Justice Denied
The Sixth Central Pay Commission
seemingly set right the anomaly in the pay
scales of Inspector and Assistant
Superintendent of Posts that had become
pronounced by the unilateral decision of the
Govt. to upgrade the Pay scales of the
analogous cadre of Inspectors in the CBDT and
CBEC. The Commission rightly recognized the
need to keep parity with the analogous cadres
and accordingly recommended in par 7.6.14
upgradation of the pre-revised pay scales of
Inspector and Assistant Superintendent Posts
by one step ahead.
The cadre of Inspector Posts has been
subjected to humiliation at very frequent
intervals. When the Fourth Pay commission‘s
recommendations were implemented, the
Inspector‘s pay scale and the status enjoyed by
them suffered a set back due to downgrading
their pay scale and making it almost equal to the
pay scale of the operative LSG staff. It took
Herculean efforts for more than one decade and
the genuine anomaly could be set right only by
the Fifth Pay Commission headed by Justice
Rathinavel Pandian and the glory and unique
status held by the Inspectors was once again
restored to its right place. Here again, though
the Department of Posts was convinced about
the need to upgrade the pay scale of Inspector
Posts, very little effective steps were taken to
remedy the anomaly in time and the cadre of
Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents Posts
were made to suffer the ignominy for more than
a decade.
The apathy of the Department of Posts
towards the cadre of Inspector Posts is very
much explicit in the way the Department has
handled the matters relating to this cadre in the
past three decades. Our Association has been
rightly projecting the deficiencies and the
ineffective approach to the problems. This cadre
is made to fight for its genuine rights and most
often none of them are conceded and even if
certain basic things are accepted, the same is
not implemented in right earnest. This cadre
has not had the benefit of more than one cadre
review, though the rules provided for periodical
review of the promotional opportunities available
to them. It would be a lengthy repetition to
recall every step taken by our Association to
Page Subject
3 Promotion to PS Group ‗B‘
7 IP—Grade Pay
14 Important Rulings
19 RTI cases
26 Circle News
27 New developments
29 PSI Activities
34 Merger of IP & ASP cadre
Page 2
implement the accepted recommendations of Second Cadre Review since 1989 and we wonder whether it would be implemented at all. The entire exercise was to improve the career growth of the Inspectors which started to deteriorate after 1980s. Even though the position has grown from bad to worse, the Department could not take any conclusive step to implement the same in the manner best suited to the present situation. But the Department did not lag behind to take care of the interests of IPoS officers by constituting six cadre review committees and implementing the tailor made recommendations forthwith. The result, several of our seniors have not even reached the level of P.S. Gr. B even after serving as Inspector and Assistant superintendent Posts for more than 25 years. Even for getting the due Gazetted status to Assistant superintendent Posts, we had to fight for nearly a decade, even though similar status was conferred on analogous cadres in other Departments.
The Department loses no time to acknowledge that it is the cadre of Inspectors and Assistant Superintendent Posts who constitute the back bone only to extract unlimited work from these cadres to successfully implement all the new business ventures. The norms for creation of posts have been thrown to the wind and the Inspectors have been made to procure business for Rural PLI and other business initiatives. The additional time spent by the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents do have a telling negative impact on the quality of other operative services offered by the Department. But the Department realises a little on this aspect. At least the Department should have come to the rescue of the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendent Posts in securing their dignity and honour and parity about the pay scales.
The cadre of Inspector and Assistant Superintendent Posts is once again at the mercy of the Department of Posts and the Ministry of Finance to set right the anomalies arising out of the implementation of the recommendations of Sixth CPC and the subsequent (latest) orders issued by the MOF in their OM dated 13.11.2009 and 16.11.2009. The recommendations of Sixth CPC to place Inspector Posts on par with Inspectors of CBT/CBEC and Assistants of CSS in the pre-revised scale of pay has been duly accepted by the Govt. We have already brought to the notice of the Department the injustice done to the cadre of Inspectors and Assistant Superintendent Posts compared to the equivalent posts in Accounts line and we have sought higher Grade Pay of Rs 4600/- for Inspector Posts and Rs 4800/- for Assistant Superintendent Posts. The Govt. has considered the demand of Inspectors in CBDT/CBEC and Assistants in CSS for an upward revision of their Grade Pay from Rs 4200/- to Rs 4600/-and issued orders on 13.11.2009 and 16.11.2009 with retrospective effect. But the demand made by the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendent Posts to the Department of Posts is still to be studied and considered. Though our Association has taken prompt steps to highlight the anomalies, the Department is yet to consider the various options available and settle the same quickly. The inordinate delay in clinching the issue in time would ultimately have drastic impact in the long run leading to losing the parity with analogous cadres which the Sixth Pay Commission felt was justified and accordingly was so gracious to concede.
Unmindful of the enormous work load, this cadre continues to give its best to the Department. But the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents Posts have no second opinion that the Department treats them in a step motherly fashion. We pin our hopes on the present Secretary Posts to clinch the issue favourably, lest the parity achieved would fade away in course of time.
/S. Samuel/
General Secretary
