Pay anomaly in the Supervisory Cadre of Accounts Department, Ministry of Railways, and pay disparity with other Supervisory Cadres of the CG Services

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)
Secretary (Staff Side)

Source : http://ncjcmstaffside.com