Split Duty Allowance

Split Duty Allowance is Rs. 450 a month from 1 July 2017 for sweepers and farashes in the Central Secretariat on a split shift with no quarters within 1 km.

Updated 8 October 2026

Split Duty Allowance is a flat monthly allowance that the Government of India pays to Sweepers and Farashes in the Central Secretariat and allied offices whose duty is split by a break of at least 2 hours and who have no government residential accommodation within 1 km of the office. Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 27/1/2017-E.II(B) dated 14 July 2017 fixed the rate at Rs. 450 a month from 1 July 2017, and it has been payable at Rs. 562.50 since dearness allowance reached 50% on 1 January 2024.

The allowance is narrow by design. It does not cover Group C staff generally, and it is not paid for long hours, night work or extra hours. It pays for one inconvenience: a cleaning or office-support employee whose shift is broken by a gap of 2 hours or more, while living too far from the office to go home in between.

The rate has moved from Rs. 100 before the 6th Central Pay Commission to Rs. 200 in 2008, Rs. 300 by 2015 and Rs. 450 in 2017. For the full set of central allowances, see allowances for central government employees.

The governing order and its three conditions

The Split Duty Allowance rests on a single Office Memorandum: Department of Expenditure OM No. 27/1/2017-E.II(B) dated 14 July 2017, signed by Deputy Secretary Nirmala Dev and issued after the Government accepted the 7th CPC’s recommendation at serial 170 of Department of Expenditure Resolution No. 11-1/2016-IC dated 6 July 2017. The President decided, “in supersession of all existing orders issued on the subject from time to time”, that the allowance would be paid on the terms in paragraph 1. Every earlier order, including the 2004 and 2008 orders, therefore stops governing the allowance from 1 July 2017.

Paragraph 1 names the beneficiaries as “the Sweepers and Farashes working in Central Secretariat and allied offices performing split duties”, and then attaches two further conditions in one clause: entitlement arises “where the break in between the shift is at least 2 hours duration and they have not been provided residential accommodation within 1 km. of the office premises”. Read together, the paragraph sets these tests:

Test	Text of paragraph 1, OM of 14 July 2017	What fails it
Post	“Sweepers and Farashes”	Any other post, including clerical and other Group C posts
Office	“working in Central Secretariat and allied offices”	Field formations outside the Secretariat and allied offices
Duty pattern	“performing split duties”	A single continuous shift, however long
Length of the break	“the break in between the shift is at least 2 hours duration”	A break of under 2 hours, such as an ordinary lunch interval
Residence	“they have not been provided residential accommodation within 1 km. of the office premises”	Government quarters allotted within 1 km of the office

The residence condition explains why the allowance exists. A sweeper living in government quarters next to the office can go home during a 2-hour break, so the split shift costs that employee little. One living farther away spends the break at or near the workplace, and the allowance compensates that. An employee who is allotted government accommodation within 1 km by the Directorate of Estates or any other allotting authority stops satisfying paragraph 1 from the date of occupation, even though the duty roster has not changed.

The order uses the phrase “Central Secretariat and allied offices” without defining “allied offices”. The 7th CPC report at paragraph 8.17.133 wrote “Central Secretariat/allied offices”, and the 2008 order used the same words as the 2017 one. Neither the 2008 nor the 2017 order says Group C, and neither says attached or subordinate offices.

Paragraph 4 records that, for employees of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, the orders issue with the concurrence of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India; it does not widen the offices named in paragraph 1.

Sweepers, farashes and Multi-Tasking Staff

The 2017 order names two posts that were Group D posts until the 6th CPC. DoPT OM No. AB-14017/6/2009-Estt(RR) dated 30 April 2010, issuing model recruitment rules for those posts, recorded the 6th Central Pay Commission recommendation that existing Group D posts be placed in Group C in Pay Band-1 with Grade Pay Rs. 1,800. Its Annex II listed posts including “Gestetner Operator, Farash, Chowkidar, Safaiwala, Mali” and gave the suggested new designation as Multi-Tasking Staff, leaving each ministry to adopt it in its own recruitment rules.

Under the 7th CPC pay matrix those posts sit at Level 1, where the entry cell is Rs. 18,000 (see MTS salary and Multi-Tasking Staff). The Department of Personnel and Training reorganisation changed the label and the group; it did not change the Split Duty Allowance order. The Department of Expenditure reissued that order seven years later, on 14 July 2017, and still wrote “Sweepers and Farashes”.

The result is a gap between the order’s wording and the cadre as it now stands. No Department of Expenditure order extends the allowance to the designation Multi-Tasking Staff as such. On the literal terms of paragraph 1, an MTS employee holding an erstwhile sweeper or farash post and working a qualifying split shift fits paragraph 1, and an MTS employee who was recruited to general MTS duties and works a continuous day does not. The allowance has been confined to this cleaning and office-support cadre since at least the 6th CPC report. The 6th CPC report listed it at paragraph 4.2.79(vii) alongside the cycle, washing, cash handling and night duty allowances, as one of a group of small functional payments whose continuance it found “justified on functional considerations” at paragraph 4.2.80.

The rate and the 25% escalator

The rate is Rs. 450 a month, flat, from 1 July 2017 under paragraphs 1 and 3 of the 14 July 2017 order. It is a rupee amount, the same at every pay level, and it does not vary with basic pay, city or hours worked. The 7th CPC arrived at it in paragraph 8.17.134 of its report by multiplying the existing Rs. 300 by a factor of 1.5, against demands, recorded in paragraph 8.17.133, for Rs. 2,000.

Paragraph 2 of the order carries the escalator: “The rate will further rise by 25% each time Dearness Allowance (DA) rises by 50%.” The dearness allowance on 7th CPC pay reached 50% with effect from 1 January 2024 under Department of Expenditure OM No. 1/1/2024-E-II(B) dated 12 March 2024, and the first step took effect from that date.

Period	Monthly rate	Basis
1 July 2017 to 31 December 2023	Rs. 450	DoE OM No. 27/1/2017-E.II(B) dated 14 July 2017, paragraphs 1 and 3
From 1 January 2024	Rs. 562.50	Paragraph 2 of the same OM, on DA reaching 50%
From the date DA reaches 100%	Rs. 675 (base reading)	Paragraph 2, second step

The Rs. 562.50 figure does not appear in any order. The Department of Expenditure issued no fresh order for this allowance in 2024. Department of Posts letter No. PP-08/2/2021-PAP-DOP dated 5 June 2024 records that the Department of Expenditure, in ID note No. 2/5/2017-E.II(B) dated 20 March 2024 addressed to the Controller General of Accounts, “reiterated their position that no separate order with regard to increase of allowances consequent upon increase in DA rates to 50% is required”. The same letter asked that payment be made in the Department of Posts at rates enhanced by 25% from 1 January 2024, and listed the Split Duty Allowance against the 14 July 2017 OM. Rs. 450 plus 25% is Rs. 562.50.

The allowance remains at the first step until dearness allowance on 7th CPC pay reaches 100% of basic pay. Over a full year the current rate comes to Rs. 6,750, or 3.1% of the Rs. 2,16,000 a year that a Level 1 employee draws in basic pay at the entry cell.

How the second step is computed

Paragraph 2 does not say whether each 25% is taken on the original Rs. 450 or on the rate already enhanced. On the first reading the rate at DA 100% is Rs. 450 plus two steps of Rs. 112.50, or Rs. 675. Compounding would give Rs. 562.50 multiplied by 1.25, or Rs. 703.13.

The 6th CPC period supports the first reading, under equivalent wording. The 2008 order set Rs. 200 from 1 September 2008 and provided, at its paragraph 2, that “This allowance will be increased by 25% whenever the Dearness Allowance payable on revised pay scale goes up by 50%.” Two steps on the base give Rs. 200 plus Rs. 50 plus Rs. 50, or Rs. 300; two compounded steps give Rs. 312.50. The 7th CPC report recorded the existing rate in 2015 as Rs. 300. That is a salary-calculator.in reconciliation of the two orders and the report, not a figure any order states, and it points to Rs. 675 as the rate once DA on 7th CPC pay reaches 100%.

Rate history since the 6th CPC

The allowance has been revised at each pay commission and moved in between on the dearness allowance escalator.

Rate	From	Instrument
Rs. 100 a month	Before 1 September 2008	Recorded as the existing rate, 6th CPC report paragraph 4.2.79(vii)
Rs. 200 a month	1 September 2008	DoE OM No. 9(11)/2008-E-II(B) dated 29 August 2008, paragraphs 1 and 3
Rs. 300 a month	In force in 2015	Recorded as the existing rate, 7th CPC report paragraph 8.17.133 (equal, by computation, to the 2008 base plus two 25% steps)
Rs. 450 a month	1 July 2017	DoE OM No. 27/1/2017-E.II(B) dated 14 July 2017
Rs. 562.50 a month	1 January 2024	Paragraph 2 of the 2017 OM, on DA reaching 50%

The 6th CPC recommended at paragraph 4.2.81 the “doubling of the extant rates” of the cycle, washing, cash handling, special, night duty and split duty allowances, with a 25% rise each time dearness allowance went up by 50%. The 2008 order implemented that for this allowance, signed by Joint Secretary Madhulika P. Sukul. It took effect on 1 September 2008, not on 1 January 2006, the date from which revised pay ran under the 6th CPC, and so no arrears of the doubled rate arose for 2006 to 2008.

The 2008 order described itself as issued “in modification” of Ministry of Finance OM No. 9(20)/2000-EII(B) dated 28 December 2004, and stated that “The other conditions of O.M. No. 9(20)/2000-EII(B) dated 28.12.2004 will remain unchanged.” The 2008 order did not restate those other conditions. The same three tests (split duty, a 2-hour break, no quarters within 1 km) appear in the 6th CPC report’s description of the allowance at the Rs. 100 rate. The 2017 supersession clause has now replaced both the 2004 and 2008 orders, so the conditions apply today because paragraph 1 of the 2017 order restates them, not because of any earlier text.

Leave, absence and part months

The 14 July 2017 order prescribes the posts, the three conditions, the rate and the escalator, and nothing else. It contains no provision on leave, on a month in which split duty is performed for only some days, or on suspension. Its operative words are “performing split duties”, which ties entitlement to the duty actually being performed in the split pattern; a sweeper moved to a continuous shift, or allotted quarters within 1 km, falls outside paragraph 1 from that date.

A claim for a month in which no split duty was performed has no footing in paragraph 1. Where a month is only partly qualifying, the order gives the Pay and Accounts Office no rule to apply, and the outcome rests on the department’s own instructions. The 2004, 2008 and 2017 orders all carry file numbers of the Department of Expenditure’s E.II(B) section.

Not overtime and not night duty allowance

The Split Duty Allowance is paid at a flat Rs. 562.50 a month on the conditions in paragraph 1 of the 14 July 2017 order, none of which refers to the number of hours worked or the time of day.

Overtime allowance pays for hours beyond the normal working day, and the 7th CPC’s recommendation to abolish it was given effect by DoPT OM No. A-27016/03/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 19 June 2018 for all except operational staff and industrial employees governed by statutory provisions. Night duty allowance pays for duty between 22:00 and 06:00, at a weightage of 10 minutes for each hour of night duty, under DoPT OM No. A-27016/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 13 July 2020. Each rests on a different condition, and nothing in the 2017 Split Duty Allowance order bars an employee who meets the night duty conditions on some days from drawing both.

The allowance is equally separate from the location allowances. The Special Duty Allowance, the Tough Location Allowance and the risk and hardship allowance pay for where an employee is posted. The Split Duty Allowance turns on no posting condition beyond the Central Secretariat and allied offices. The initials SDA usually denote the Special Duty Allowance of the North East and Ladakh, and the Island Special Duty Allowance is ISDA, so this allowance is best written out in full on a claim.

How the allowance sits with HRA, pension and NPS

The Split Duty Allowance is paid on top of basic pay and dearness allowance and does not enter any computation built on basic pay. House rent allowance is 30%, 20% or 10% of basic pay by city classification, the rates in force since 1 January 2024 under DoE OM No. 2/5/2017-E.II(B) dated 7 July 2017, and the Rs. 562.50 is not added to the base. The residence condition and HRA interact only indirectly: a sweeper who accepts government quarters within 1 km loses the Split Duty Allowance under paragraph 1 of the 2017 order, and a sweeper who stays in private accommodation keeps it.

For retirement benefits, Rule 31(1) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 defines emoluments as basic pay under FR 9(21)(a)(i) plus non-practising allowance, so years on split duty do not raise pension or retirement gratuity. Under the National Pension System, Rule 5(1) of the CCS (Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2021, notified by G.S.R. 227(E) dated 30 March 2021, sets the contribution base at basic pay, non-practising allowance and dearness allowance, so neither the employee’s 10% nor the Government’s 14% is computed on the allowance. The Unified Pension Scheme payout of 50% of average basic pay over the last 12 months leaves it out as well, and leave encashment under Rule 39(2)(a) of the CCS (Leave) Rules, 1972 is computed on pay plus dearness allowance only.

Tax treatment

The Split Duty Allowance is fully taxable salary under both the old regime and the default new regime of the Income-tax Act, 2025. Schedule III Table serial 13 exempts only the allowances prescribed in rule 280(2) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026, notified by Central Board of Direct Taxes Notification No. 22/2026, G.S.R. 198(E), dated 20 March 2026. None of the fifteen serials in that table names the Split Duty Allowance, and the allowance is neither a travel, conveyance, uniform nor area allowance of the kinds the table covers.

In the default regime, Section 202(2)(a)(ii) of the Income-tax Act, 2025 computes income without the serial 12 and 13 exemptions other than those rule 280(3) preserves, which changes nothing for an allowance that had no exemption to begin with. At Rs. 562.50 a month, a full year adds Rs. 6,750 to taxable salary, and it appears in Form 16 with the rest of salary. The return for financial year 2025-26 follows Section 10(14) of the repealed Income-tax Act, 1961 read with Rule 2BB(2) of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, which had no entry for the allowance either. The comparison of the two regimes is in old versus new tax regime, and the wider salary computation in income tax for government employees.

The 8th Central Pay Commission

As at October 2026 the 8th Central Pay Commission has made no recommendation on allowances, so the Split Duty Allowance stands at Rs. 450 a month under DoE OM No. 27/1/2017-E.II(B) dated 14 July 2017, payable at Rs. 562.50 since 1 January 2024. The last two commissions both revised the rate by a multiplier on the existing figure, doubling it in 2008 and multiplying it by 1.5 in 2017, and neither changed the three conditions. No post-8th CPC rate can be stated until that commission reports and the Government issues a fresh order.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the Split Duty Allowance?

The Split Duty Allowance is a flat monthly allowance paid to Sweepers and Farashes working in the Central Secretariat and allied offices whose daily duty is split into two shifts with a break of at least 2 hours, provided they have not been given residential accommodation within 1 km of the office. The governing order is Department of Expenditure OM No. 27/1/2017-E.II(B) dated 14 July 2017, which fixed the rate at Rs. 450 a month from 1 July 2017.

How much is the Split Duty Allowance now?

Rs. 562.50 a month. The 14 July 2017 order fixed Rs. 450 a month and its paragraph 2 raises the rate by 25% each time dearness allowance rises by 50%. Dearness allowance reached 50% on 1 January 2024, so Rs. 450 plus Rs. 112.50 has been payable from that date. No order prints the figure Rs. 562.50; it is the arithmetic of paragraph 2.

Who is eligible for the Split Duty Allowance?

Only Sweepers and Farashes working in the Central Secretariat and allied offices, under paragraph 1 of DoE OM No. 27/1/2017-E.II(B) dated 14 July 2017. The order does not extend the allowance to Group C staff in general, to clerical staff, or to attached and subordinate offices by that name. Each of the three conditions in the order must also be met: split duty, a break of at least 2 hours, and no residential accommodation within 1 km of the office.

What are the conditions for the Split Duty Allowance?

Paragraph 1 of the 14 July 2017 order sets three. The employee must be performing split duties; the break in between the shift must be at least 2 hours; and the employee must not have been provided residential accommodation within 1 km of the office premises. An employee allotted government quarters within 1 km of the office loses the allowance even though the shift is still split.

Do Multi-Tasking Staff get the Split Duty Allowance?

The 14 July 2017 order still names Sweepers and Farashes, not Multi-Tasking Staff. DoPT OM No. AB-14017/6/2009-Estt(RR) dated 30 April 2010 placed the former Group D posts in Group C and suggested the designation Multi-Tasking Staff for posts that included Farash and Safaiwala. No order extends the allowance to the MTS designation as such. On the literal terms of paragraph 1, an MTS employee who holds an erstwhile sweeper or farash post and works a qualifying split shift fits the order, and one recruited to general MTS duties on a continuous day does not.

Did the Split Duty Allowance rise when DA reached 50% in 2024?

Yes, by 25%, to Rs. 562.50 a month from 1 January 2024. The Department of Expenditure issued no separate order for this allowance. Its ID note No. 2/5/2017-E.II(B) dated 20 March 2024, quoted in Department of Posts letter No. PP-08/2/2021-PAP-DOP dated 5 June 2024, said no separate order was required for allowances that rise when DA reaches 50%.

When will the Split Duty Allowance rise next?

When dearness allowance reaches 100% of basic pay. Paragraph 2 of the 14 July 2017 order allows a 25% rise for each 50% rise in dearness allowance, and the first step was taken at 50% on 1 January 2024. If each step is 25% of the base Rs. 450, the next rate is Rs. 675 a month, which is the reading the 6th CPC rate history supports; compounding would give Rs. 703.13.

What was the Split Duty Allowance before the 7th CPC?

Rs. 100 a month before the 6th CPC, as recorded at paragraph 4.2.79(vii) of the 6th CPC report. DoE OM No. 9(11)/2008-E-II(B) dated 29 August 2008 doubled it to Rs. 200 from 1 September 2008. By 2015 it was Rs. 300, the existing rate recorded at paragraph 8.17.133 of the 7th CPC report, and the 7th CPC multiplied that by 1.5 to reach Rs. 450.

Is the Split Duty Allowance the same as overtime allowance?

No. The Split Duty Allowance pays a flat monthly amount for a working day broken into two shifts, whatever the hours worked. Overtime allowance pays for hours worked beyond the normal day, and DoPT OM No. A-27016/03/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 19 June 2018 abolished it for all except operational staff and industrial employees governed by statutory provisions. Night duty allowance is a third thing, paid for duty between 22:00 and 06:00 under DoPT OM No. A-27016/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 13 July 2020.

Does the Split Duty Allowance count for pension, gratuity or NPS?

No. Rule 31(1) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 defines emoluments for pension and gratuity as basic pay plus non-practising allowance, and Rule 5(1) of the CCS (Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2021 sets the NPS contribution base at basic pay, non-practising allowance and dearness allowance. The Split Duty Allowance is outside both definitions.

Is the Split Duty Allowance taxable?

Yes, in full, under both the old regime and the default new regime of the Income-tax Act, 2025. Schedule III Table serial 13 exempts only the allowances prescribed in rule 280(2) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 (CBDT Notification No. 22/2026, G.S.R. 198(E), dated 20 March 2026), and none of its fifteen serials names the Split Duty Allowance. At Rs. 562.50 a month the allowance adds Rs. 6,750 to taxable salary over a full year.

Does the 8th Pay Commission change the Split Duty Allowance?

Not as at October 2026. The 8th Central Pay Commission has made no recommendation on allowances, so the rate remains Rs. 450 a month under DoE OM No. 27/1/2017-E.II(B) dated 14 July 2017, payable at Rs. 562.50 since 1 January 2024. No figure for the allowance after the 8th CPC can be stated until the commission reports and the Government accepts its recommendations.

External references

References

Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 27/1/2017-E.II(B) dated 14 July 2017, Implementation of the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission: grant of Split Duty Allowance to Sweepers and Farashes in Central Secretariat and Allied Offices, paragraphs 1 to 4, with effect from 1 July 2017.
Report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission (November 2015), paragraphs 8.17.133 and 8.17.134 and Table serial 170; and Department of Expenditure Resolution No. 11-1/2016-IC dated 6 July 2017, serial 170 and paragraph 6.
Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 9(11)/2008-E-II(B) dated 29 August 2008, Grant of Split Duty Allowance to Sweepers and Farashes in Central Secretariat and Allied offices, paragraphs 1 to 3, with effect from 1 September 2008, modifying OM No. 9(20)/2000-EII(B) dated 28 December 2004.
Report of the Sixth Central Pay Commission (March 2008), paragraphs 4.2.79(vii), 4.2.80 and 4.2.81.
Department of Posts letter No. PP-08/2/2021-PAP-DOP dated 5 June 2024, citing Department of Expenditure ID note No. 2/5/2017-E.II(B) dated 20 March 2024 (25% increase in allowances from 1 January 2024); and Department of Expenditure OM No. 1/1/2024-E-II(B) dated 12 March 2024 (dearness allowance at 50% from 1 January 2024).
Department of Personnel and Training OM No. AB-14017/6/2009-Estt(RR) dated 30 April 2010, Model Recruitment Rules for Group C posts in Pay Band-1 with Grade Pay Rs. 1,800 (pre-revised Group D posts), paragraph 1 and Annex II.
DoPT OM No. A-27016/03/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 19 June 2018 (overtime allowance) and DoPT OM No. A-27016/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 13 July 2020 (night duty allowance).
Income-tax Act, 2025, Schedule III Table serial 13 and Section 202(2)(a)(ii), read with rule 280(2) and (3) of the Income-tax Rules, 2026 (CBDT Notification No. 22/2026, G.S.R. 198(E), dated 20 March 2026); CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021, Rule 31(1); CCS (Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2021, Rule 5(1).