SOME IMPORTANT ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED IN THE JCM DEPARTMENTAL COUNCIL MEETING TO BE HELD ON 20.12.2016
Dear Com., Out of 140 items placed for discussions in the JCM DC meeting, only 35 items are mentioned below for your view. Besides that, some important items such as
i) Request for one time relaxation of the minimum required condition for promotion from LSG to HSG II and from HSG II to HSG I, in order to fill up all the posts, consequent on implementation of cadre restructuring in Postal side.
ii)Request for issuing clarificatory order for applying revised bench mark "very good" for MACPs, from the date of issuance of the order, since APAR may be written earlier with lower bench mark viz. 'good' and it should not be applied now.
iii) As the Revised HSG I Rectt.Rules, 2014, all IP line HSG I posts are now made into General Line, the clarification inadvertently issued in the order dt. 11.11.2016 on cadre restructuring may be withdrawn and the posts may be filled, based on the revised rules.
are also , likely to be placed informally, based on the availability of time.
1. Withdrawal of all disciplinary proceedings against – DDOs and APM Accounts due to excess drawl of salary to the Postmen on fixation of pay after the Fifth Pay Commission. Consequent upon the dismissal of SLP filed against the grant of increments and pay fixation ordered by the principal CAT Delhi filed by the All India Postal Employees Union Postmen & MTS CHQ, all the Postmen belonging to that union are being entitled for re fixation of pay with effect from 1.1.1996.
2.Grant of Incentive for acquiring fresh higher qualification – reg.
In accordance with DOPT OM No. 1/2/89-Estt (Pay-I) dated 09.04.1999, lump sum grant on acquiring fresh qualifications has been provided. The main condition is that the acquisition of the qualification should be directly related to the functions of the Post held by him/her or to the functions to be performed in the next higher Post and there should be a direct nexus between the functions of the Post and the qualification acquired and that it should contribute to the efficiency of the government servant. It is relevant that the computer and other technical qualifications acquired by the Postal Assistants will become under the purview of grant of lump sum incentive. The Computer qualifications acquired by the system administrators as well as Postal Assistants will be beneficial to the department in the present trend of technological induction to a great extent and there is a visible nexus between the computer qualification and the duties of system administrators as well as PA/SA Cadre.
3. Non supply of Postage stamps and stationeries to Post offices – reg.
Nowadays the Postage stamps and stationeries are in either scarce or unavailable. Especially smaller denominations are not being supplied to Rural Post offices/Branch offices resulting the village customers in trouble and losing faith on Post offices. It is a fact that the franking machines are not yet supplied to all Rural Post offices and for ordinary Postal articles hailing from rural side need, Postage stamps.The following are the immediate requirements of the rural public and the Post offices to avoid dissatisfaction/disappointment and resentment among the rural mass apart from the declining of Postage revenue and traffic.
4.Drawl of Leave reserve list for Postal Assistants – case of Tamilnadu Circle – reg.
The Leave reserve list is being prepared from the bottom among the Postal Assistants in roll completed three years of service right from the year 1993. In the wake of present trend of cancellation of confirmation examination and delinked status of Posts from confirmation, the preparation of LR list will be in accordance with the completion of probation period.In the present recruitment rules, the probation period is prescribed for two years only. Hence, the preparation of LR may be drawn on completion two years’ service instead of three years in practice in some circles likeTamilnadu. It is requested to issue clarification reiterating the preparation of LR only on the basis of completion of probation viz. 2 years as mentioned in the extant recruitment rules for PAs.
5.Issue of Departmental Identity Cards to all staff, including GDS – Reg.
Present days, the necessity of proving Identity is predominantly increasing in all walks of life. In several departments, the staff are having their departmental identity cards and using with prestige. The employees of the Department of Posts scattered throughout the nation deserve to have departmental ID to use it on travel, visit, tours and on off campus duties etc. It is requested to cause action to provide a departmental Identity card with photo to all the staff of the department which is very purposeful.
6.Filling up of Senior Postmaster vacancies with Postmaster Grade III – reg.
By invoking the extant Postmaster cadre recruitment rules, the Postmaster Grades I, II & III have been created by initial constitution and subsequently the vacant posts have been filled up by promotion as envisaged in the above RRs. But the Senior Postmaster cadre as prescribed in the above RR is neither created under the initial constitutionnor filled up by promotion. The denial of Promotion to Postmaster Grade III officials having two year of service in that Grade including HSG I service causes concern. If the initial constitution of Senior Postmaster Grade is pending due to any court case, etc., it will in no way encumber the probability of filling all the posts under officiating arrangements from the existing Postmaster Grade III officials’in consonance with the extant Postmaster Cadre Recruitment rules.It is requested to fill up the promotional quota on a regular basis and the remaining posts any may kindly be allowed for Postmaster Grade III officials under officiating arrangements.
7.Mismatch of PA Vacancies resulting acute shortage of Postal Assistants on Postal division
Ref: - Minutes of the JCM (DC) held on 16.12.2014 S/No. 31 – item No. 26.
There is acute shortage of Postal Assistants despite of annual recruitments. Logically there would not be a huge difference other than the vacancies in the intervening period arisen out of death, Voluntary Retirement disciplinary actions Rule 38 etc. on completion of every recruitment process. But in reality in many divisions especially in Tamilnadu UP, Karnataka circles in the ADR plan, the actual vacancies are not reflected and resultantly there is a permanent arithmetic difference between the sanctioned strength and the working strength. The following are some of the reasons of such shortage that need to be reconciled.
1. In the sanctioned strength the Leave Reserve component of 10% might not have been taken into account for recruitment process by Divisional heads.
2. The sanctioned staff strength might not have been correctly assessed added by 10% for LR purpose to assess the correct sanctioned strength.
3. The chain of vacancies right from HSG-I to LSG, PM Grade III to PM Grade I, Departmental Quota of IP vacancies etc. are to be added in the PA vacancies while preparing ADR plan and DPC.
4. There may be omission of carrying forward the unfilled vacancies of the previous recruitments/DPCs.
It was replied in the minutes of the JCM that Instructions would be reiterated regarding method of calculating vacancies and the same is yet to materialize. One time exercise shall be executed to arrive the exact vacancies by working out the difference between the sanctioned strength and the working strength which includes the officiating posts etc.
It is requested to cause instructions to all recruiting units to wipe out the differences between the sanctioned strength and working strength at the earliest.
8. Irregular interpretation and non accounting MACP to the adhoc HSG I officials in some circle. In some circles, the third financial upgradation under MACP has not been granted with Rs. 4600/- Grade pay to the HSG II officials who have been officiating on adhoc basis in HSG I cadre.
The Rule 26 of MACP stipulates as inter alia: -
“Cases of persons holding higher posts purely on adhoc basis shall also be considered by the screening Committee along with others. They may be allowed the benefit of financial upgradation on reversion to the lower post or if it is beneficial vis-à-vis the pay drawn on adhoc basis”.
From the above, it is evident that due benefit and adhoc fixation whichever is beneficial, that should be extended to on acquiring the MACP. For an example in one case of Sri. K. A. Gandhi, Retd. SPM Mahuva MDG in Bhavnagar division, Gujarat Circle, the Department has intimated to him that he was working in HSG I on adhoc basis from 24.02.2007 and retired on superannuation without terminating the adhoc arrangement, he was not entitled for the third Financial upgradation w.e.f. 01.09.2008. Whereas, his pensionary benefits & others have been taken into account as per his lien post and not as per the adhoc arrangements. As such, the official has put into great financial loss. The intention of Rule 26 is not to deny the benefits due to adhoc arrangements in higher cadre.
It is therefore requested cause suitable clarification in this regard to all the circles not to deny the dues by misinterpreting the rulings on this subject.
9.Repatriation of PAs deputed to Circle Regional offices from divisions for PLI/RPLI work – reg. The regional/circle offices are keeping excess staff drafted from Post offices and resultantly, the operative offices are suffering with more shortage. In many circles PAs/SAs from various divisions have been under deputation to Regional offices for not only manning the vacant posts there, but also for RPLI/RPLI work.
But to our surprise now a days, the work of PLI/RPLI has been decentralized and transferred to divisions but not the man power exclusively taken for such work from divisions. All the operative offices are suffering due to shortage of PAs as their divisional strength is diminished by disproportionate deputation to Regional offices Circle offices. The staff sanctioned for the PLI work shall also be diverted to the Post offices due to decentralization. All the PAs taken for PLI/RPLI work shall be returned to the divisions and also the Pas drafted to CO and RO shall also be returned back.
10. Pooling of PLI/RPLI work at Head Post offices due to Amendment of PLI rules 2011 – Requirement of additional work force – Reg.
Amending Postal Life Insurance rules 2011, all the PLI/RPLI work are entrusted to the Head Post offices. Now all the HPOs are classified as Central Processing centers for PLI/RPLI and the majority work of (1) acceptance of new proposals (2) settlement of maturity (3) settlement of survival benefits (4) Settlement of death claims are put under the shoulders of Postmaster. By this amendment, the work pertaining to PLI/RPLI are transferred to Central processing centers. Thus, in the changed scenario, all the HOs are needed for more manpower to handle the cases of PLI/RPLI now grown large in its magnitude, quantum and volume.
Considering the above newly transferred duties and works to all Head Post offices, it is quite natural they require additional work force to discharge their functions in normal course. Hence it is requested to provide manpower exclusively for RPLI/PLI work to all HPOs.
11.Enhancement of special casual leave for union meetings.
At present, 20 days have been allowed for the grant of special casual leave to the officials for attending union meetings, circle conference, seminars etc. This is insufficient. Further in some circles, the days in which the union secretaries attending the Monthly Meetings/Bi-monthly Meetings are also construed as special casual leave instead of duty period as the formal meetings with administration will not cover up with other union meetings.It is therefore requested to clarify the same and also to enhance the number of special casual leave to attend union Meetings/Seminars.
12.Representation of department in the cases filed in Consumer Forum and other courts
It has been observed that the cases filed on the consumer forums and other courts against our department are not pleaded properly before court by engaging a lawyer on our behalf. The Government pleader is not appraised properly regarding intricacies of departmental rules, procedures and legal responsibility of postal department. It is fact that most of the cases are attended by the PRI (P)s, Postal Assistants or Mail Overseers, who are not trained. These court verdicts are always going against our department and our innocent staff become the victims. The staff side therefore, demands that the lawyers appointed by the department should be adequately briefed to represent the cases by our officers not below the rank of ASP and they should personally attend the court cases.
13.Request for discontinuance the practice of obtaining fidelity / security bond from the employees handling cash
The 5th CPC in its report vide para 62-13 recommended to discontinue the practice of obtaining fidelity / security bond from employees. In the present stage of handling huge cash, obtaining fidelity bond for Rs. 3000/- to Rs. 5000/- does not serve any purpose. A lot of manpower is wasted in Accounts branch in maintaining these records. Similar is the position of inspecting offices also. Only in rare and exception cases, the guarantee amt is received. The employees are unnecessarily crediting premium every year to the loopholes to obtain fidelity bond.It is requested to consider and discontinue the practice of security bonds which has no longer serving any purpose.
14.Delinking the quarters of C&B class offices where standard accommodation was not provided: In C& B class offices one or two rooms were provided in rental buildings as quarters and the HRA foregone by the officials is more than the House rent paid to the building. After computerization there is no space for keeping the UPS and batteries and computer installations and the quarter portion is used for the office as the SPM is not in a position to reside in it. It is requested either to provide standard accommodation or delinking the quarters wherever it is feasible as per the security point.
15.Posting of in charge of BPC – regarding
In accordance with the Directorate letter No. 16-10/2000 BD dt. 19.10.2010, the in charge of the BPC should be posted among the BCR officials for the transactions above one to 10 lakhs.Since the cadre of BCR is not in existence, the post required to be manned by HSG II officials or above. In many places, the PO & RMS Accountants have been ordered to look after the supervisory work in accounts instead of Postmasters or ASPOs. This is highly irregular.It is therefore requested to create or upgrade the posts of in charge of BPC to the level of HSG II and HSG I at the earliest based on the functional requirements.
16.Non-Drawal of HRA to the officiating SPMs working at offices having attached quarters.
Even though the power of de-quarterization of a post attached Quarters is now delegated to Heads of Circle vide Directorate letter no. 10-4/2003 - Bldg. dt. 6.5.03, the Circle heads are not according proper sanction for dequarterisation/suspension of Quarters for the periods of such officiating periods exceeding 90 days. The officiating officials should not suffer a financial loss due to the administrative problem of non-posting of a regular incumbent to the vacant post within the stipulated period. Prolonged officiating arrangement is an ultimate loss to an officiating official for no fault on his side.
It is therefore requested to issue clarity instructions to all Circle heads to settle the pending issues accordingly.
17.Grant of OTA/Excess Duty Allowance to the SPMs working in single/Double handed Post offices. To compensate the excess work prevailing in the single and double handed post offices, the SPMS shall be compensated with the following.i) In the absence of PA, the SPMs working in ‘B’ class offices may be granted minimum of 3 hours OTA to look after the duty of PA.(ii) Similarly, in ‘C’ class offices, where the work load exceeds 8 hours and more, compensation in the shape of Excess Duty Allowance may please be considered.
18.Stepping up of pay in case of postman and Group ‘D’ officials – regarding.
The condition of seniority in the gradation list to be observed for the stepping of pay has been misinterpreted in case of Karnataka Circle and the postman and Group 'D's are not permitted to claim stepping of pay at par with juniors in the Divisional gradation list. The stepping up has been denied by stating that the seniority should be determined within the sub division where the official is working. This defeats the purpose of maintaining the gradation list at Divisional level in such cadres. Since the recruitment of postman and Group 'D' is being made at Divisional level and the seniority is also being determined based on the selection list of the entire division, the denial of stepping up of the pay is tantamount to the denial of dues to such officials.
19.Providing norms for BD, Technology, RTI oriented works and Project Arrow works
No establishment norms as per SIU standard for works relating to BD, Technology, Project Arrow and RTI oriented works has been formulated so far our knowledge goes. It is evident that huge work hours for disposal of those items of works have already been created in CO/ROs but no man power to deal with the cases has been provided due to non framing of norms to adjudge the quantum of such work.
20.Non refund of the amount recovered under the New Pension Scheme& Non settlement of dues to the deceased/retired employees under NPS/ Consequent upon the clarification of the Government of India that in case of new recruits appointed after 01.01.2004 but remained in training prior to 01.01.2004 shall be covered under the old pension scheme, more than 10000 Postal Assistants were brought under the old pension scheme. However, the recoveries made from them towards the new pension scheme have not been refunded yet despite many representations.Serious action is requested to refund the amount early. (ii) Similarly in the event of resignation/retirement, the pension fund has not yet been refunded besides payment of pension. Many officials joined after 2004 and many GDS promoted after 2004 to Postmen could not get any benefits so far under this NPS.
21.Ambiguity in the orders granting conveyance allowance to Systems administrators.
In the recent orders issued to prescribe the conveyance allowance to system administrators, the view point of the staff side that they should be granted only road mileage allowance has not been reflected. Resultantly in many circles, the practice of reimbursement of actual expenses incurred for attending immediate faults to the systems administrators have been stopped and they are now incurring expenditure from their own. This causes a concern. The purpose of taking the subject has been totally defeated due to this order. Either they should be brought under the purview of road mileage allowance or the actual expenses incurred by them for their journey should be reimbursed.
22.Replacement of outdated Computer, Printers, UPS & providing AMCS to Computer Peripheral – case of Tamilnadu Circle.
While the Tamilnadu Circle Union has taken up the subject with the Chief Postmaster General in the Four Monthly Meeting held on 24.07.2013, for replacement of worn out and condemned computers, UPS and printers and placing AMC etc, the Chief PMG replied that “for replacement of hardware, the matter has already been taken up with the Directorate asking for funds once funds received, this will be done”.When we are the venturing and advancing with full modernization in the Department of Posts, the non-replacement of worn out and condemned computer peripheral is causing a concern. The officials should not be troubled to perform their work in such condemned computers which will result in declining the efficiency in service in the Post offices. Some serious attention is required in this regard.It is therefore requested to kindly expedite and cause appropriate action by extending top priority in replacing the condemned and old computer peripheral in all the Circles.
23. Problems arising out in Core Insurance solution/Mc Camish migration – solutions requested
24. Problems arisen due to implementation of Core banking solution.
25. Request to implement the ORDER OF SUPREME COURT ON CIVIL APPEAL NO 2010 OF 2009 RELATING TO ENTITLED MONETARY BENEFITS EFFECTIVE FROM 01.01.1996 TO 10.10.1997.
26.Delegation of Powers of Limited Transfers of GDS Staff to PMG.
27.Revision of Eligibility for MTS to (PA-SA) LGO Examination - Reduce 5 years to 2 years.
28. Amendment to the PA Recruitment Rules — requested.
In the revised PA. rectt. rules, vide Gazette notification dt.21.5.2015, in column 7 for educational qualification, it has been mentioned that “as per the notification issued by the SSC from time to time for HSC Level (10+2) examination”.As per the notification issued by the Department on revised procedure for filling up of posts of P.A./S.A. dt. 8.5.2012, in the column for educational and other qualifications, it is mentioned that , “should have studies the local language of the State or Union territory of the concerned Postal Circle or Hindi as a subject atleast in Matriculation or equivalent
As per the SSC notification, for rectt. to PA, or S.A for 2015, the educational qualification is notified as candidates should have possess HSG or 12th Class from any recognised school or university”.Because of mentioning in the last recruitment notification as “should have studies the local language of the State or Union territory of the concerned Postal Circle or Hindi as a subject atleast in Matriculation or equivalent ‘, large no. of candidates are entered from various Postal Circles, without knowing the local language or even English.They could not able to cope up with the local people across the counters in SOs or even in H.0.s and the rest of the staff have to manage their work in addition. Nearly 50% of them applied for transfer immediately and rest of them are prepared to quit the job, because of language problem. This will defeat the very purpose of annual DR and the existing staff are already suffering due to acute shortage.This will be repeated by this year recruitment also, because there is no restriction or condition that the candidates should have possess the knowledge of local language Under these circumstances, it is requested to review the situation based on the facts prevailing in the circles after the 2012 recruitment and make necessary amendments in the PA/SA Recruitment Rules to sort out this problem.
29. Provision of five days week .
The Postal operative staff are in great pressure and heavy strain in the work after the implementation of ongoing CBS, CIS etc. Two days rest in a week will motivate them better work performance. Already, five day weak is in vogue in respect of Postal administrative offices and Postal accounts. Only the operative offices are kept open for six days in a week. Recently, the bank employees have been observed five day weeks in the second and fourth week of the month. This is being introduced in the insurance public sector companies like LIC. It is therefore requested to kindly consider to observe five days week in the Postal operative officers.
30.Request for scheming the modalities of shifting PO buildings within the time frame.
31.Request for not abolishing the GDSV/SV post despite there has been decline in sale of stamps on the basis of the latest statistics.
32.Request for sanctioning the 1/4th of full daily allowance, as special allowance, to those who are compulsorily to take up the boarding and lodging at the training institutes.
33. Request for exempting the posting of Treasurer from the purview of Transfer and placement committee.
34. Request for ensuring uniformity in fixing of TRCA by the Divisional Heads to GDSBPMs who are merged with functions/duties over and above the BPM work.
35.Request for evolving and deploying an alternate tech- driven modality in a bid to mitigate the long drawn process involved in issuance of promotion/posting to LSG/HSG II/ HSG I in CO / RO level to a less cumbersome, trust worthy and transparent fair mechanism of the single window system in place and enabling the eligible official to decide their consent or otherwise to decide the offer of promotion duly knowing availability of the places of their choice.
Postal scam kingpin taken in CBI custody for questioning
By Express News Service | Published: 17th December 2016 04:51 AM
HYDERABAD: CBI officials, who are investigating the cases of irregularities that took place in post offices after demonetisation of high-value currency, have taken prime accused K Sudheer Babu, former postal officer, into five-day custody for questioning following court orders.
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