ICMR Emeritus Scientist

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Objective of the Program

To support active scientists/faculty after superannuation from their services to pursue their research activities of national relevance, to lead it to a logical outcome. Also leverage their expertise for ICMR's endeavors and national health research priorities.

Application Process

ICMR will be periodically inviting applications for the ICMR-ES against any vacancies on the ICMR website. Interested and eligible applicants may apply in the prescribed proforma (click here for the application format). The detailed information about eligibility for ICMR-ES, including other terms & conditions and tenure are given below:

1. Minimum Eligibility:Scientists/Technologists retired or due to retire (within 3 months from the date of advertisement) not above the age of 67 years, from various Academic Institutions & National Laboratories in the pay level 13A who have held the post of the status of a Professor/Associate Professor in a Medical College or of Director/Deputy Director in a Institute of an All India Character or scientists with comparable scientific experience and achievements in an organization of the ICMR and have been actively engaged in biomedical research/projects as PI or Co-PI for past years of their service.

2. Number of positions:

(i) The numbers of positions are limited to thirty (30) at any given point of time.

(ii) At any point of time, not more than 25% of the positions will be awarded to ICMR scientists i.e. only eight (08) out of 30 positions may be awarded ICMR retired scientists. However, in exceptional cases, this can be relaxed purely based on scientific merits such as non-existence of specialized knowledge outside ICMR. In such cases 100% positions can be offered to retired scientists within ICMR. Secretary, DHR & DG, ICMR shall decide such relaxation.

3. Tenure: The initial tenure of the incumbents under the program shall ordinarily be for a period of one year, renewable every year based on the fulfillment of quantifiable research deliverables as per the terms and conditions of appointment. The term of ICMR-ES shall be extendable only by two additional years after review. The maximum tenure in no circumstances shall exceed five (05) (3+2) years including broken periods, after superannuation. If any, and shall not continue beyond the age of 70 years.

4. Monthly remunerations: The ICMR-ES will be paid monthly remuneration of amount equal to last pay drawn minus pension, including deduction of commuted value of pension, if any. The amount of remuneration shall remain fixed for the term of the contract. There will be no annual increment/percentage increase during the contract period. In addition to remuneration as specified above, the ICMR-ES may be supported with a research contingency grant of Rs. five lakh per annum based on a project activity to be carried out, including the payments for article publishing/processing charges.

5. Method of selection: Applicant may directly send the application to Division of HRD, ICMR Hqrs. New Delhi, forwarded through the Host Institute/Center, in the prescribed application format along with all the required documents. A Selection cum Review Committee constituted by Sec. DHR & DG, ICMR will review the annual progress reports and final recommendation for continuation is subjected to approval from the Sec. DHR & DG, ICMR.

6. Drawal of pension: The selected ICMR-ES shall continue to draw pension and the dearness relief on pension as per host institute rules during the tenure of ICMR-ES as per one's entitlement and regulated as per the Govt. Pensions Rules. The engagement to any of above positions shall not be considered as a case of re-employment under any circumstances.

7. Allowances: The ICMR-ES engaged shall not be entitled for payment of any kind of allowances such as dearness allowance (DA), house rent allowance (HRA), government accommodation, medical reimbursement, telephone/broadband reimbursement etc. except for transport allowance (TA). TA/DA shall be paid as per their entitlement at the time of their retirement under the rules and in accordance with the government guidelines issued from time to time.

8. Travel entitlement: The travel entitlement will be regulated as per entitlement at the time of their retirement under the rules. The travel on work for ICMR shall only be considered on duty. The allowance will not be admissible for the Calendar months(s) wholly covered by the leave. They would not be provided any other mode of transport facility.

9. Travel abroad: The travel assistance would not cover any international travel foreign visit of ICMR-ES, on third party sponsorship (partial/full), shall be approved by DG, ICMR on the recommendation of the concerned institute Director. And likewise, for private visit abroad (at own expense), prior permission of the DG, ICMR based on the recommendation of the host institute Director shall be necessary in both cases, the period of absence shall be adjusted and regulated against the leave due.

10. Extension of the tenure: The incumbent will submit a request for tenure extension elaborating the work done during the period of their engagement with emphasis on notable achievements made, if any in the prescribed format only duly forwarded through the competent authority of the host institute (click here for the APR format). The review committee would consider the request of extension of tenure after evaluation the work done report, along with final recommendation of the DG, ICMR which shall be put up to Minister concerned for approval of extension. The tenure of appointment/extensions shall under no condition exceed 70 years of age.

11. Leave: The incumbent shall attend the office for not less than 200 working days of the establishment to which they are reporting. He/she shall be entitled to paid leave of absence at the rate of 1.5 days for each completed month of service. The leave may be availed with the sanction of the concerned Director/Head. For tenure less than a year, the period shall be adjusted on pro-rata basis. The grant of leave beyond these limits and only under exceptional circumstances shall be at the discretion of the Minister of the Department concerned and no remuneration shall be awarded during such leaves. However, the period shall be counted towards the total tenure.

12. Appointing Authority: Secretary, DHR (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) and DG, ICMR and shall be the appointing authority for the ICMR-ES with the approval of the Minister concerned.

1. The ICMR-ES are eligible to be posted and work in any of recognized Indian research institutes/medical colleges/ICMR institutes, including the ICMR Headquarters.

2. The program should not be regarded as conferment of an academic distinction. Only actively working Scientists will be chosen as ICMR-ES. The selection should be based not only on the record of the Scientists but also on the intrinsic merit of the ongoing research projects, which they propose to be carried out.

3. The applicant should clearly define their role and duties in currently ongoing projects of national relevance at the host institute. Only projects in which the applicant is a PI or Co-PI should be mentioned.

4. The selected ICMR-ES must devote 1/3rd of their time on commissioned work as directed by the ICMR from time to time during the tenure of the ICMR-ES. 2/3rd time will be devoted to the ongoing/proposed research. They must be Co-PIs or senior investigators in ongoing projects during the ICMR-ES period.

5. The commissioned work by ICMR will include mentoring for development of new projects and facilitate workshops for proposal development and improvement, as well as data analysis and interpretation workshops.

6. While forwarding the application, the Head of the Department/Institution should give a certificate that laboratory and other facilities including all equipment essentially needed for the research project will be made available to the candidate in the event of his selection. There is need for complete co-ordination between the Head of the Department of the Institute and the ICMR-ES.

7. The applicants are required to submit the recommendation letter from the respective PI(s) of the host institute who is/are carrying forward the incomplete project(s) of the applicant. The letter should mention the nature of support required from the applicant scientist. In case of mentorship activities, consent and description of the required support and advice from the respective mentee who acknowledges the Scientist's mentorship should be submitted.

8. The ICMR-ES will not be entitled to any perquisites of office such as residential accommodation, telephone, etc.

9. Leave with honorarium will be admissible equivalent to earned leave as admissible to the ICMR's employees. Leave without honorarium can be granted as admissible to temporary employees of the ICMR.

10. If ICMR-ES is required to attend any meeting at ICMR Hqrs./Institute or make a visit as a part of their commissioned work, accommodation, food charges and TA shall be provided by ICMR.

11. The role of the incumbents shall be limited to core scientific and technical activities of ICMR. They may be enabled with necessary infrastructural support including internet, access to library, telephone, computer etc. shall be provided by the concerned institute/Headquarters etc., to carry out the assignments.

12. They shall take part in scientific and technical reviews in the capacity as Chairperson, Member or Invitee.

13. They shall not be assigned with any functional designations like Head of Institution, Head of Division, Director, Director-in-Charge, Heads of Units/Centers etc.

14. They shall not be vested with any administrative power such as leave sanctioning, tour approval, APAR assessment (Reporting, Reviewing & Countersigning), approval for forwarding of any administrative matter.

15. They shall not exercise any financial powers including those specified in the purchased and stores procedures.

16. The individual should not be receiving any other honorarium/fellowship from any Government sources like J.C. Bose Fellowship, National Science Chair etc. while holding the position of ICMR-ES.

17. The individual shall not be allowed to hold any regular position with any private company or government organization while holding the ICMR-ES position.

18. For participating in seminars/symposia/conferences/workshops, meeting/talks in non-department capacity within India, the incumbents shall obtain prior consent of ICMR. They may avail 15 days period in year for attending government (out-of-department) commitments with an option to either debiting or remuneration or debiting of entitled leave during the absence. This is an annual ceiling and would not be carried forward no expenditure for the aforesaid purposes shall be borne by ICMR including travel, TA/DA and conference fee etc. However, they can avail the hospitality TA/DA from the sponsoring agency.

19. They shall not be authorized for honorarium in lieu of their participation in any committees of ICMR/DHR.

20. The service of ICMR-ES may be terminated at any time during the tenure by the DG, ICMR without assigning any reasons. The notice period of one month shall be given in such termination. They can also resign with the prior notice of one month. They payment of one month's remuneration in lieu of notice period by either side or if shorter notice than one month, remuneration shall be paid on the pro rata basis.

21. Offer of appointment shall be issued by ICMR giving the details of scope of work, qualitative and quantifiable deliverables, place of work, remuneration etc.

22. They shall submit the following technical reports of the work carried out by them during the tenure: Self attested yearly plan of technical deliverables/milestones envisaged for the current year at the beginning of tenure and at the commencement of every ICMR-ES program year on renewal of the tenure, in the given format.

Attendance details of leave availed through the competent authority of the host institute etc.

23. In respect of ICMR-ES presently serving in ICMR or its constituent institutions and laboratories, their engagement/contract shall cease to exist on the date of completion of their present tenure, and no further extension of term/tenure shall be considered, other than the procedure prescribed in the guidelines.

24. Any guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance, DoPT and provisions of GFR, 2017 relating to Manual of Procurement of services shall be followed in the matter.

25. The appointments shall not be made as a matter of routine practice and will be based on exigencies of official work where public interest is served by appointed or retired scientists.

26. Re-engagement after retirement will be strictly on contractual basis without any administrative/executive/financial powers in ICMR or its Institutes/Centers.