Minutes of Formal Meeting of Irpof with Railway Board Held on 16/1/2012 in the Conference

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MINUTES OF FORMAL MEETING OF IRPOF WITH RAILWAY BOARD HELD ON 16/1/2012 IN THE CONFERENCE HALL, RAIL BHAWAN, NEW DELHI.

1.0 Opening address

1.1Additional Member (Staff), Railway Board extended a warm welcome to all concerned. He spoke of continuous efforts being made to address the legitimate demands of IRPOF and of success having been achieved in this direction. He indicated that there are certain issues which have arisen upon implementation of the 6th Pay Commission recommendations, which are taking time and that efforts are being made in the right direction to resolve them in the best interest of Administration and promotee officers. He expressed the hope that issues would be discussed in the interest of both, Administration as well as Promotee Officers in a very cordial and harmonious atmosphere.

He thereupon requested Shri A.K. Vohra, Member(Staff) to give his inaugural address.

2.0 Member(Staff), Railway Board, in his address, extended a warm welcome to the President, IRPOF, Secretary General, IRPOF, other representatives representing different Zones and officers of Railway Board, to the Formal Meeting with Board.

He stated that Federations form a major element in maintaining industrial relations and peace that we have today and that he reposes a lot of faith in Federations. He added that Secretary General, IRPOF has been regularly interacting about the issues concerning promotee officers and of efforts being made to resolve the issues.

Referring to the financial health of Indian Railways, Member (Staff) stated that though on the freight front, we are growing even today at about 9% , financially we are growing at about 10 to 11%. Expenditure is also on the rise and after the implementation of the 6th Central Pay Commission recommendations, the financial health of Railways has not really kept pace. We are trying to find answers to bridge the gap.

On the issue of safety, Member (Staff) stated that there is a marked improvement in the area of derailments either on track account or other accounts, but one area which is causing concern, is accidents taking place on unmanned railway crossings. He appreciated the role of officers at the field level and also at zonal railway level who are contributing in a big way in providing middle level management answers to the problems that we are facing today. He cautioned that as an organization, we are facing a threat now - that of public perception. The public perception is that we have accidents. Though looking at it, in terms of accidents per billions kms, there is a reduction, the failures that were taking place due to joint failures, rail weld failures, rolling bearing failures have also come down and the contribution that our staff and officers have been making in this direction is phenomenal but stressed the need for moving at a quicker pace. He also apprised that efforts are being made to address the fare issues and various options are being explored.

Member (Staff) stated that he is aware of the aspirations of promotee officers from the organization and from those aspirations it emanates that they are not getting adequate representation at the SAG level, their representation at the Junior Administrative Grade level is quite low, etc. Apparently, panels are getting delayed – with the result, promotee officers who are due for retirement, feel that they have been deprived in terms of their pensionary benefits or in terms of their promotional benefits. He stated that he is also aware of the stagnation particularly in services pertaining to Accounts, Engineering and Personnel, the officers waiting for promotion have rendered much higher number of years of service when compared with their colleagues from other services. He apprised the forum that Railway Board is actively working with the Secretary General of the Federation to address this problem and mitigate their hardships. In this direction, Railway Board have also recently reviewed the Recruitment Rules for RDSO so that papers are moved very quickly to UPSC for finalization of the panels. Member (Staff) also discussed the efforts of Railway Board to broaden the base in order to address the problem of stagnation and to give career progression and apprised that some alternatives are being worked upon with recognized federations and also with the Secretary General, IRPOF so that we are able to provide a representative share in the higher management to result in a win-win situation for all.

At the end, Member (Staff) assured the representatives of IRPOF that Railway Board is very open and positive and is appreciative of the hardships and difficulties faced. He expressed the hope that fruitful discussions would take place and the outcome of this meeting would benefit Indian Railways.

3.0Secretary General/IRPOF

Secretary General/IRPOF welcomed Shri A.K. Vohra, Member (Staff) and all the participating officers from Railway Board. He stated that this meeting was due in 2011 but was being held in January 2012 and requested that this meeting may be treated as a Formal meeting of 2011.

Secretary General/IRPOF stated that promotee officers are equally concerned about the image and performance of the Railways. He expressed concern over accidents that are taking place because of non-compliance of the provisions of rules, normal practices. He informed that immediately after the General Managers’ Conference, he had spoken to the zonal units of IRPOF and apprised the members, asking them to be very vigilant and serious about observance of rules and to be very focused and objective in their inspections. The quality of inspections should be maintained and there should be effective follow up action.

Secretary General/IRPOF stated that incremental growth of freight goes on to show that officers and staff of Indian Railways are working hard and implementation of 6th Pay Commission recommendations is not the only factor behind the financial health of Railways. He expressed concern over pricing of services of Railways, which have not been reviewed for the last 8 years despite inflation and the dilemma in this regard. He stressed that some mechanism should be drawn to effectively price the services of railways to keep pace with inflation and it is the demand of the day.

He further stated that Indian Railways is an industry and it should be treated as such and expressed his concern that, we follow the pattern of other Ministries and that is creating problems in managing the human resources of the Indian Railways. He stated that the motivation level of all Railwaymen is required to be maintained. He expressed his agreement with Member (Staff)’s statement about the need for reviewing the requirements of different cadres and appreciated efforts made in this direction. He said it is now desirable that we think about the senior supervisors in the field and the time has also come to change our policies for recruiting graduate engineers as senior supervisors and to attract good graduate engineers as senior supervisors unless we give some assured career, it would be difficult to attract them to Railways. Secretary General stated that in the coming future, the Railway monopoly would be diluted and cautioned that there should be transparency in corporatization and all stakeholders must be taken into confidence.

In his Speech, Secretary General/IRPOF also raised the following important points:

• The delay in holding DPCs for induction in Group A from Group B was pointed out. He stated that due to delay in DPCs, we are losing a lot of seniority and most of our members are of such age profile that they lose their promotions due to such delay and in the process suffer consequential loss in their pension and status. He urged that speed is required to be improved.

• He welcomed the idea of probable changes in the recruitment plan of Group B and Group A. He also mentioned that this would create a win-win situation for all the categories of staff and officers and Indian Railways would immensely benefit from the change. This was discussed at length. This issue was also raised before CRB.

• He also raised the issue of Grade Pay of Rs.5,400/- to all Group B officers and pointed out that in the last Formal Meeting of IRPOF with Board, CRB had promised to look into the matter but there has not been any progress since then and requested that this issue should be finalized expeditiously.

• Problem of stagnation in three departments i.e. Personnel, Accounts & Civil Engineering in the matter of induction into Group ‘A’.

• Stressed that all the CPOs should be asked to furnish the required data, including seniority lists so that DPCs are not delayed for want of data from the Railway Units.

• JAG should be placed in PB-4, with Grade Pay of Rs.8,000/-.

• Entry level pay of Group ‘B’ officers on promotion from Group ‘C’ should be minimum Rs.13,650/- as it has been provided for Direct Group ‘B’ officers in other Ministries after the 6th Pay Commission.

4.0 Discussion on Agenda Items

It was stated by IRPOF that they have modified their agenda item no. 4/2010 and modified their demand. It was explained that instructions on ante dating are not clear. They stressed that ante dating should be reckoned from the 1st date of the vacancy year. This will take care of delays in DPCs which adversely affect the career of Group B officers. It was also stated that this is purely an issue of seniority and Railway Board is competent to take decision on this issue without involving DOPT.

It was intimated that the matter is under active consideration.

The item was discussed at length.

It was stated by IRPOF that it will be a difficult task to calculate exact 50% of vacancies as we have the practice of sending our indent for recruitment of Group ‘A’ JTS officers almost one and a half year in advance. These figures are always presumptive and not actual vacancies in the cadre.

IRPOF mentioned that the ratio of distribution of cadre post in 75 : 25 is reasonable in seven organized services as JTS cadre post are occupied by Group ‘A’ (DR) for a period of two and a half years and at present in most of the departments Group ‘B’ officers are occupying JTS cadre post notionally and vacate in the same year as they are getting five years Ante dating but this will change in near future in technical departments. In case of Accounts Department Group ‘A’ (DR) are occupying JTS cadre post only for two years as they work two years against a trainee post instead of one and a half year in other organized services. Therefore, the cadre distribution of post of JTS should be 66 : 34 for DR Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ for induction to JTS Group ‘A’.

IRPOF also urged to change the ratio of cadre post distribution in seven organized services to 70 : 30 for JTS Group ‘A’ and JTS Group ‘B’ officers. This will give a fair justice to both stream of officers.

After discussion, it was agreed to look into the matter

3/2012 – Rationalisation of cadre in different Zones/Production Units to ensure parity in promotional prospects of Group ‘B’ officers amongst different Railways.

After discussion, it was decided to close the item.

(CLOSED)

4/2012 – JA Grade should be in PB-IV as its NFSG is in PB-IV.

Secretary General/IRPOF stated that the concept of Pay Band depends on multi-layers of grade pay. Minimum two grade pay should be there in one pay band. As on date, only a single functional grade is in PB-4 i.e. SAG. The guidelines say that Selection Grade is intergral part of JAG. A non-functional grade has been segregated from its functional grade i.e. JAG and placed in higher pay band. It was requested that initiative should be taken by Board for placement of JAG in PB-4 with grade pay of Rs.8000/-.

After discussion it was decided that IRPOF would work out the financial implications and a fresh letter explaining the issue as well as financial implication thereof would be addressed by IRPOF, which would be examined.

5/2012 – Cadre restructuring/upgradation of Group ‘B’.

IRPOF appreciated the work being done by E(GC) Dte and requested to expedite the cadre restructuring exercise.

6/2012 – Reimbursement of cost of LAPTOP/Notebook purchased by officers.

It was stated that orders for reimbursement of cost of Laptops/Notebook to the officers are under issue and the matter may be treated as closed.

(CLOSED)

7/2012 – Delay in finalization of JAG/NFSG panels.

The status of finalization of panels and issue of orders was explained. IRPOF appreciated the work of Secretary’s Dte.

(CLOSED)

8/2012 – Delay in DPCs

The delay in holding DPCs for induction in Group A from Group B was pointed out. It was stated that due to delay in DPCs, promotee officers are losing a lot of seniority and most of them are of such age profile that they lose their promotions due to such delay and in the process suffer consequential loss in their pension and status. He urged that speed is required.

It was explained that all out efforts are being made to send the proposal to UPSC for holding DPCs on time but due to some procedural constraints as also Courts’ orders in RDSO case there is some delay. However, every effort is being made to send the DPC proposals on time.

5.0Discussions on the Action Taken Statements on the Minutes of the Meeting of IRPOF with Railway Board held on 6.12.2010

1/2010 – Grant of benefit of Grade Pay of Rs.5400/- to all Group ‘ B’ Officers.

This issue was raised by IRPOF before full Board . It was pointed out that in the last Formal Meeting of IRPOF with Board, the then CRB had promised to look into the matter but there has not been any progress since then. In this, approval of Ministry of Finance would be necessary. IRPOF had discussed this matter with the then MR also who had agreed to write a letter. So far no progress has been made in this direction. IRPOF requested that this matter be accorded due priority and urged to take up the matter with Ministry of Finance.

It was decided to look into the matter.

2/2010 – Benefit of fixation of pay on promotion from the date of increment to Group ‘B’ officers on promotion to Sr. Scale.

IRPOF stated that on ad-hoc promotion to Sr Scale, we get fixation in higher scale but do not get option for exercising fixation from the date of increment i.e.1st July. In this scenario the officers getting promotion in February get the next increment after 16 months.

It was explained that the rule do not provide for option for fixation in the case of ad hoc promotion. IRPOF however stressed that there is a rule which provide that in the case of ad hoc promotion followed by regularization, option for fixation is available. After discussion, it was decided that IRPOF would meet and discuss the matter with EDPC, along with the rule.

4/2010 – Date of appointment of Group ‘B’ officers promoted to Group ‘A’ Junior Sclae.

IRPOF has revised this Agenda. The revised agenda has already been discussed under Item No. 1/2012.

(CLOSED)

6/2010 – Payment of Hotel charges as per the recommendation of the 6th Central Pay Commission.

This issue was raised by IRPOF before full Board. It was explained that a work of construction of Rest Houses at Delhi is underway and contract for phase-I has already been awarded. At present, the proposed site has Railway offices. The work of construction shall commence after dismantling of these offices. It was also explained that Northern Railway was also approached to negotiate with Ginger Hotel in Delhi to make available rooms on assured basis and a meeting was also held in this regard. IRCTC have stated that it is not feasible to provide en bloc booking of rooms.

After discussion, it was concluded that payment of hotel charges is not feasible.

(CLOSED)

8/2010 – Increasing trend of stagnation – promotion from Group ‘B’ to Group ‘A’.

This issue was raised by IRPOF before full Board. IRPOF once again stressed that three departments i.e. Personnel, Accounts and Civil Engineering are facing stagnation and are waiting for upto 16 years for induction in Group A. They pointed out that in the last formal meeting they had suggested 56 posts belonging to General Administration for which there are no Recruitment Rules and these posts are filled by ex-cadre, and they can be utilized for clearing the stagnation in these three departments. They stated that it is only a paper exercise.

It was explained that the matter is under active consideration.

9/2010 – Revision of Charge Allowance on ad-hoc promotion within Group A.

It was explained that as discussed in the previous meeting, the issue was once again put up for consideration and the proposal of IRPOF for revision of charge allowance was not found feasible of acceptance.

(CLOSED)

11/2010 – Fixation of pay on promotion from Group ‘C’ to Group ‘B’

The Item could not be discussed. It was agreed that this item would be discussed in the next Formal Meeting

13/2010 – Transparent transfer policy and proper maintenance of Cadre in different Railways.