Training period reduced to one year; newly appointed Patwaris to receive salary instead of stipend
Chandigarh: The Haryana Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini here today, approved amendments to the Haryana Revenue Patwaris (Group-C) Service Rules, 2011. The amendments are aimed at modernising the recruitment and training framework of Revenue Patwaris, improving their service conditions and making the revenue administration more efficient and responsive. The amended rules will be deemed to have come into force with effect from January 1, 2025.
A key decision approved by the Cabinet is the reduction of the mandatory training period for newly appointed Patwaris from one and a half years to one year. The revised training programme will comprise six months of institutional training at the Patwar School followed by six months of field training. This decision has been taken in line with the announcement made by the Chief Minister during the State-Level Patwaris Summit and is expected to ensure faster availability of trained Patwaris for field duties.
The Cabinet also approved a significant improvement in the service conditions of newly appointed Patwaris. Instead of receiving a stipend during the training period, they will now be paid a starting salary of Rs. 19,900 in Functional Pay Level-2 (FPL-2). On successful completion of training, they will be placed in Functional Pay Level-5A with a pay scale of Rs. 32,100-1,02,000, replacing the earlier Functional Pay Level-4.
To ensure professional competency, the amended rules provide that every provisionally appointed Patwari will be given a maximum of four opportunities to qualify the departmental examination within the prescribed period.
The amended rules also provide that no annual increment will be admissible during the training period, and the first increment will become due only after completion of one year of regular appointment. In another employee-friendly measure, the existing provision of giving candidates only five district preferences has been replaced with the option of choosing all districts for posting.
The Cabinet has further approved amendments relating to disciplinary matters by bringing Revenue Patwaris under the provisions of the Haryana Civil Services (Punishment and Appeal) Rules, 2016, with revised disciplinary and appellate authorities specified in the service rules. In addition, the syllabus for departmental examinations has been updated to include computer applications, computerisation of land records, emerging technologies, dashboards, portals and other digital governance systems, enabling Patwaris to effectively discharge their responsibilities in an increasingly technology-driven revenue administration.
