Justice Denied
The Sixth Central Pay Commission seemingly set right the anomaly in the payscales 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 7.6.14upgradation of the pre-revised pay scales ofInspector 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 recommendations were implemented, the Inspectors pay scale and the status enjoyed by them suffered a set back due to downgrading their pay scale and making it almost equal to thepay scale of the operative LSG staff. It took Herculean efforts for more than one decade and the genuine anomaly could be set right only bythe Fifth Pay Commission headed by Justice Rathinavel Pandian and the glory and uniquestatus held by the Inspectors was once againre stored to its right place. Here again, though the Department of Posts was convinced about the need to upgrade the pay scale of InspectorPosts, very little effective steps were taken toremedy the anomaly in time and the cadre of Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents Posts were made to suffer the ignominy for more thana 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 thepast three decades. Our Association has been rightly projecting the deficiencies and the ineffective approach to the problems. This cadreis 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 implement the accepted recommendations of Second Cadre Review since 1989 and wewonder 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 ofthe 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. Atleast 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 intheir 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 ofthe 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 anupward revision of their Grade Pay from Rs4200/- 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 intime 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 stepmotherly fashion. We pin our hopes on thepresent Secretary Posts to clinch the issue favourably, lest the parity achieved would fadeaway in course of time.
/S. Samuel/
General Secretary
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