Employees asked to declare ‘bigamy’ in service book: Govt

All Central government employees will have to give declaration regarding bigamy in their service book, as per the Centre’s new proposal. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has decided to modernise the employees’ service book to make it user-friendly and has issued its new format.

The employees need to give a declaration regarding bigamy – those having two wives or two husbands at the same time – in their service book under the new format, according to the DoPT.

As per the existing norms, no employee shall enter into a marriage with a person having a spouse living, unless the Central government permits him or her to do so.

The service book will have Aadhaar number and three photographs of an employee – one at the time of joining, another after the completion of 18 years of service and third photograph one year ahead of the date of retirement.

An employee’s service book contains his or her bio-data, details of posting, qualifying service, house building advance, besides those regarding Central Government Health Scheme, Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme and Leave Travel Concession.

A senior DoPT official said the mentioning of Aadhaar number in the service book would help in ensuring timely delivery of all pension-related benefit to employees. There are about 50 lakh central government employees working across the country.