Pay anomaly in the Supervisory Cadre of Accounts Department, Ministry of Railways, and pay disparity with other Supervisory Cadres of the Central Government Services…..
No.NC/JCM/2017 Dated: August 22, 2019
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
Ref.: My earlier letter of even number dated May 24, 2017, followed by reminder dated January 14, 2019
All India Railwaymen’s Federation, one of the constituents of the JCM(Staff Staff), has represented that, while deposing before the 7th CPC, this Federation(AIRF) brought to the notice of the Commission that, subsequent to the acceptance of the VI CPC recommendations; a peculiar anomaly arose where a junior drawing higher Grade Pay than the senior in the cadre of Section Officer(Accounts). The Committee of the 7thPay 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 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.
In view of the foregoing facts, it would be in all appropriateness that, benefit of grant of GP Rs.5400 should be extended to Supervisory Cadre in Accounts Department of Ministry of Railways(who are the only left in this case) on completion of four years service in GP Rs.4800. This will also help end pay disparity between the Organized Accounts Cadres of the Government of India.
Encl: As above
Copy to: General Secretaries, all affiliated unions – for information.
Annexure – ‘A’
Table showing SSO(A/C) Railways pay parity with SO(CSS) and IA&AD in respect of pay structure
Central Pay Commission and effective from
(1) |
Pay Scale
(Rs.) & Grade Pay as per CPC
(2) |
Pay/Grade Level
(3) |
Pay Scales of Sr. S.O. (A/cs)/Rlys.
(4) |
Pay Scales of S.O./CSS and AAO/IA&AD
(5) |
Remarks
(6) |
Vth CPC w.e.f. 01.01.1996 | 6500-10500 | S-12 | 6500-10500
|
6500-10500 | Same scale recommended by CPC and granted to both col.4 & 5. |
VIth CPC w.e.f. 01.01.2006 | 9300-34800 Grade Pay Rs. 4800/- | Pay Band – 2 | 9300-34800 Grade Pay Rs. 4800/- | 9300-34800 Grade Pay Rs. 4800/- | Same scale recommended by CPC and granted to both col.4 & 5. |
VIth CPC w.e.f. 01.01.2006 | 9300-34800 Grade Pay Rs. 5400/-* (on completion of four years of service in Grade Pay Rs.4800/-. (Para 3.1.9 of VIth CPC) | Pay Band – 2 | Grade Pay Rs. 5400/- not granted
|
9300-34800 Grade Pay Rs. 5400/-*(on completion of four years of service in
Grade Pay Rs.4800/-. |
Parity has not been extended to SSO(A/cs)/ Railways. |
VIIth CPC w.e.f. 01.01.2016 | 9300-34800 Grade Pay Rs.4800/- (Level -8) and Rs. 5400/-* (Level- 9) (on completion of four years of service in Grade Pay Rs.4800/-. (Para 11.40.83 of VIIth CPC) | Level – 8 and Level-9. | Grade Pay Rs. 5400/- recommended by VIIth CPC but, not granted as yet.
|
9300-34800 Grade Pay Rs. 5400/-* (on completion of four years of service in
Grade Pay Rs.4800/-. |
All the other organized Accounts Cadre has been granted this parity except Railway Accounts. This is a matter of discrimination among A/Cs Cadre working under GoI. |
VIIth CPC vide undernoted paras has recommended that:-
11.40.82 – The Commission finds merit in the contention that the above has led to an anomalous situation. It is therefore recommended that in cases where a senior employee has cleared both Appending IIA and Appending IIIA examinations before the junior, and purely through circumstances the junior is drawing higher GP, the anomaly should be fixed by stepping up the pay of the senior employee vis-à-vis the junior, and then fixing the senior employee in the Pay Matrix.
11.40.83 – In line with our recommendations for Organized Accounts Cadres, it is further recommended that employees in GP 4800 should be upgraded, on completion of four years’ service, to the existing GP 5400 (PB-2), viz., Level 9 in the pay matrix, on a nonfunctional basis.
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