No.
GS/AIAIASP/Merger-ASP/2013
dated 20/11/2013.
4. Shri Arun Malik, Director (SR), Department of Posts, Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 110001 w. r. to his letter No. 01/01/2011-SR dated 25/8/2011, 14/11/2011, 6/9/2012, 4/10/2013, letter No. 02/02/2012-SR dated 17/4/2012 & letter No. 10-9/2013-SR dated 27th August 2013, 30/9/2013.
To,
Ms
P. Gopinath,
Director
General,
Department
of Posts,
Dak
Bhavan, Sansad Marg,
New
Delhi 110 001.
Subject: Merger
of ASP cadre in to PS Gr. B cadre--- Proposal regarding.
Respected
Madam,
This Association would like
to bring to your kind notice that Directorate has constituted a committee under
the Chairpersonship of Member (Personnel) vide memo No. 1/1/2011-SR dated
9/9/2011 and accordingly, first meeting was held on 18/10/2011, followed by
another meeting on 3/11/2011.
(A)
During the course of
meetings, it was brought to the notice of the Department about the stagnation
being faced in the cadre of IPs/ASPs and the long span of service running up to
26 years which IP/ASP have to put in, before getting promotion to PS Gr.
B. The issue of restructuring of IPs
/ASPs cadre was also discussed in the meeting but it did not materialize. The
issue of parity of GP and promotional prospects of IPs in the Department like
Income Tax and Central Excise etc was also discussed at length and department
has not considered this also. Chairperson brought to the notice of this
Association that it is the difference in the hierarchical structures between Department
of Posts and other Departments like Income Tax and Central Excise as also
Central Secretariat. While in other Departments, Inspectors get promotion
direct to PS Gr. ‘B’ but in the Department of Posts there exists an
intermediary grade of ASPs having Gazetted status. The response of the Ministry
of Finance, Department of Expenditure was also informed in the matter of
raising the Grade Pay of Inspectors from the existing Rs. 4200/- to Rs. 4600/-
so as to bring them on par with Inspectors in other Departments. While
discussing the possibility of upgrading certain posts in the Circle Offices and
other field formations to Gr. B so as to accelerate the promotional prospects
of IPs/ASPs, it has been informed that Department of Expenditure has not favoured
it unless the gazetted status of ASPs has foregone so as to have single level
in the cadre as it may facilitate raising the grade pay of IPs from the
existing Rs. 4200/- to Rs. 4600/- and may pave way for speedier promotion due
to upgrading of certain posts to Gr. B.
In the said meeting, this Association has assured that the proposal of
foregoing the gazetted status of ASPs will be discussed in the next CWC meeting
of this Association and revert back to the Department with a final proposal.
(B)
This Association had their
37th All India Biennial Conference in Bangaluru on 28/1/2012 and
29/1/2012 in which the issue of merger of ASP cadre into IP cadre was discussed
in depth and the august house passed a unanimous resolution detailed here
under:-
“This Association is against the merger of Inspector Posts and
Assistant Superintendents Posts cadre.
Inspector Posts should be granted Grade Pay of
Rs. 4600/- with effect from 01/01/2006 at par with Inspectors of CBDT/CBEC in tune with directions of the
Hon’ble CAT, Ernakulam Bench”.
The
decision arrived at AIC was forwarded to Member (P) by name under letter No.
CHQ/IPASP/1/2012 dated 22/2/2012. But till date neither any reply has been received
from Directorate nor this Association was called for further discussion in the
matter. Thus, the vital issue still remains unresolved. Therefore this
Association has requested Directorate to relook in to the issue of merger of
Inspector Posts and Assistant Superintendents Posts and clarify the following
points sought for vide Association letters dated 17/7/2012, 20/9/2012,
1/10/2012, 11/1/2013, 14/6/2013 and 19/8/2013. It is obvious that these letters
were also not given the much desired attention.
1.
What would be the
nomenclature of the merged cadre without Gazetted status.
2.
At present, IP/ASP cadre is
having separate Appointing / Disciplinary Authority i.e. DPS is the Appointing
Authority for IPs and Chief PMG for ASP cadre. Powers for imposition of minor
penalties on IP cadre vests with Divisional Head while for ASP cadre, the
authority competent is DPS. For major penalties, DPS is the competent authority
for IP cadre and Chief PMG for ASP Cadre. Hence it may be clarified as to who
will be the Appointing Authority and Disciplinary Authority for the merged
cadre.
(C)
This Association would like
to indicate that 5th CPC in para 32 of Appendix 1 of volume 3 stated
that cadre review has become part of cadre rules and they are to be mandatorily
held once in 5 years. It has also been observed that holding of cadre review
itself is a justifiable matter. However, the department has not taken any further
effort to implement the accepted recommendations of second cadre review
committee and also to review the promotional prospects of this cadre once in 5
years as recommended by the 4th CPC and also accepted by the Govt.
In view of the stagnation faced by the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents
Posts and ever increasing span of promotion, we have made repeated requests to
the Department to constitute third Cadre Review Committee and we have also
suggested re-organisation of postal sub divisions as a possible outcome of the
cadre review. But the Department has not constituted any such committee so far
nor has the Department initiated review of the promotional prospects of this
cadre on its own.
(D) The duties
and responsibilities of the Inspector Posts / Assistant Superintendents Posts
are laid down in Chapter III Rule 260 to 302 and 320 to 335 of Postal Manual
Volume VIII. However, this does not give the clear picture about the actual
duties performed in particular by Sub Divisional Inspector / ASP. The duties
and responsibilities attached to Inspector Posts / Assistant Superintendent
Posts has undergone a major change. Apart from duties prescribed in the above quoted
rules, they perform many more functions, which are not specified in the rules.
Broadly, they can be classified as follows:
·
Mandatory inspections of sub post offices,
branch offices & submission of IR within stipulated time
·
Visits / second inspections
·
Investigations in loss & fraud cases/
past work verification of all passbooks of all types of SB schemes in case of
fraud in HO/ SO/ BO.
·
Sanction of leave/ paid leave to GDS &
acting as appointing authorities of GDS & disciplinary authority of GDS.
·
Achievement of targets in r/o PLI/ RPLI
& marketing of different premium products and supervision & after sale
service.
·
Credit verification in r/o RPLI premium
collected by BOs
·
Est-2 verification (to ensure justification
of existing PO & creation of new PO)
·
Verification of statistics relating to work
load of PAs, SAs ,Postman, MTS GR-C, Branch PM, GDS etc.
·
Invigilation duties in r/o departmental
exam.
·
Settlement of pending SBCO objections /
minus balance cases.
·
Heavy cash withdrawal verification
·
SB/NSC claim verification
·
RPLI incentive bill verification
·
RPLI death claim verification &
processing of papers.
·
Collection & verification of Pension
papers of PA, SA, Postman, MTS etc.
·
Collection of relaxation appointment papers
& verification.
·
Functioning as IO.
·
Functioning as PO.
·
Functioning as Ad-hoc disciplinary
authority.
·
Verification of mark lists submitted by the
officials.
·
Preparation of special report for
departmental selection committee.
·
Franking machine checking.
·
Checking of passbooks/ money order payments
·
Attending court cases (CDRF/CAT/High Court)
& meetings with AGP/PP/Govt. Counsels.
·
Checking of punctual clearance of letter
boxes by Posting “Test letters”
·
Periodical mail survey
·
Initial and final verification of house
building cases
·
Being the member of checking squads for
detecting the leakage of revenue or any other specific purposes.
·
Imparting training to GDS / Postman/ MTS
Gr-C/ PA/ SA.
·
Monitoring of Project Arrow post offices-
sending of DET file daily.
·
Checking of delivery status of concerned
Project Arrow POs daily.
·
Cash conveyance to BOs/SOs/HOs with or
without escorts.
·
Conveyance of State Govt. Public Service
Commission / SSC / UPSC examination materials in postal bags to respective head
quarters under police protection /escort.
These are not exhaustive
and still there are many functions the Sub Divisional Inspectors / Assistant
Superintendent Posts are required to perform. Though many of the new additions
are major in nature, the relevant rules have not been amplified to include the
entire gamut of work performed by the Inspector/Assistant Superintendent Posts. It
will not be wrong to say that the total responsibility for successful
implementing the various innovative schemes launched by department are
virtually devolved on the IP and ASP but department had have never taken care
of the demands of the cadre, may it be GP issue/ cadre review or anything.
(E) The
4th Central Pay Commission noticed that the pattern of Recruitment for posts of
Inspector in other Central Government Organizations like Customs and Central
Excise and Income Tax provides for direct recruitment through Staff Selection
Commission at the level of Inspector. However, in
the Postal Department, there was no direct recruitment above the level of
Postal and Sorting Assistants, or at Group-B level. In the interest of efficiency of service,
it was felt necessary to introduce an element of direct recruitment at
the level of Inspectors through the Staff Selection Commission in the
Department of Posts. The 4th Central Pay
Commission recommended for introduction of direct recruitment to that level
under the Department of Posts to rectify the anomaly and suggested that the two
cadres of IPO/IRM and ASPO/ASRM cadres can be merged, and accordingly, the
Government was advised to examine what scale of pay will then be suitable for
these posts.
The 5th Central Pay
Commission reiterated its recommendation that Inspectors of Post Offices and
RMS should be merged and upgraded to Rs. 1640-2900 (Rs. 5500-9000 revised) and
filled 33.1/3rd% by direct recruitment from the Inspectors' Grade examination
of Staff Selection Commission. The scale of pay of Inspector of Post Offices/
Inspector of RMS was revised to Rs.5500-9000 with effect from 01-01-1996 as
recommended by the 5th Central Pay Commission as per Office Memorandum dated
06-04-1998. It is submitted that the scale of pay of Rs.5500-9000 granted to
the Inspector of Posts was equivalent to the scale of pay granted to the
Inspectors and analogous posts in CBDT/CBEC and Assistants in CSS.
Accepting the recommendations of the 4th and 5th Central Pay
Commissions in regard to introduction of direct recruitment at the Inspectors
level, the President in exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to
Article 309 of the Constitution and in supersession of the Posts and Telegraphs
Department (Inspectors of Post Offices, Inspectors of Railway Mail Service and
Inspectors (Uniforms)) Recruitment Rules, 1997 promulgated Department of Posts,
Inspector of Posts (Recruitment) Rules, 2001 introducing direct recruitment to
the grade of Inspector of Posts and Inspector of R.M.S. Column 11 of the Schedule appended to the
Recruitment Rules, 2001 provides that 33.34% posts of Inspector shall be filled
by Direct Recruitment through Staff Selection Commission and 66.66% by
promotion through Limited Departmental Competitive Examination.
The
introduction of direct recruitment at the level of Inspector under the
Department of Posts, the Inspectors of Post Offices are brought on par with
Inspectors of CBDT/CBEC without there being any perceptible functional
differences, in the matter of duties and responsibilities or in the
hierarchical status.
The pay scales of the post of Income Tax
Inspectors under Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Posts of Inspector of
Central Excise were revised from Rs.5500-9000 to Rs. 6500-10500 as per Office
Memorandum dated 21-04-2004. The pay scale of the analogous posts of
Assistants/PA's in Central Secretariat Service (CSS) and Central Secretariat
Stenographers Service (CSSS) was also upgraded
from Rs.5500-9000 to the scale of Rs.
6500-200-10500 w.e.f 15.09.2006 as per Office Memorandum dated 25-09-2006.
However, the pay scale of the Inspector of Post/Inspector of RMS under the
Department of Posts has not been upgraded to the scale of Rs. 6500-200-10500
without any justifiable reasons.
(F)
This Association would like to enclose herewith a chart showing the
sanction strength of IPs/ASPs circle wise and post wise. The consolidated chart
shows the total wing wise sanction strength.
This
Association is not in favour to merge the ASP cadre into IP cadre. The decision
arrived at AIC Bangalore was already communicated to Directorate and now it has
been decided to go for merger of ASP
cadre into PS Gr. B cadre, as ASP cadre have already been conferred Gazetted
status in 2005. All the post of Sub Divisional Heads presently manned
through ASP cadre i.e. 627 to be downgraded to IP and remaining posts of ASPs
i.e. available in DO/RO/CO etc would be upgraded to PS Gr. B level.
1.
Total
ASP Sub Divisions (Postal) : 596
2.
Total
ASP Sub Divisions (RMS) : 31
Total (1+2) ...... : 627
3.
Total
ASPs :
1824 (As per revised RRs)
4.
After
down gradation of ASP sub Divisions to IP Sub Division there will not be any
change in the number of sub divisions. Only ASPs posts will be reduced and IPs
posts will be increased.
i.e. Total ASPs would
be : 1824 – 627 = 1197
5.
Total
PS Gr. B posts as on date : 866 +
10 = 876
6.
After
merger of ASP to PS Gr. B : 876 +
1197 = 2073
i.e. Total PS Gr. B
would be
7.
Total
IPs :
2187 (As per revised RRs)
Matching Savings :
As on date GP of
above three cadres are as under :
a)
Inspector
Posts (IP) : Rs. 4200/-
b)
Assistant
Supdt. Posts : Rs. 4600/-
c)
PS
Gr. B :
Rs. 4800/-
a)
The
difference of GP between PS Gr. B and ASP is Rs. 200/- only.
Net effect including DA, HRA etc. would be
Rs. 425/- only.
If ASP cadre merged with PS Gr. B cadre
then additional expenditure would
be as under:
1197 x 425 =
Rs. 508725/- per month
Rs. 508725/-
x 12 = Rs. 6104700/- per annum (Rs. 61 lacs)
b) The difference of GP between ASP and IP is Rs.
400/- only.
Net effect including DA, HRA etc. would be
Rs. 850/- only.
If 627 ASPs Sub Divisions are down-graded
to IPs, reduced expenditure comes to as
under :
627 x
850 = Rs. 532950/- p.m.
Rs. 532950 x 12 = Rs. 6395400/- per annum
(Rs. 64 lacs)
Apparently net saving as worked out is Rs. 3 lacs per
annum.
The number of
resultant sanction strength would be as under:
IPs : 2187 + 627 = 2814
ASP : Nil = Nil
PS Gr. B : 876 + 1197 =
2073
Conclusion: Since last 33 years
no cadre review has taken place for IP cadre whereas all other cadres had
managed to get benefits in their favour periodically. Only one cadre review was
taken place for IP cadre whereas 5 cadre reviews have already been carried out
for IPoS cadre and 6th cadre review is presently under
consideration. Last year this Association was called for to attend meeting in
connection with Organizational Restructuring in Department of Posts and in
the said meeting it was discussed about up-gradation of Class II divisions to Class
I division and in each division there would be 2 PS Gr. B officers. In view of
the said meeting, the upgraded posts of ASPs to PS Gr. B may be placed in
division/RO/CO.
We are waiting for positive response
and if required meeting may be held with our Association for detailed
discussion/clarification.
Yours sincerely,
Sd/-
(Vilas Ingale)
General
Secretary
Copy
forwarded for information and necessary action to :
1. Shri S. Sarkar, Member (P), Department of
Posts, Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 110001.
2. Shri V. P. Singh, DDG (P), Department of
Posts, Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 110001.
3. Ms Trishiljit Sethi, DDG (Estt), Department
of Posts, Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 110001 w.r.to ADG (SPN) letter No.
137-89/2013-SPB-II dated 11th October 2013.
4. Shri Arun Malik, Director (SR), Department of Posts, Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 110001 w. r. to his letter No. 01/01/2011-SR dated 25/8/2011, 14/11/2011, 6/9/2012, 4/10/2013, letter No. 02/02/2012-SR dated 17/4/2012 & letter No. 10-9/2013-SR dated 27th August 2013, 30/9/2013.
