a probationer or apprentice, provided that such service is followed by confirmation.
   2. Joining time
   3. A course of instruction or training which an officer undergoes specially ordered by Government to be treated as duty. An officer required or permitted to attend an obligatory departmental examination may be treated as on duty during the day or days of the examination and during the reasonable time required for the journey, if any, to and from the place of examination. [Note:2]
   4. When a Government Servant on return from leave, training, foreign service or on termination of previous appointment, has compulsorily to wait for orders of posting, the interval between the date of report and the date on which he takes charge of his duties shall be treated as ‘duty’ provided that such period does not exeed the amount of  joining time admissible under Rule 125(a). [Note:4]
   5. When a Government Servant is deputed by Government to participate in a Civil service Tournament as a member of the team or to participate in the coaching camps organised in connection thereto, the period spent for participation in such tournaments/coaching camps, including the time taken for to and fro journeys will be treated as duty. [Note:6]
6. Foreign Service.- means service in which an officer receives his pay with sanction of Government from any source other than the Consolidated Fund of India or of a State [12(9)]. See Rule 139 under Chapter XI for detailed rules of Foreign Service.
7. Holiday.- means [12(14)]
   • a holiday prescribed or notified by or under section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881; and
   • in relation to any particular office, a day on which such office is ordered by notification of Government in the Gazette to be closed for the transaction of Government business without reserve or qualification.
8. Honorarium.- means a recurring or non-recurring payment granted to an officer from the General Revenues of the State as remuneration for special work of an occasional or intermittent character. [12(15)] Eg. Overtime Allowances. See Rule 49 for detailed rules regarding Honorarium.
9. Joining Time.- means the time allowed to an officer to join a new post or travel to or from a station to which he is posted. [12(16)] See Rule 125 under Chapter X for detailed rules of Joining Time
10. Last Grade Service.- means service in any post included in the Kerala Last Grade Service constituted by the Special Rules for the Kerala Last Grade Service, published under G.O.(P) 82/Public (Rules) Department, dated the 8th March 1966, in Part I of the Kerala Gazette No.14, dated the 5thApril 1966, as amended from time to time, and includes †all other posts carrying the lowest scale of pay in the schedule of pay scales in force from time to time and service in any post declared by the Government to be a post in the Last Grade Service.[12(16A)]
11. Leave Salary.- means the monthly amount paid by Government to an officer on leave. [12(17)] See Rule 92 to 95 for admissible leave salary during different kinds of leave.
12. Lien.- means the title of an officer to hold substantively, either immediately or on termination of a period or periods of absence, a permanent post to which he has been appointed substantively. [12(18)]
13. Ministerial Officer.- means an officer of a subordinate service whose duties are entirely clerical, and any other class of officer specially defined as such by general or special orders of Government. [12(20)]
14. Month.- means a calendar month. In calculating a period expressed in terms of months and days, complete calendar months, irrespective of the number of days in each, should first be calculated and the odd number of days calculated subsequently. [12(21)]
15. Pay.- means the amount drawn monthly by an officer as- [12(23)] (See Chapter 4 for detailed rule)
    •  the pay, other than special pay or pay granted in view of his personal qualifications, which has been sanctioned for a post held by him substantively or in an officiating capacity or to which he is entitled by reason of his position in a cadre, and
    • personal pay and special pay, and
    • any other emoluments which may be specially classed as pay by the Government.
16. Personal Pay.- means additional pay granted to an officer to save him from loss of substantive pay in respect of a permanent post due to a revision of pay or to any reduction of such substantive pay otherwise than as a disciplinary measure ; or in exceptional circumstances, on other personal considerations. [12(26)] See Rule 41 on Personal Pay.
17. Probationer.-means an officer employed on probation in or against a substantive vacancy in the cadre of a department. [12(28)] (see KS&SSR for deatils )
18.  Special Pay.- means an addition of the nature of pay to the emoluments of a post or of an officer granted in consideration of the following  [12(31)] See Appendix IV for rules granting Special Pay.
    • where a post would call for a higher scale of pay in view of the additional and/or higher responsibilities attached to it, or
    • where the nature of work is specially arduous
    • where an officer has to attend to work in addition to normal duties attached to his post.
19. Subsistence Allowance.-means a monthly grant made to an officer who is not in receipt of pay or leave salary. [12(32)] See Rules 55 to 57 for details
20. Substantive Pay.- means the pay other than special pay, personal pay or emoluments classed as pay by Government under Rule 12 (23) (ii) and (iii) above to which an officer is entitled on account of a post to which he has been appointed substantively or by reason of his substantive position in a cadre. [12(33)]
21. Time-scale of Pay.- means pay which, subject to any conditions prescribed in these rules, rises by periodical increments from a minimum to a maximum. It includes the class of pay hitherto known as progressive: [12(35)]
22. Transfer.- means the movement of an officer from one headquarter station in which he is employed to another such station, either to take up the duties of a new post, or in consequence of a change of his headquarters. [12(36)]
23. Travelling Allowance.- means an allowance granted to an officer to cover the expenses which he incurs in travelling in the interest of the public service. It includes allowances granted for the maintenance of conveyances. [12(37)]  See KSR Part-II for details on Travelling Allowance.