RESOLUTION ADOPTED IN IST ALL INDIA CONVENTION AT TIRUPATHY

 13^TH & 14^TH NOVEMBER 2011.

HISTORY OF CASUAL LABOUR SYSTEM IN DEPARTMENT OF POSTS OUR TASK.

 

          The system of engaging casual labour is in existence in the dept since undivided P & T department. Due to many struggles by the then NFPTE organizationally and legally in the year 1987 Honorable Supreme Court intervened and gave a land mark judgment on how wages are to be paid and regularization has to be made. Basing on that department of personal & training issued orders. Even before the judgment DOPT issued orders vide OM no 49014/18/84-esstt (C) dated 7-5-85 for one time relaxation to absorb casual labour against regular group D vacancies even though they were not recruited through employment exchange and also made it clear that future engagement should be through employment exchange only. In spite of this engagement of new casual labours is continued with out adhering to the conditions laid down by the DOPT.

 

            After the supreme court verdict department of posts issued an order vide no 65-24/88-spb I dated 17-5-89 declaring all mazdoors, casual labours, contingent paid staff daily wager, daily rated mazdoor and outsiders are to be treated as casual labours. It was clarified in the same order that those who work for not less than 8 hours a day are full time casual labours and those who work less than 8 hours are part time casual labours. These casual labours will have priority in absorption as group D after the non test category group D and extra dept agents. The eligibility criterion was fixed as 240 days engagement in a year for full time casual labours and 480 days engagement in 2 years for part time casual labours. In spite of this orders the regularization of full time and part time casual labors was not done in many divisions.

 

The issue of regularization of full time casual labours as group D was a demand fought by the P&T trade union movement i.e. NFPTE for a long time. The dept of posts again issued an order called as ''grant of temporary status and regularization scheme" in the year 2001.  The scope was further increased vide orders dated 1-11-95 extending the eligibility date from 29-11-85 to 10-9-93. After granting temporary status and working for 3 years in that status they will be treated on par with temporary group D even though group 'D' posts are not in existence.

 

The Para 1 of the dept of posts orders dated 12-4-91 states that temporary status would be conferred on those who have rendered continuous service of at least one year with 240 days (206 days in administrative offices) is taken as one time measure by the authorities to deny other casual labors who complete this conditions as and when they could get 240 days of engagement in a year subsequent to issue of these orders. This interpretation is arbitrary and unjustified. Because of this interpretation thousands of full time /part time casual labors who have completed this condition in subsequent years are not allowed to be conferred the temporary status and the consequential benefits due to lack of vacancies even though temporary status was conferred they could not be regularized. As per the earlier orders of the dept of posts the part time casual labours who have rendered 480 days in 2 years are to be converted into full time casual labours. This benefit is taken away by the dept in the subsequent orders there by they were denied of temporary status and consequent benefits. But dept of telecommunications extended the scheme and implemented in 1997 but similar extension is not allowed in the dept of posts so far even though both are under the same ministry of communication and IT.

 

Subsequently Honorable CAT Hyderabad in OA no 389 delivered judgment to grant temporary status to all those FTCLs who completed 240 in a year and PTCLs who completed 480 days in 2 years. But dept approached Honorable Ap High Court and the High Court upheld the decision of the honorable CAT in its judgment on 8^th September  2010 by dismissing their writ petition filed by the dept. but till date the same is not been implemented resulting in compulsion on the  casual labors to file contempt of court suite. After filing contempt of court suit hurriedly department approached hon'ble supreme court and filed SLP WHICH WAS DISALLOWED by the apex court. After such hectic continued process only department granted temporary status to those employees who won the case. This clearly shows how department is adamant towards casual labor working in the department and dealing the issue of casual labours.

 

Wages : As per the directions of the honorable supreme court vide its verdict in 1987 the wages of part time/ full time casual labour  are to be revised from 1-1-2006 i.e. from the date of effect of implementation of 6^th pay commission report to regular employees. But orders were issued for revision of wages of casual labours that were conferred with temporary status but even though a long gap is there orders were not issued in respect of full / part time casual labours. in some circles  even payment of DA  to the contingent employees on pre revised wages which was paid regularly was stopped in the name of clarification from directorate. Payment of arrears file is tossing from one section to other on the plea of not receiving the information from circles.

 

Instead of issuing orders for revision of wages all of a sudden one order were issued to  all cpm'sg to out source these cadres. This is nothing but violation of fundamental rights given by the constitution of India and naked violation of honorable apex court full bench judgment. Against this immediately NFPE responded and gave a programme of call attention day on 10-2-2011 and chelo cpmg office on 03-03-2011.  Directorate issued modification order restricting this to only administrative offices. On the immediate intervention of NFPE only this was stopped.

 

 Daily rated mazdoors: a new section of casual employment called as daily rated mazdoors came into existence in the department of posts. They are employed in mail business centers i.e. almost in every mail offices and for clearing the arrears of data entry. They are attending to the duties of Pas and SAs i.e. sorting of letters, booking of speed post articles and data entry. No uniform procedure is being followed through out the country in respect of their wages. A uniform rate has to be fixed through out the country.

 

Keeping in view the above situation the FOLLOWING DEMANDS are to be highlighted for early settlement along with the issue of implementation of revised wages from 1-1-2006

 

DEMANDS

 

 1]         REGULARISE ALL PART TIME,FULL TIME CASUAL LABOURERS AND GRANT ALL benefits            INCLUDING PENSION AND ENSURE JOB SECURITY TO ALL EXISTING CASUAL, CONTINGENT & CONTRACT WORKERS.

 

 2]        Revision of wages of all full time / part time casual labours and payment of arrears from 1-1-2006.

 

 3]         The condition of 1-9-93 in respect of FTCL / PTCL for absorption against the vacancies of MTS has to be removed keeping in view the AP HIGH COURT judgment which stated clearly that all PART TIME CASUAL LABOURS WHO WORKED FOR 480 DAYS IN TWO YEARS SHOULD BE TREATED AS TEMPORARY STATUS CASUAL LABOUR FOR THE PURPOSE OF ABSORPTION WITH OUT ANY CONDITIONS THOSE WORKING UPTO 2010.

 

 4]        Fixing of uniform rates to daily rated mazdoors who are attending to the duties of PA /SA on the minimum of their pay.

 

 5]        Ftcl/ptcls are to be given priority against gds vacancies before giving open notification honoring the assurance given by the department at the time of discussions on strike charter.

 

 6]        All the posts of PT CONTINGENT be converted as GDS and the present employees working in those posts may be absorbed as one time measure to settle the issue permanently.

 

 7]         No new casual labor be engaged further and no out sourcing in the department.

 

 8]        ISSUE OF IDENTITY CORDS TO ALL THE CASUAL LABOURS

 

 9]       REVISION OF HOURLY RATE OF SHORT DUTY STAFF ON PAR WITH 6^TH PAY COMMISSION WAGES

 

 

The number of casual workers is increasing day by day due to the policy of privatization in every sector including central govt organizations. It is the duty of the organized working class to organize these sections and bring them into the working class movement. Confederation of central govt employees and NFPE took a decision to form casual labours union. Still many circles are lagging behind in forming state level organizations. Till now in west Bengal Andhra Pradesh Kerala and UTTARANCHAL circles state level units were formed. In some circles like Tamilnadu efforts are going on. Nfpe federal executive decided to conduct ALL INDIA CONVENTION at TIRUPATHY to form ALL INDIA UNION. Accordingly all India union was formed today in this convention with the name as "ALL INDIA POSTAL CASUAL, PART TIME, CONTINGENT & CONTRACT WORKERS FEDERATION" so that the process of forming state level committees will be speeded up and the most down trodden will be brought under the banner of NFPE. Unless circle unions of nfpe took steps effectively the task will not be completed. Hence all the circle co ordination committees of the circles are requested to take it as a serous task and circle unions may be formed and brought under the banner of THIS FEDERATION to strngthen the working class movement in DEPARTMENT OF POSTS.

 

Without fulfilling this task we cannot achieve the objective of united strength in postal wing which is the only way for settlement of demands of entire postal workers.

 

Casual Labor Union Zindabad

Nfpe Zindabad

Workers Unity Zindabad

--
M.Krishnan
Secretary General NFPE

HOLDING OF SEMINAR BY NFPE ON THE SUBJECT "GLOBALIZATION POLICIES AND   SERVICE SECTOR" AT ALLAHABAD ON 05.12.2011.

 

 

No. PF-59 /2011          Dated: 25^th November, 2011

 

To

 

            The Secretary,

            Department of Posts,

            Dak Bhawan,

            New Delhi-110 001

 

Sub:   Holding of Seminar by NFPE on the Subject "Globalization policies and         Service Sector" at Allahabad on 05.12.2011

 

Madam,

 

            It is brought to your kind attention that a seminar is being organized by NFPE on the Subject "Globalization policies and Service Sector" at Allahabad (U.P.) on 05.12.2011.

 

            It is therefore requested to kindly cause suitable instructions to all concerned to grant Special Casual Leave to the participants in Seminar.

 

            With Greetings

 

Yours faithfully,

 

(M. Krishnan)

Secretary General

 

Copy : All The CPMGs for similar action.

--
M.Krishnan
Secretary General NFPE

SMALL SAVINGS AGENTS UPSET

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LTC-SPECIAL PACKAGE FOR NORTH –EASTERN REGION

Special Package for North-Eastern Region

            The Ministry of Tourism, as a part of its promotional activities releases print, electronic, online and outdoor media campaigns to promote various tourism destinations and products of the country including the North East Region. Besides, North East specific media campaigns are launched to promote the entire North East Region. The Ministry of Tourism provides complimentary space to the North Eastern States in India pavilions set up at major international travel fairs & exhibitions. Further, In relaxation of CCS (LTC) Rules 1988, the Government has decided to permit Government servants to travel by air to North Eastern Region on LTC as follows:-

            (i) Group A and Group B Central Government employees will be entitled to travel by Air from their place of posting or nearest airport to a city in the NER or nearest airport.

            (ii) Other categories of employees will be entitled to travel by air to a city in the NER from Guwahati or Kolkata.

            (iii) All Central Government employees will be allowed conversion of one block of Home Town LTC into LTC for destinations in NER.

            (c): Every year 10% of the total plan allocation of the Ministry of Tourism is mandatorily earmarked for releasing funds to the States of the North East Region. This apart, following special dispensations are given to the North Eastern States:

            (i) Under the scheme of product/infrastructure development of destinations/circuit, budget accommodation, restaurants, etc. are allowed to the States of North East Region, selected places of J&K and Eco Tourism projects only.

            (ii) For organizing fairs & festivals 100% central financial assistance is allowed to the North Eastern States & the State of Jammu & Kashmir only.

            This information was given by the Minister of State of Tourism, Shri Sultan Ahmed in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

Source-PIB

--
M.Krishnan
Secretary General NFPE

STEERING COMMITTEE PRESS STATEMENT AND MEMORANDUM TO PRIME MINISTER DEMANDING WITHDRAWAL OF PFRDA BILL

STEERING COMMITTEE OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ORGANISATIONS ON PFRDA BILL

C/o AIRF, 4, State Entry Road, New Delhi – 110001

9868244035

 

PRESS STATEMENT

 

Thousands of State and Central government employees, Railway workers, Defence workers, BSNL, University and School teachers today participated in a massive March to Parliament against the PFRDA Bill and to submit a petition to the Prime Minister to which millions of employees have subscribed their signature. The rally was addressed by the leaders of various organizations of employees and several Members of Parliament.

 

A seven member delegation consisting of Coms. S K Vyas, (Convenor, Steering Committee) Shiv Gopal Mishra, (General Secretary, AIRF), KKN Kutty, (Secy. General, Confederation of Central Government Employees & Workers)   S.N. Pathak, (President, AIDEF) P. Abhimanyu (General Secretary, BSNLEU) Rajendran (General Secretary, STFI) and Sukomal Sen (Sr. Vice President, AISGEF) met the Hon'ble Prime Minister today along with Com Basudeb Acharya, MP and Com.  Tapan Sen, MP and General Secretary of CITU. The delegation appealed to the Prime Minister to reconsider the government's policy of privatisation of pension funds and withdraw the PFRDA bill which seeks to replace the existing defined benefit Pension Scheme of government employees. The concern and anxiety of the government employees over the financial security in the evening of their life was also brought to the notice of the Prime Minister.

 

The petition to the Prime minister elaborated the various reasons as to why the present bill will be neither in the interest of the employees nor will benefit the Government Exchequer (Copy enclosed).

 

The Hon'ble Prime Minister assured the delegation of the consideration of the petition and the feasibility of providing a guarantee for a minimum pension which the Standing Committee had recommended but unfortunately not found approval of the Cabinet.  The Prime Minister informed the delegation that his Government would not do anything to harm the interest of the employees.

 

The rally was concluded at 2.30 PM. On behalf of the Steering Committee, Com. Vyas announced that the employees will organize two hour walk out on the next day the Parliament takes up the PFRDA Bill for consideration.

 

 

SK VYAS

Convener

 

 

 

STEERING COMMITTEE

OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ORGANISATIONS

 ON PFRDA BILL.

 

13.C Feroze Shah Road

New Delhi. 110 001

Dated: 25^th November, 2011

Phone: S.K.Vyas . Convenor: 91-98682 44035.

 011-2338 2286. E mail. Confederation06@yahoo.co.in

 

.

To

The Hon'ble Prime Minister of India,

New Delhi

 

  Sub: Request for Scrapping of PFRDA Bill

 Sir, 

We submit this Petition to bring to your kind notice and through your good office to the attention of the Honorable Parliamentarians of our country certain aspects of the re-introduced PFRDA bill, which will have adverse impact on the exchequer in general and on the prevailing service conditions of the Civil Servants.  We pray that our submissions in this regard may please be caused to be considered earnestly and the implication of the provisions of the bill critically analyzed and examined and take decision to kindly withdraw the Bill from the Parliament.

We submit the following for your critical and objective analysis of the Bill : 

1.      The concept of old age security for civil servant in the form of pension has a very ancient

origin dating back as early as third century BC, the quantum being half of the wages on  completion of forty years blemishless  service to the king.

2.      In the last century, one of the measures taken by the colonial rulers to attract talented personnel to the Royal service was the introduction of pension scheme for civil servants in  1920.  The Royal commission through its various recommendations improved the scheme and the 1935 Government of India Act provided it statutory strength. 

 

3.      The land mark judgment of the Supreme Court in D .S. Nakara and others Vs. Union of India      (AIR-1983-SC-130)(applicable to the Central and State Government employees, teachers,  and           all stake holders of pension system) conceptualized pension stating that pension is neither a bounty nor a grace bestowed by the sweet will of the employer, but a payment for the past services rendered.  It was construed as a right step towards socio-economic justice and a concrete assurance to the effect that the employee in his old age is not left in the lurch.

 

4.      The fifth Central Pay Commission which was set up by the GOI in 1993 to go into the wage structure and pension scheme of the Central Government employees referring to the Judgment of the Supreme Court cited, observed (Para 127.6) that

 

"pension is the statutory, inalienable and legally enforceable right earned by the civil servant by the sweat  of the brow and being so must be fixed, revised, modified and changed in the way not dissimilar to salary granted to serving employees." 

 

5.      The guiding principle adopted in determining of pay package of civil servants is to spread out    the wage compensation over a long period of time whereby wages paid out during the work  tenure is low in order to effect payment of pension on retirement. As such civil service pension  is rightly termed as deferred wage.  While in the organized private sector the employer is   required to contribute equal share to the Provident Fund of the employees, the Government neither contributes to the Provident Fund of the civil servants nor takes any pension  subscription from  him.

 

6.      In an unwarranted intervention in the Statutory defined benefit  Pension system, the IMF in    their work paper (WP/01/125,(2001) propounded the creation of a pension fund by eliciting subscription   from the Wage earners at the earliest stage of their employment so as to fetch an annuity decent enough to sustain him at the old age. In fact it was a suggestion for a retrograde change over from the defined benefit pension scheme to a defined contributory system.   While suggesting so, they have categorically stated that India does not suffer demographic pressure experienced by major countries, for India's population beyond the age of 60 was about 7% in 2004 which rose to 8.6% in 2010 and is estimated at 13.7% in 2030 and 20% in 2050.

 

7.      The New contributory pension scheme enunciated by the Government of India and adopted by most of the State Governments is covered by the PRFDA bill. The bill inter alia, envisages a social security scheme for all who desire to have an annuity at his old age which is voluntary and not mandatory.  However, in the case of Civil Servants, who are recruited to Government service after the prescribed cut -off date ( 1.1.2004 in GOI service) the scheme is mandatory in as much as the employee is bound to subscribe 10% of his emoluments to the Pension Fund and the Govt. being the employer would contributes equal amount.  No employee is entitled to opt out of the scheme.

           

8.      Despite the inability to bring in a valid enactment, the Central and all  State Governments other than those of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura through illegal executive orders decided to impose the contributory pension system arbitrarily on the Central and State Government employees .While the Govt.  of India notification excluded the personnel in the armed forces and para-military establishments, the Governments of  the Left ruled States of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura consciously continued with the existing defined benefit pension system.

 

9.      The PRFDA Bill stipulates that there will not be any explicit or implicit assurance of the benefit except market based guarantee.  The subscriber is thus exposed to the following risks at the exit.

a)      If there is a major market shock, the subscriber to the New Pension scheme may end with no ability to purchase an annuity.

b)      Since annuity is and cannot be cost indexed, the real worth of the annuity might fall depending upon the inflationary pressure on the economy.

c)      As per the scheme, the subscriber is to make the choice of investment portfolio.  The Civil Servant being mostly uninformed in finance and investment related matters, he might end up in making wrong choices which would eventually rob him of the old age pension.

d)     The subscriber is perforce to contribute to the charges of the investment managers, whose priority often is as to how much profit they could make through investment of the huge corpus of pension fund in the volatile share market .

 

10.  The pension fund created by the employees' subscription and the employers' contribution which directly flows from the exchequer ( which is nothing but tax revenue of the Govt.) is  made available for the stock market operations which is not only unethical but also blatant diversion of public fund for private  profit, both  Foreign and Indian capitalists.

 

11.  In the case of Civil Servants recruited after the cut-off  date, the new scheme replaces the existing much better "defined benefit" pension scheme. In the process, the Government has created two classes of civil servants viz. the one with a defined benefit pension scheme and the other with the contributory pension scheme in which the employee is to part with 10% of his emoluments to become entitled for an old age social security subject to  the vagaries of share market permits.  Since in both the cases, the pay, allowances, perks, and other benefits, privileges, duties and responsibilities are the same it amounts to wanton discrimination of one against another which is not sustainable in law, rather violative of the existing constitutional provisions.

 

12.  The wage structure presently designed for those who are recruited prior to the cut- off date and after is on the same premise and is depressed to enable the Govt. to meet the pension liability in future.  By imposing the new contributory pension scheme on the employees who are recruited after the cut- off date the Govt. not only denies the statutory defined pension  benefit to them but also compel them to contribute for earning an undefined annuity, which must be characterized as highly discriminatory. 

 

13.  Those who are covered by the contributory pension scheme will become entitled for an annuity, a portion of the accumulated contribution is able to purchase, basing upon the accretion to the fund from the investment.  There is, however, no guaranteed minimum amount of pension for those who are covered by the new scheme, whereas the civil servants covered by the existing scheme do get a defined and guaranteed minimum pension and on his death his family members (wife, widowed and unmarred daughters and unemployed sons below the age of 25) become entitled for family pension.  The discrimination factor is thus compounded.

 

 

14.  The  PFRDA Bill when  enacted, it is rightly feared, will empower the Government to alter or even deny the present employees and pensioners the statutory defined pension benefit as has been done in the case of those who are appointed after the cut-off date.

 

15.   It is stated that the prime objective of the introduction of the contributory pension scheme is to substantially reduce the outflow on account of pension liability.  The major pension liability of Government is accounted for by Armed Defence personnel.  They are however excluded from the purview of the contributory pension scheme.  The personnel in the Para Military forces are also excluded from the ambit of the new Scheme.  While doing so, (no doubt to attract the people to serve in the armed forces for security of the Nation) the Govt. is bound to meet the pension liability from the consolidated fund of India.  The argument advanced by the Govt. to cover the Civil Servants in the ambit of the new Pension scheme has been found to be unsustainable by the study commissioned by the 6^th CPC.  Shri S. Chidambaram, Actuary, in his report, (Annexure to "A study of Terminal benefit of Central Government employees by Dt. K. Gayatri, Centre for Economic Studies and policy, Institute for Social and Economic change, Nagarbhavi, Bangalore) has pointed out that the Government liability on account of contributory pension scheme would in effect increase for a period spanning for the next 34 years from the existing Rs. 14,284 Cr. To  Rs. 57,088 Cr. ( 2004-2038) and is likely to taper off only from 2038 onwards.  The exchequer is bound to have an increased outflow for the next 34 years and will be called upon to bear the actual pension liability of defence personnel and personnel of para military forces, besides making the contribution to the Pension fund of the Civil Servants recruited after the cut off date.  The specious plea that the exchequer is bound to gain due to the contributory pension scheme is therefore not borne from facts.

 

16.   Of the present pension liability of the Govt. of India, which  in 2004-05 was 0.51% of the GDP, 0.26% is accounted for by the Defence( which is 50% of the total pension liability.) The study report of the Centre for Economic Studies has concluded that the pension liability as a percentage to GDP which is just 0.5% presently is likely to decline given the growth rate of Indian economy.

 

17.   Since most of the State Governments have chosen to switch over to "contributory pension scheme" , in fairness ( from the Study conducted by the Centre for Economic Studies and policy) it can be concluded that the pension liability of all the State Governments are bound to increase to three times of what it is today by 2038. 

 

18.  The first version of the PFRDA Bill was placed before the Parliament by the NDA Government in 2003.  The 6^th CPC set up the Committee to go into the financial implication on account of the increasing number of pensioners and suggest alternative funding methodology in 2006.  The said Committee came to the inescapable conclusion (report submitted in 2007) that "the existing systems of pension are increasingly becoming complicated after the introduction of the New Pension scheme" and warned that "caution has to be exercised in initiating any further reforms"  In the light of the conclusion of the said study report which revealed the fact of serious escalation in the  pension payment outflow,  the rationale of the re-introduction of the PFRDA bill in 2011 covering the civil servants is incomprehensible.  Undoubtedly, the Bill when enacted into law will through the existing pensioners to a financially insecure future and the existing workers to the vagaries of the stock market. We, therefore, earnestly pray to your good-self to bring back all the civil servants including teachers irrespective of the date of entry into Government service as also those irregularly appointed within the ambit of the existing statutory defined pension benefit scheme.  

 

We may, in fine, quoting the concluding paragraph (Page 76 of the report of the Centre for Economic Studies and Policy – Institute for Social and Economic Change) of the Committee set up by the 6^th CPC

 

"Mainly given the fact that the future liability although may be large in terms of absolute size is not likely to last very long and does not constitute an alarmingly big share of the GDP which is also on the decline. It appears that pursuing the existing 'Pay as you go' to meet the liability will be an ideal solution."

 

appeal you, for the detailed reasons adduced in the foregoing paragraphs, that the new pension scheme enshrined in the PFRDA Bill  may be withdrawn from the Parliament both in the interest of the Civil Servants and the exchequer.

 

With regards,                                                

--
M.Krishnan
Secretary General NFPE

MARCH TO PARLIAMENT AGAINST PFRDA

Thousands of State Government Employees, Central Government Employees belonging to NFPE and Confederation, Railways, Defence and BSNL assembled at Jantar Mantar before Parliament to demand withdrawal of PFRDA Bill tabled at Parliament.

Leaders of all the Organising Organizations along with Comrades Basudev Acharya M.P and Tapen Sen M.P met the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India and urged for withdrawal of PFRDA Bill

Laksh of signatures collected all over the country are gathered and the same will be submitted to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India.

All the Leaders addressed the Rally and called for intensification of struggle until the PFRDA is scrapped.

Photographs of the March to Parliament can be downloaded by clicking the Link Below:

https://picasaweb.google.com/112088396953175816545/PFRDA#

PARLIAMENT MARCH 25th NOVEMBER-2011

PARLIAMENT MARCH 25th NOVEMBER-2011

PARLIAMENT MARCH 25th NOVEMBER-2011

MNOP COMMITTEE MEETING

Next Sitting of the MNOP Committee will be held on 02.12.2011 at 3 PM under the Chairmanship of new Member (Operations) Sri. Santosh Gauriar.

Meeting with Senior officers, Directorate

On 24. 11.2011, Com. M. Krishnan, Secretary General NFPE and President CHQ, General Secretary Com. K. V. Sridharan and Com. Satyanarayana, General Secretary, Postal Accounts met the Secretary and discussed the issues. The need for review meeting on the decision arrived on strike demands and convening JCM Departmental Council meeting was discussed and stressed. Secretary (P) Ms. Manjula Prashar assured to convene the meeting shortly.

Thereafter, Secretary General & General Secretary P3 met Member (P), DDG (P) and other senior officers and discussed various issues. The following are the outcome and information, we gathered from the Directorate.

1. LGO Exam: - Decision has been taken ignore the language papers and exam result will be decided based on the marks secured in Arithmatic Paper (25 X 2) communication will be sent to CMC for valuation of arithmetic paper and finalise results.

2. IPO Exam: A Committee has been constituted to review the out of syllabus questions on law paper. The Committees report is expected within a forthnight Threafter decision will be taken about the valuation of IPO exam papers. It seems that it will take atleast a month’s time for finalistion.

3. HSG I Recruitment Rules: At last, the UPSC approved the Recruitment Rules for HSG I, the file will be forwarded to Law Ministry for approval of draft for Gazette notification of HSG I Recruitment Rules and it will be finalized within a month.

4. Postmaster Grade III: - The Issue will be finalized within a month as the file relating to HS GI Recruitment Rules had been approved. Volunteers will be called for among the HSG I after releasing DPC for HSG I and the posts will be filled first with the HSG I officials opted for postmaster Grade III. The remaining posts will be filled as per the Recruitment Rules of Postmasters.

5. Cadre review: - DDG (P) assured that he will finalise a draft from the Department side and discuss the same in the first weak of December 2011. We explained the urgency and the need for the earliest finalization of this major demand.

6. Postman Recruitment Rules : - Based on our strike demands to modify the Postman Recruitment Rules and also to have a discussion about this with staff side, a meeting with DDG (P) will be held on 2.12.2011 at 11.00 hours at Directorate.

7. Allowance Committee: - The Committee constituted for review of allowances has finalized its recommendation and is expected to submit before the end of this month. Our CHQ views, as learnt, has taken note of while considering the issues. Orders may be expected.

8. GDS Demands: - i) Despite strong recommendation by the Department, JS (FA) has once again return the file with some objections relating to the case of reduction of point from Rs. 20,000/- to Rs. 10000/- we should exert more pressure.

(ii) Similarly the enhancement of Bonus ceiling file was also returned by the internal finance stating that the GDS are doing duties less than 5 hours. This should also be taken vigorously

9. Casual Labourers: - The Committee constituted to consider about application of revision of wages and also the future of the existing casual labourers/contingents has sought information from various circles. The finalisation of Committee, it is leant, will take more time, there are 21000 contingent part time casual labourers. We may think of suggesting to convert such posts as GDS or may be absorbed in the unfilled vacancies of GDS which were kept under skeleton.

10. Postmaster Grade I: - The declined vacancies have been filled up with the remaining successful candidates of all the circles except five circles from which no informations were received. They have been addressed. No examination was held in Kerala Circle due to court cases.

11. PA Recruitment: - PA Direct recruitment for the vacancies up to 2011 December may be scheduled in the month of April 2012 and the revised recruitment Rules will be brought in to effect. Directorate has initiated the process.

12. Confirmation Exam: - In the revised PA recruitment rules, the confirmation examination has been removed. There is no examination hereafter. All will be confirmed by DPC committee as per 6 (i) (12) of the said rules. This is a major achievement so far our P3 Comrades.

13. Rules 9 Cases/Review petitions: - Member (P) Ms. Yasodhara Menon informed that time bound action has been initiated to clear all pending Rule 9 Cases/Review petitions. She assured result-oriented action on other issues also.

CENTRAL JCA MEETING

An urgent meeting of the Central JCA will be held on 03.12.2011 (3^rd December 2011) Saturday at 11 AM at NFPE office, North Avenue, New Delhi to decide future course of action on pending demands.