ALL INDIA POSTAL & RMS PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION-AP CIRCLE

Minutes of the 2nd meeting of Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS)

Venue: Committee Room, Cabinet Secretariat, Rashtrapati Bhawan
Date of Meeting: Thursday, the 1 st March, 2016
Time of Meeting: 6:45 PM
Members of E-CoS present
1          Cabinet Secretary
2.         Chairman, Railway Board
3.         Home Secretary
4          Defence Secretary
5          Secretary, D/o Science & Technology
6.         Secretary, D/o Personnel & Training
7.         M/o Health & Family-Welfare
8.         Secretary, D/o Pension and Pensioner’s Welfare
9.         Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat
10. Secretary, D/o Posts
11 . Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General

Secretariat for E-CoS:
1. Jöint Secretary, Implementation Cell, D/o Expenditure
2. Director, Implementation Cell, D/o Expenditure

Representatives of JCM (Staff-side):

1 .        Shri Shiv Gopal Mishra
2.         Shri M. Raghavaiah
3.         Shri Rakhal Das Gupta
4.         Shri Ch. Sankara Rao
5.         Shri J.R. Bhosle
6.         Shri Guman Singh
7.         Shri R.P. Bhatnagar
8.         Shri K.S. Murty
9.         Shri K.K.N. Kutty
10.       Shri C. Srikumar
11 .      Shri R. Srinivasan
12.       Shri M. Krishnan
13.       Shri M.S. Raja

Subject: Implementation of the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission — 2nd meeting of the E-CoS

A meeting of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) was held on 1 st March, 2016 in the Cabinet Secretariat under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary to discuss issues raised by Staff„side of JCM

2. Welcoming the members of E-CoS and JCM Staff side, Cabinet Secretary observed that the meeting had been called to take a note of concerns of Stäff-$ide of JCM regarding recommendations of the 7th CPC and invited the members Of Staff-side of JCM to share their views on the recommendations.

3. Opening the discussion, representative of Staff-side of JCM expressed gratitude to Cabinet Secretary for inviting them for interaction regarding the recommendations of the 7th CPC and requested that more frequent interactions of JCM may be held to resolve outstanding issues across the table. It was expressed that 7th CPC has recommended a meager increase of 14% in the minimum pay as against increase ranging up to 54% during previous Pay Commissions. It was further stated that the recommendations on minimum pay, allowances, advances etc. will cause difficulty to employees. Representative of Staff-side informed that they have already submitted a charter of demands to the Cabinet Secretary bringing out the issues. These have also been discussed in the meeting of JS (IC) with Staff-side of JCM held on 19.02.2016.

4. Major concerns expressed by JCM Staff-side were as under:

The minimum pay of Rs. 18000/- p.m. recommended by the Commission is on lower side and needs to be revised upward by taking into account the prices of commodities as on 01.07.2015 and appropriately factoring in for social obligations & housing.

(ii) New Pension Scheme should be done away with. Persons governed by the NPS are deprived of Family Pension and do not have provision of provident fund. As a result they are at a disadvantageous position as compared to the persons governed by the old system.

(iii) Recommendations on allowances need to be properly examined before taking a decision.

(iv) Fixed Medical Allowance should be increased from existing Rs. 500 p.m. to Rs. 2000 p.m. as majority of cities are not covered under CGI-IS and people residing outside the CGHS covered area are unable to meet their medical needs with meager amount of Rs. 500 p.m.

(v) Recommendation regarding withdrawal of non-interest bearing advances may not be accepted.

(vi) Outsourcing of services should be discouraged as the contract workers are being exploited by contractors and at the game time the service delivery is being compromised due to inefficiency and lack of accountability of low aid contractual staff.

(vii) Enhancement in contribution towards Group Insurance Scheme, is not justified as this would reduce the actual increase in take home salary considerably. If the rates are to be raised, the Government should bear the insurance premium

(viii) The recommendation regarding grant of only 80% of salary for the second year of Child Care Leave need not be accepted as this would deter women from availing of CCL, which was introduced as a welfare measure.

(ix) Annual increments be granted @ 5% instead of existing 3% and increments may be granted on two dates viz., 1 st of January and 1 st of July of every year as in the present system of grant of increment on 1 st July of every year, employees joining/promoted after 1 st January, who do not complete 6 months services as on 1 st July, have to wait for up to 18 months for grant of increment.

(x) The Commission’s recommendation of downgrading the Assistants of Central Secretariat for bringing in parity with their counterparts in the field offices is not appropriate.

(xi) Recommendation regarding PRIS need not be accepted as no scientific mechanism has been devised to assess the performance of employees and the same could ecourage favoritism.

5. Issues regarding financial upgradation under MACPS in promotional hierarchy without grading stipulation. grant of two increments on promotion introduction of Productivity Linked Bonus, treating Grameen Dak Sevak as Government employees, removal of pap of 5% on compassionate appointment 8i full pay and allowances In case of Work Related Illness and Injury Leave improving promotional avenues for technical and supervisory staff etc. were also raised by members of JCM.

6. During the discussion, representatives of JCM also suggested that the Nodal Officers nominated by various Ministries/Departments may hold interactions with recognized Staff Associations and other stakeholders under their purview so as to identify issues specific to those Ministries/Departments for redressal.

7. After hearing the participants, Cabinet Secretary observed that the deliberations have helped E-CoS in understanding the major concerns of the Staff-side and said that all issues have been taken note of. He assured that fair consideration will be given to all points brought out by JCM before taking a final view. He further stated that the E-CoS needs to examine the Report of the Commission in entirety as well as the issues raised by JCM in consultation with all other stakeholders. As such, it may take some time to take a final call on the recommendations of the Commission.

8. Cabinet Secretary also advised the members of E-CoS to hold interactions with their Staff Associations and other stakeholders under their purview preferably within a week.

9. Meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair.

The periodical meeting of JCM National Council, with the Secretary Pension was held on 10.3.2016 at the the Conference hall of the Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Sardar Patel Bhawan, New Delhi today i.e. 10.3.2016

After the initial comments from the Secretary Pension and the Secretary Staff Side, the items which had been subjected to discussion in the earlier meeting and the action taken statement thereon were taken up. The following were the issues that came up for discussion in the Action Taken Statement.

1. Abnormal delay in the issue of revised PPO to pre 2006 retirees pensioners/family pensioners. (as per the minutes of the JCM held on 26.02.20125).The following information was given at the meeting:

Ministry/Deptt. Total Cases Revised authority issued PPOs yet to be revised

Civil Ministries 431172 425599 5573

Railways 984260 984260 Nil

Posts 159675 159675 Nil

Telecom 53126 52284 272

2.Cashless treatment to CGHS beneficiaries by empanelled private hospitals. The health Ministry officials stated that since the budgetary provisions are made separately for each Ministry it was not possible to ensure cashless treatment to serving employees. The concerned Department or Ministry has to enter into agreement with the hospitals.

3.Finalisation of Family pension cases within a specified period.

It was stated by the official side that the instructions have already been issued. Regarding the complaint from the M.P. Circle of the Postal Department, the matter has been taken up with the concerned authorities on 6.2.2015. The representative of the Postal Department said that the complaint has been attended to and the matter has been settled.

Agenda Items for the meeting:

1. Grant of Gratuity on retirement/death of a Central Govt. NPS subscriber. The representatives of the Pension department said that the Department of Expenditure has given their concurrence for the grant of Gratuity for the NPS subscribers on 8.1.2016. The requisite amendment to the rules, they added were being processed and the consultation with the Law Ministry and the Labour Ministry have already been made. They said that they would expedite the issuance of orders in the matter.

2. Extension of the benefits of full pension to pre-2006 pensioners who had completed more than 20 years of service but less than 33 years. The Staff side said that despite series of judgements in favour of the pensioners, the Government has not yet issued the orders. Recently the Nagpur Tribunal has issued a contempt notice to the Government. They also alleged that the pensioners are being dragged to litigation. The Representatives of the Pension Department informed that the Department of Expenditure had not agreed to extend the benefit generally to all which has resulted in filing appeal. The representative of the Department of Expenditure stated that in the light of the view of the Department of legal affairs, the matter would be re-examined.

3. Delay in the finalisation of Family pension cases by the PCDA (Pension) Allahabad. In response to the complaint the representative of the Defence Ministry informed that only in a few cases, the finalisation has been delayed due to the documentation difficulties. They assured to sort out the matter.

4. Grant of modifed parity to all those who retired prior to 1.1.2006 with reference to the upgraded post. The Staff Side stated that the Department of Pension has taken a very narrow view of the matter and the cases are dragged to the courts of law. The very spirit of the recommendation of the 5th CPC to bring about atleast modified parity if not full parity has not been appreciated by the Govt. The issue was discussed at length. The official side pointed out the decisions of the Court in favour of the position taken by the Government in the case of K.S. Krishnaswany in CANO. 3174/3006, which has been upheld by the Honourable Gujarat High Court. In reply the Staff Side pointed out that the said decisions quoted by the official side had come about due to the phrase employed while issuing the original order viz. corresponding replacement scale. After some discussions, the Chairman agreed to look into the matter afresh and revisit the order of the Department of Pension in the matter.

5.The meeting also discussed the difficulties of Pensioners during the hearing of Pension Adalats. The Staff Side pointed out the need to engage some knowledgeable person to assistant the complainants. The official side said that there had been no prohibition in the matter. The Petitioners are entitled to seek the assistance of another pensioner in presenting his case. If specific complaint of denial of this facility is brought to their notice, the Pension Department will issue the necessary instruction in the matter.