Views of Karnataka Circle on merger of ASP cadre in to PS Gr. B cadre

Karnataka Circle informed that the proposal for merger of ASP to PSS Gr "B" officer as proposed by the GS is agreed.

Simultaneously in the course of discussion the following points may be discussed in detail.

1]    Each Circle should post the Senior Most Gr B Officer as the Head of the Division. To facilitate this while ordering for transfer/posting , a panel of Gr B Officers to be formed who can be posted as the Head of the Divisions based on their seniority in the Gradation List after ascertaining the available number of Gr B Divisional Head Posts in that particular circle/unit.

2]   Cadre Restructuring Committee for Gr C Cadre appointed by the Department had submitted the Report wherein it was recommended to accord the non functional upgradation of GP of HSG II from 4200 to 4600 after completion of 2 years of service. Hitherto, the GP of both HSG II and IP is identical. If the said recommendations are considered, there will be anomaly between the pay of IP Cadre and HSG II cadre if the similar benefits were not accorded to IP Cadre lest which will adversely affect discharging of administrative powers of the IP cadre in the light of the fact that the Inspector Posts being the Sub Divisional Heads have to carry out verification of Establishment Statistics, Incentive bills, Public complaints, seize the records in case of fraud and also record the statements of the Sub Postmasters including HSG-1 and HSG –II Postmasters in time of exigencies and investigation of Loss and Fraud Cases.

If the GP of the Supervisory cadre that is HSG–II is conferred with the non functional GP of 4600 after completion of two years of service without implementing the cadre restructuring of the IP/ASP cadre will disturb the entire mechanism of Sub Divisional Administration in the light of assigning multifarious duties and responsibilities to the Inspectors/ASPs in the changing scenario.

If the due care was not initiated to restructure the cadre of IP/ASP before implementing the cadre restructure of Gr C cadre, will have far reaching consequences wherein a situation could arise in which the so called Sub Divisional Heads will be called as Sub Divisional Heads for the name sake without enforcing desperately required command and control over the offices in his own sub division.

3]   Already Sixth Central Pay Commission, CAT, Ernakulam Bench vide OA 381/2010 had given its recommendation/verdict that the Inspector Posts deserves the GP of 4600 as they lie in the analogous with their counterpart Inspectors of Income Tax and Central Excise after meticulously studying the job profile of Inspector Post cadre.

Though Department Of Posts submitted the proposal for Upgradation of GP of IP cadre to Ministry of Finance, the same was rejected with frivolous reasons.

Aggrieved by the apathy of the Govt in not implementing the Hon CAT, Ernakulam Judgment, this Association had filed another OA (289/13) in the same bench and whose Final Judgment is expected in the next month and which will be naturally in the favour of this cadre and the Department/Govt has to implement the up gradation of IP to 4600.

4]    Presently, the All India Seniority List of Inspectors are prepared on the basis of their date of entry to the cadre on which basis the Gr B promotion is being conferred through Seniority cum fitness basis.

In the contrary, the next promotion that is ASP promotion is being accorded to the IP as per the seniority in the IP cadre within the Circle which is against the principle of natural justice due to the following glaring anomalies.

A] As IP in one circle gets the ASP promotion soon after completing three years for example in Kerala Circle. If the same ASP is transferred to some other circle on Rule 38 Transfer, he will continue as ASP in that circle though he remains junior in the All India Seniority List of IPs. Besides the IPs who are working in the transferred circle though they are senior in the IP cadre have to work under the ASP who is junior to him.

Further if the same ASP is promoted in the LDCE for Gr B exam, he will get the benefit of fixation whereas the IPs who are senior as per the seniority list is promoted in the LDCE for Gr B Exam will get lesser fixation of pay comparably.

To add, it also affects our cadre as there is an element of Direct Recruitment in the cadre and the Direct Recruit IP’s will be able to get 6600 GP in their MACP III whereas the promote Inspectors cannot reach the 6600 GP and they will get retired at the 5400 GP.

5]    Though the element of Direct Recruitment was introduced to improve the quality and efficiency of the Cadre, many of the Directly recruited Inspectors are deserting the Department after working for some months due to heavy work load, extensive rural tour involved in the duties and also due to the fact that they are getting 4200 GP and minimum pay of 13500 whereas their batch mates who appeared in the same exam and who are allotted to Income Tax and Central Excise Dept are given 4600 GP and minimum pay of Rs 17140.

As such, there is brain drain in the cadre as they think that the Post of Inspector Posts is less attractive both in terms of pay and job profile.

To overcome from all the above, anomalies the only solution left is the Merger of ASP with Gr “B”

6]     There are 116 posts of ASP postmaster posts which are identified for Grade-3 postmaster may be upgraded and redeployed to DO/RO/CO/Dte for BD/TGY activities.

Source : Karnataka Blog