Sources said the amendments to the Bihar Government Servants (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 2005 are aimed at removing the vagueness of the rules which helped public servants interpret them variously.

While the 2005 Rules were silent about the implications of a `warning' awarded to a public servant, the Bihar Government Servants (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules, 2010 makes it amply clear that if a government servant is awarded `warning' and it is entered into his/her character roll, the `warned' public servant shall be denied confirmation and promotion for the next one year.

If the number of `warnings' to a government servant goes up to five, s/he shall be deemed to be fit for promotion only if his/her conduct has been extraordinary for at least three years and s/he has not been awarded any adverse remark during the five years after the expiry of the period of adverse effect of the fifth warning.

The amended Rules have also defined various types of penalties -- censure, withholding of promotion, reduction to a lower pay-scale for a period not exceeding three years without cumulative effect, withholding of increments of pay without cumulative effect, withholding of increments of pay with cumulative effect etc -- and their implications on the career of a government official.

"The amended Rules have left no scope for confusion," personnel and administrative reforms department principal secretary Dipak Kumar told TOI on Thursday.