Pay anomaly in the Supervisory Cadre of Accounts Department,
Ministry of Railways, and pay disparity with other Supervisory Cadres of
the Central Government Services
Shiva Gopal Mishra
Secretary
National Council (Staff Side)
Joint
Consultative Machinery
for Central Government Employees
13-C, Ferozshah Road,
New Delhi - 110001
E-Mail : nc.jcm.np@gmail.com
No.NC/JCM/2017
Dated: May 24, 2017
The Jt. Secretary(Pers.),
Department of Expenditure,
Room No.39-A, North
Block,
New Delhi
Dear Madam,
Sub:
Pay
anomaly in the Supervisory Cadre of Accounts Department, Ministry of
Railways, and pay disparity with other Supervisory Cadres of the Central
Government Services
While deposing before the 7th CPC,
this Federation brought to the notice of the Commission that,subsequent
to the acceptance of the VI CPC recommendations a peculiar anomaly
arosewhere a junior drawing higher Grade Pay than the senior in the
cadre of Section Officer(Accounts). The Committee of the 7th Pay
commission observed that the above anomalous situation purely arose on
circumstantial grounds and needs to be rectified. Thus in its report,
the Commission found merit in the above contention and recommended that
Seniors must be given the benefit of stepping up and further in line
with their recommendations for Organized Accounts Cadres, it further
recommended that "Section Officer (Accounts) Railways in GP Rs.4800
should be upgraded, on completion of four years' service, to the
existing GP Rs.5400(PB-2), viz., Level 9 in the Pay Matrix, on
non-functional basis.(Ref.: Para No.11.40.83 of 7th CPC).
The 7th
Central Pay Commission acknowledged that the skill sets of the Organized
Accounts Cadres are fairly higher and the organized accounts cadres
have to compulsorily pass various stringent examinations for promotions.
Moreover, Sr. Section Officers(A/Cs) had been assigned complete parity
with Section Officers(S.O.) of the Central Secretariat Service(CSS) and
they had been granted the pay scale of Rs.6500-10500(S-12) w.e.f.
01.01.1996 in accordance with 6th CPC. Further, it was also noted that
parity between Organized Accounts Cadres and the cadre of Section
Officers of CSS was disturbed by granting non-functional upgradation to
GP Rs.5400(PB-3) after four years of service to Section Officers of CSS
only. The Commission also noted that, non-functional up-gradation from
GP Rs.4800 to GP Rs.5400(PB-3), on completion of four years of service,
has been accorded to a number of posts by the Government of India in
2008. The Commission also found no reason and justification to deprive
this benefit of upgradation to GP Rs.5400 to the Officers of the
Organized Accounts Cadres who are in GP Rs.4800.
“Thus, the Pay
Commission recommended that, all officers in the Organized Accounts
Cadres (in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, Defence Accounts
Department, Indian Civil Accounts Organization, Railways, Post and
Telecommunications), who are in GP Rs.4800, should be upgraded, on
completion of four years' service to GP Rs.5400(PB-2), viz. pay level 9,
in the pay matrix”. (Ref. Para 11.12.140 of 7th CPC).
To utter
dismay, the Government of India, while accepting the recommendations of
the Pay Commission on upgrading of posts, left out the Ministry of
Defence and Railways for non-functional upgradation to GP Rs.5400(PB-3)
after four years of service for the categories of AAOs(Finance Division
of Defence, Ministry of Defence) and Senior Section Officer(Accounts),
Senior Travelling Inspector(Accounts) and Senior Inspector(Store
Accounts), Ministry of Railways, with the remarks that, “it will be
examined by DOPT for taking a comprehensive view in the matter”. The
DoP&T took almost nine months and transferred the issue on 7th
April, 2017 to the Ministry of Finance(Expenditure). In other words,
benefit of upgradation to GP Rs.5400 after completion of four years of
service has been granted to all other Organized Accounts Cadres of the
Indian Audit and Accounts Department, Indian Civil Accounts Organization
and Post and Telecommunications.
The Ministry of Defence in their
recent ID Note No.369/C/2017 dated 23.03.2017 also recommended that,
"above benefit be extended to the Assistant Accounts Officer(AAO) of
Defence Accounts Department”. On the other hand, DoP&T, in their
communication ID Note No.1198678/16-Estt.(Pay-I) dated 02.02.2017 to the
Executive Director, Pay Commission-III, Ministry of Railways, advised
the Ministry of Railways to consult Department of Expenditure since
revision of pay scales comes under the administrative domain of the
Department of Expenditure in terms of Government of India(Allocation of
Business) Rules. It shows the indifferent approach of government of
India towards Railway Accounts Employee.
This issue has been elaborated and explained in the tabulated format at Annexure 'A'.
The
Supervisory Cadre of the Accounts Department of the Railways is also
entrusted with the responsibilities of presenting the Railway Accounts
on widely accepted of accrual based Accounting in addition to presenting
the Government Accounts as per requirements laid down in the
Constitution of India, as announced by Hon'able Minister of Railway,
Shri Suresh Prabhu, in his budget speech.
It would be highly
appreciated, if the benefit of grant of GP Rs.5400 is extended to
Supervisory Cadre of the Accounts Department, Ministry of Railways, on
completion of four years of service in GP Rs.4800, who are the only left
in this case. This will also end pay disparity between the Organized
Accounts Cadres of the Government of India.
An early action in the matter shall be highly appreciated.
Comradely Yours,
sd/-
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)
Source: http://ncjcmstaffside.com
