NOC for M.Phil and Ph.D. Not Required by Punjab Government Employees

The notifications issued by Government of the Punjab issued from time to time have been thoroughly analyzed and it has been found that the Punjab government servants do not require any permission or No Objection Certificate to take admission either in evening or in weekend degree program. However, the notification dated 21st June 1960 only required that the government servant “may only inform the Head of their Department that they are attending such classes/courses” while the next notification dated 27th April 1962 requires the “government servants joining evening classes should inform the Head of the Department in writing the name of the institution he had joined”.

What was new in the 2nd Notification: The word “may” in the earlier notification (1960) gives the option to the employee to inform the head of the department while in the next notification (1962); the world “should” has been used which means that the government recommends the employee to inform the head of the department about his admission an taking classes (Meaning implied from explanation of difference between MAY and SHOULD given by Dr. Bruce V. Corsino, Federal Aviation Administration, Plain Language Program Manager, USA).

The Notification No.S(R) 1357/1-26-58-SO-XIII dated the 21st June 1960, allows the government servants to attend the evening classes or weekend degree programmes, without obtaining an NOC from head of their department. Rather, the government servant may inform the head of the department that they are attending the classes. However, the official work should not suffer while taking classes. The same is reproduced as under:

SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT SERVANTS ATTENDANCE AT EVENING CLASSES
In super-session of previous instructions on the subject the Punjab Government has decided as under:
(a) Government servants should not under any circumstances be allowed to attend any classes or courses during office hours.

 (b) Outside office hours, they may attend classes/courses. No formal permission is necessary in such cases. They may only inform the Head of their Department that they are attending such classes/courses. If, however, it is found that by attending such classes/courses the work of the Government servant is suffering the Head of Department, may by an order, stop the Government servant from attending such classes/courses.

(c) Administrative Secretaries/Heads of Attached Departments are requested to please report after a year the number of Government servants under their control who undertook such studies and how many of them left service after completing the course, and also whether the studies interfered with their efficiency. They may also suggest whether any modifications are necessary in this policy.