Rail scraps minimum qualification for jobs to kin of employees

New Delhi: In a move which would help wives and widows of employees, who passed away while on duty, the Railways has done away with the provision of minimum educational qualification for giving jobs on compassionate grounds.

Currently, the minimum educational qualification required to be eligible for such employment is Class 10 for Level-1 or Group ‘D’ jobs.

The Railway Board has said in a recent order that there were a lot of queries from zonal railways about cases in which the wife or the widow of the employee didn’t have the minimum required qualification for Level-1 job on compassionate grounds.

Following this, the Board decided the rule for mandatory minimum educational qualification be scrapped.

The internal communique says: “The matter was under consideration of this ministry for quite some time. It has now been decided that in case of appointment of a wife not having requisite minimum educational qualification she will be placed in the Level - I of the pay matrix...Without insisting on fulfillment of educational qualification norms”.

These appointments can be made provided the appointing authority is satisfied that the duties of the post against which the appointment is being made can be performed with help of some on-job training.