No. GS/AIAIASP/Merger-ASP/2013
dated 20/11/2013.
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.
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