15/1089-90,
VASUNDHARA, VASUNDHARA (P.O.), Dt. GHAZIABAD (U.P), PIN-201012
Reference: AIA/Circular-05/2017 Dated: 13th February 2017
To
Unit
Secretaries,
Members
& Spl. Invitees – NE &
Members of
Women’s Committee
Dear
Comrades,
ORGANISE DAY-LONG
DHARNA ON 21st FEBRUARY 2017
The 47th Conference
decided to build up struggle on the departmental charter of demands. We had the
first phase of programme on 15th November 2016 by adopting the
charter of demands and submitting the same through proper channel.
The second phase of the programme
was decided for January 2016, later rescheduled to 21st February
2017.
All the units are requested to
organise Dharna by the Members of the Executive Committee with massive luch
hour meeting. Campaign on the charter of demands may be conducted. A brief on
the Charter of Demands is attached.
While campaigning on the Charter of
Demands, we should simultaneously focus on the demands raised by the
Confederation and mobilise for the one day strike on 16th March
2017. We must keep in mind that the Common Charter of demands and the
departmental charter of demands are complementary to each other and the
struggles for achieving the demands cannot be separated.
With greetings,
Yours fraternally
M. S. Raja
Secretary General
Brief on Charter of
Demands
1.
Strengthen Audit & Accounts to Safeguard People’s Rights
Stop down-sizing; Stop outsourcing & privatisation of Audit &
Accounts; Scrap Curtailment/shedding
of Audit functions in the name of Audit Plan; ensure continuance of the
existing Accounting and Auditing methodologies and appropriate party days with
scientific work norms; ensure effective Panchayati Raj Audit & Accounts by
sanctioning adequate posts; revisit restructuring of Audit effected from 1..4.
2012.
Founding
fathers of the Constitution saw in the CAG a position that is equivalent or
more important than judiciary. This was because of the nature of
responsibilities that he has to discharge.
The
developments in the recent past give an impression that the higher ups in the
Department are more interested in having skeleton activities. The Drastic
curtailment in regularity and propriety audit, overstressing on Performance
Audit etc are nothing but an attempt to abdicate the constitutional
responsibility vested with the CAG.
All
these are used to reduce the manpower at lower level upto Sr Auditor/Accountant
and the shortage of manpower is used to curtail audit further and introduce
outsourcing of functions. The recent decision of CAG to rationalise the staff
strength in audit offices have caused drastic reduction in the cadre strength
of Auditor/Senior Auditor. Even the Auditor/Accountant & SA has been
removed from the technical cadre category.
There
is no visible move to strengthen PRI Audit. This itself raises doubt on the
intention behind this demand – the Department is withdrawing from the role of a
pro-active ‘Comptroller’ to a very superficial ‘Auditor General’ with no
responsibility but with only power. This is an affront to the Indian
Constitution. There is a reluctance to utilise the idle man power available or
to pool the man power. Divide and rule rules.
It is
therefore a must that the Department takes steps for widening and deepening the
scope of the functions, audit as well as accounts including that of Panchayati
Raj Institution, revisit the bifurcation of the office of Accountants General
on functional grounds and develop a multi-skilled manpower from the lower
level. Risk based Audit and Performance audit may be used as additional tools.
Otherwise the whole audit edifice would be under risk.
Neither the executive wants to protect the people’s
rights nor does the CAG want. What everybody wants is to somehow remain afloat.
As far as CAG’s bureaucracy is concerned, the only concern is to create more
posts at higher level at the cost of base level cadres. The performance
vis-a-vis the accountability is very low today.
Only an overhauling as proposed in our proposal for
cadre restructuring can bring about some desirable changes – the mandate that
flows from the Constitution and the accountability there-upon should only be
the concern.
2. a) Amend Company Law and DPC Act for
Audit of Public Sector Undertakings
& Corporations even after
reduction of Government share to below 50%.
b) Amend Company Law to ensure the Audit
by IA&AD of all Public Limited
Companies listed with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)
c) Enact necessary law to bring audit
of all public Financial Institutions by IA&AD.
These demands have become all the more important in
the context of the Governments overdrive on privatisation and selling of family
silver. Public-Private-Participation (PPP) is going to be the order of the day.
This simply means handing over the national assets to the national and
transnational corporates. The move to bring 100% FDI in Railways and 49% in
Defence rings alarm bells for audit also.
Whenever we discuss with our administration,
“global practice” is what is being played up. The department is not oblivious
to the fact that in many of the “model” nations, whenever and wherever public
money is involved or common man’s money is involved, it is brought under the
scrutiny of Supreme Auditor of that nation. What we demand is the same.
From The topmost to any dick and harry in the
government speaks of “globally friendly’
atmosphere! This is nothing but allowing the transnational business
conglomerates to loot the national wealth. This is where the role of CAG as the
“watchdog of Indian finances” has to be seen and strengthened.
3. Restructure
the audit/accounts cadres as per note submitted by this Association & Grant
the following Grades Pay to other cadres
Auditor/Accountant
– 4200,
SA – 4600,
AAO – 4800 & 5400 (PB2) on completion of 4
years,
AO–
6600
SAO - 7600
The issue of parity in Pay scale for SA with
Assistants in CSS maintaining vertical relativity has been our long standing
demand. Through struggles, we achieved it in the past, only to be disturbed
again and again. The court cases filed by some disruptionists elements and its
rejection by the Supreme Court caused immense damage to our demand, giving a
handle to the 6th and 7 CPCs to reject the parity demand. The
decision of the CAG administration to upgrade the SA cadre with 75% direct
recruitment of graduates and to demand total parity with CSS for all cadres is
the result of the consistent persuasion of the demand, supported by the
sustained agitations – including the mass casual leave on 8th April
2010 – we conducted for long.
The first step would be to snatch what has been
denied to us repeatedly and then we have to move forward for betterment of the
service advancement of the entirety of the personnel.
4. a)
Vacate victimisation of Association activists.
b) Allow democratic functioning of
Association without interference from administration
There is no station in IA&AD where gross misuse
of authority against the employees, their Association and its leaders has not taken
place. Many of the Accountants General does not meet the Association. The
grievance redressal machineries have become defunct. The scars of Kerala,
Rajkot, Allahabad & Kolkata are yet to be addressed, so also the wounds of vicitmisations
on the wake one day mass casual leave on 8th April 2010.
The mutilated implementation of the CCS (RSA)
Rules, 1993 has created a mess in the Department. The recognition process is a
never-ending, ever-continuing process in IA&AD.
Basic functional facilities like Special CL etc are
questioned by the filed level administrations.
5. i) Fill up all vacant posts through local recruitment, coming
out of SSC if required;
ii) Reserve
80% posts for those from the respective territory.
It is stated by the CAG administration that 16000
personnel has been recruited during the last 4-5 years. With rate of retirement
being at a faster and because of the vacancies that have accumulated over the years and above all, retention rate of
those recruited being very poor, the man power availability at field level is
much below the requirement – vacancy position being still above 30%.
IA&AD decided to refer the recruitment to SSC
when the SSC was recruiting the personnel locally. Since the judgement of
Supreme Court on Radhey Shyam and others vs UOI, the SSC is compelled to make
the recruitment on all India plane. The result is that majority of the newly
recruited are from out of the particular state having no the knowledge of local
language. Lack of knowledge of the local language affects the functioning as State
Govts do function on the regional language.
Further, the newly recruited personnel also face
lot of difficulties, including the condition to qualify in the regional
language and ban on unilateral transfer.
This recruitment policy also causes low rate of
retention. In the changed circumstances, we demand that IA&AD should come
out of SSC and go for own recruitment, statewise – this will ensure that the
department gets enough number of recruits, enhancing the rate of retention.
Also we insist on revising of the rationalisation
of staff strength in Audit side, leading to drastic reduction in the SA/Auditor
cadre.
6. Stop
unilateral implementation of transfer policy in Commercial Audit & P&T
Audit
The audit criteria issued by the CAG in January
2011 is nothing but total abdication of constitutional responsibility to help
the corrupt executive in the light of the audit report on the deal with Devas
International on the allocation of S-band spectrum. The audit report was
suppressed. It did not get the importance as in the case of 2G or coal. The new
criterion was issued immediately after that, to ensure that such firms (though
in Public Sector) are left scot free.
7.
Implement Arbitration Award on SA pay
Scale
The award
- granting parity in pay scales to SA with Assistants in CSS from 1.1.1986
notionally and actually from 12.11.2011 - given in August 2004 is still pending
for implementation. The UPA government has even in its last days tried to move
a resolution in the Parliament for its rejection. Only because of the timely
intervention by Com Basudev Acharya ensured that it was not carried.
8. Permit all Employees in the GP of 1800
to appear for all Departmental Exams including SOGE
In the recent recruitment of MTS, many of those recruited are with
qualification graduation and above. The promotional avenue for them is quite
limited. These hands are of great asset to the department. (The spectre of
unemployment has made them to come as MTS. It would be in the interest of the
department that those who are graduates are permitted to negotiate the SAS
examination directly, on completion of 3 years
10. Designate Supervisor as AAO
& Earmark 20% of AAO post for seniority cum fitness promotion in all wings
The Recruitments Rule (RR) for SA is about to be amended with direct
recruitment of 75%. This is the pattern available for Assistants in CSS. The
Assistants in CSS so recruited is entitled for promotion as Section Officer –
50 through Departmental Examination and 50% through seniority cum fitness.
In
the Organised Accounts, 20% of the AAO post is earmarked for promotion of SA on
seniority cum fitness. It should be extended same to the SA in IA&AD also.
Further, present day Supervisor should be treated at par with AAO with channel
for further promotion to AO/SAO opened up. There is no difference in the functions
of AAO and Supervisor.
11. Stop downsizing of P&T Audit
Offices; conduct audit of private service providers as per TRAI regulations, widen scope of
audit.
We submitted this proposal in May
2007. The department has avoided discussion on the subject since then.
12. Re-imburse
hotel charges to Railway Audit personnel wherever Railway accommodation is not
allotted while on tour.
In the pretext that personnel of Railway audit are
covered by the TA rules of Railways, this is denied. It is the responsibility
of the Department to ensure that our touring personnel get the entitled type of
Railways accommodation or Railways arrange the entitled type of accommodation.
Otherwise the Hotel Charges be re-imbursed, be it by the Railways or the
Department.
13. Restore
unilateral transfer policy.
The
system of unilateral transfer in cadres where provision for direct recruitment
is there was in vogue in the Department from the very beginning. The scheme was
suspended in 1995-96 for a short period and then re-introduced with certain
stipulations.
But later on
complete ban was imposed on unilateral transfer. This has caused great
inconvenience to employees seeking unilateral transfer.
14. Restore
metal Pass facility to AAOs in Railway Audit
The facility of metal pass to AAOs in railway audit
is denied on the ground that AAO in Railway Accounts are not gazetted. Reply
under RTI has stated that the AAO in Railway Audit with GP of 4800 is entitled
for metal pass. But till date the department has failed to get it extended to
our AAOs.
15. Restore/Extend
JCM facility to AAOs (who were part of the scheme uptil 1984)
When the Scheme of
Joint Consultative Machinery & Compulsory Arbitration was brought into
effect from 1965, SAS Accountant/ Superintendent (later designated as Section
Officer) were Gr C and hence part of the Scheme. But with the restructuring of
cadres in IA&AD in 1984, 80% of the cadre was upgraded and were granted
Gazetted status with the designation AAO, thus excluding them from the ambit of
JCM scheme.
The present cadre of AAO was
essentially a part of JCM Scheme and hence it is unjustifiable to exclude it
later only because the CPC/Govt. decided to restructure or upgrade the cadre on
a later date.
16. Grant
5 promotions in the career
Confederation of Central Govt Employees and
Workers, for the first time, raised the issue of stagnation due to lack of
promotional avenues that are adversely affecting the morale of the employees in
various departments with the 5th CPC. The result was introduction of
the scheme of ACP which came into being from 1999. With the 6 CPC, the demand
was to increase it to 3 which was conceded but with clever dilution – instead
of cadre hierarchy Grade Pay hierarchy was introduced creating lot of
disaffection and confusion.
The 7 CPC, though we persisted with demand for 5
promotions during the entire service – on the 8th, 7th, 6th,
5th and 4th year of the career-, it was not conceded.
(Not only that the 7 CPC did not concede to make it 5 or on promotional hierarchy,
it made it more stringent by making “very good’ as the bench mark). It is a
fact that the personnel of organised Group A services are entitled to get 5
promotions. The personnel down below should also be entitled for the same
hierarchical promotional avenues.
It means, in our department our demand is that: MTS
should get a chance to reach up to AAO; ii) DEO up to AO and iii) SA (in the
new format) up to one level above SAO.
*****
