NOTE ON ALLOWANCES
POSTAL JOINT
COUNCIL OF ACTION
NATIONAL FEDERATION
OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES
FEDERATION OF
NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS
PF-No.PF-PJCA/2016 Dated:16th September,
2016
To
The
Secretary,
Department
of Post,
Sansad
Marg,
Dak
Bhawan,
NOTE ON ALLOWANCES
1. The recommendation of the 7th CPC that Tough Location
Allowance will not be admissible alongiwth Special Duty Allowance (SDA) should
not be accepted by Government.
In para 8.10.62 of the 7th
CPC the following recommendation is made –
Para
8.10.62
- There are some “Special Compensatory” Allowances that are based on geographical
location and are meant to compensate for hardship faced by employees posted in
such places. It is proposed to subsume these allowances under the umbrella of “Tough Location Allowance”.
In Para 8.10.63 the Commission made
the following recommendations –
“The
Tough Location Allowance will, however, not be admissible along with Special
Duty Allowance”.
At
present, special allowances are paid in the following places along with Special
Duty Allowance.
(a) Assam
and North Easter Region
– Special Compensatory allowance paid alongwith Special Duty Allowance.
(b) Andaman
& Nicobar Islands –
Special Compensatory Allowance paid alongwith Island Special Duty Allowance.
(c) Tripura
Special Compensatory Remote Locality Allowance paid along with Special Duty
Allowance.
Demand
of the staff side: In all the
above cases “Tough Location Allowance” may be paid alongwith Special Duty
Allowance. Withdrawal of any of the above allowances, will result in
substantial financial loss to the employees. An existing benefit should not be
withdrawn, under the pretext of 7th CPC’s unjustified
recommendation.
2. Special Duty Allowance in N. E. Region should be uniform for all at
30%.
In Para 8.17.115 the 7th CPC made the
following observation –
“Special
Duty Allowance (SDA) is granted to attract civilian employees to seek posting
in North Eastern and Ladhak Regions, in view of the risk and hardship
prevailing in these areas. Currently the rate of SDA is 37.5% of Basic Pay for
AIS officers and 12.5% of Basic Pay for other employees.
In para 8.17.118 the Commission made the following
recommendation –
“Accordingly
in line with our general approach of rationalizing the percentage based
allowance by a factor of 0.8, SDA for AIS officers should be paid at the rate
of 30% of Basic Pay and for other civilian employees at the rate of 10% of
their basic pay.
Demand of the staff side: The
discrimination between AIS officers and other civilian employees in payment of
SDA should not be there and all may be paid at the same rate i.e. at the rate
of 30% recommended by the pay commission for AIS officers.
3. Allowances which are not reported to 7th CPC by the
concerned departments.
In para 8.2.5 of the report, the 7th
CPC made the following recommendation.
“We
have considered all allowances reported to us, in this chapter. Any allowances,
not mentioned here (And hence not reported to the commission) shall cease to
exist immediately. In case there is any demand or requirement for continuation
of an existing allowance which has not been deliberated upon or covered in this
report, it should be re-notified by the ministry concerned after obtaining due
approval of Ministry of Finance and should be put in the public domain”.
Demand of the Staff Side: The
above recommendation should not be accepted, as it amounts to penalizing
employees for the fault of the departmental heads. The following allowance
which are not reported to the commission should be retained and enhanced.
(a) PO
& RMS Accountants’ Special allowance
Postal Assistants and Sorting
Assistants of Postal department are posted as PO & RMS Accountant after
passing a qualifying examination. Taking into consideration their work which
require much skill, application of mind, and knowledge of all rulings, Special
allowance is granted to them. This allowance may beretained and enhanced.
4. Savings Bank Allowance in Post offices:
In Department of Posts, Savings Bank
Allowance is granted to Postal Assistant working in Post Office Savings Bank
(POSB) for shouldering strenuous and complicated nature of Savings Bank work.
Postal Assistants need to qualify an aptitude test to get this allowance. The
current rates are Rs.300/- per month for fully engaged staff and Rs.150/- per
month for partially engaged staff.
In
para 8.10.80 of the
report, the Commission recommended as follows:
“Savings Bank Allowance be abolished
as the justification provided by the concerned ministry for the grant of this
allowance is not sufficient for their continuance”.
Demand
of staff side: Savings
Bank Allowance should be retained and enhanced in view of the justification
given above.
5. Special Compensatory (Hill area) Allowance
In para 8.10.50 of the report, the 7th
CPC made the following recommendation – “There is hardly any hardship involved
at altitude of 1000 meters (more than 3000 feets) above sea level. Hence, it is
recommended that the allowance should be abolished.
Demand of the staff side: The
above observation of the commission is not based on ground realities but based
on presumption. Hence the above allowance should be retained and enhanced.
6. Family Planning Allowance
In para 8.17.50 of the report, the 7th
CPC made the following recommendations – “The commission recognizes the fact
that most of the benefit related to children viz. children Education Allowance,
maternity Leave, LTC etc. are available for two children only. Moreover, the
level of awareness regarding appropriate family size has also gone up among
Government servants. Hence, a separate allowance aimed towards population
control is not required. Accordingly, it is recommended that family planning
allowance should be abolished.
Demand of the staff side: The
above allowance may be retained. In any case, the Family Planning Allowance
already granted should not be withdrawn.
7. Fixed Medical Allowance
In Para 8.17.51 of the report the 7th CPC
observed as follows –
It is
granted to pensioners for meeting expenditure on day to day medical expenses that
do not require hospitalization, presently payable at the rate of Rs.500/- p.m.
Demands have been received to increase the rate of this allowance to Rs.2000/-.
In para 8.17.52 the Commission made the following
recommendation-
The
Commission notes that the allowance was enhanced from Rs.300/- to Rs.500/- p.m
from 19.11.2014. As such, further enhancement of this allowance is not
recommended.
Demand of the staff side: in
the memorandum submitted to 7th CPC, the staff side had elaborately
explained the justification for enhancing the FMA to Rs.2000/-. As everybody
knows, old age persons are suffering from many deceases and as the cost of
medicines has increased manifold the expenditure on outdoor medical treatment
has also gone up like anything. With Rs.500/- p.m no pensioner can meet the
medical expenses. The commission has not conducted any scientific and realistic
study, but simply rejected the demand stating that it is enhanced recently. It
is once again requested that the FMA for pensioners may be enhanced to
Rs.2000/- p.m as in the case of EPF pensioners.
8. Cash handling Allowance
In para 8.10.9 of the report, the 7th
CPC observed as follows: -
It is
paid to cashiers working in Central Government departments, for handling of
cash. The current rates are –
|
Average amount of monthly cash
disbursed
|
Rate per month
|
|
Below Rs.
50000
|
230
|
|
Over Rs.
50000 upto 200000
|
450
|
|
Over
200000 upto 500000
|
600
|
|
Over
500000 upto 1000000
|
750
|
|
Above
1000000
|
900
|
Again in Para 8.10.57 the commission observed as follows:
-
Treasury Allowance – This allowance is granted in
Department of Posts to Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers working in Head Post
offices and large Sub Post offices for handling cash. The present rate is
Rs.360/- p.m for handling cash upto Rs.2 lakhs and Rs.480/- p.m. for handling
cash more than Rs.2 lakhs.
In para 8.10.80 the commission made
the following recommendation
Assistant
cashier Allowance, Cash handling allowance and Treasury Allowance –
With
technological advances and growing emphasis on banking, these allowances have
lost their relevance. Hence it is recommended that not only all salary be paid
through banks, but Ministries/departments should work out plans to first
minimize and then eliminate all sorts of cash transactions.
Demand of the staff Side: The
recommendation of the Commission is not realistic. Till that time the cash
transactions are eliminated the Cash handling allowance and Treasury allowance
should be retained and enhanced.
9. Cycle Allowance
In
para 8.15.10 of
the report the 7th CPC made the following observation.
“It is paid where the duties attached
to the post require extensive use of bicycle and the official concerned has to
use and maintain his own cycle for
official journeys. The existing rate is Rs.90 p.m.
In
para 15.11 the
commission made the following recommendation –
“The Commission is of the view that
amount of this allowance is megre and the allowance itself is outdated. Hence
it should be abolished.
Demand
of the staff side: This
allowance is at present given to more than 40000 Postmen staff and about 50000
GraminDakSevaks of the Postal Department. When the commission itself observed
that an official using his own bicycle for official duties has to incur
expenditure for maintenance of the cycle. When the maintenance work is done for
performing official duties, the amount should be reimbursed to the official,
whether the amount is megre or not – Hence this allowance should be retained
and enhanced.
10. Overtime Allowance
In
para 8.17.97 of
the report the 7th CPC made the following recommendations -
Hence while this commission shares
the sentiments of the predecessors that Government offices need to increase
productivity and efficiency and recommended that OTA should be abolished (except for operational staff and
industrial employees who are governed by statutory provisions) at the same
time it is also recommended that in case the Government decides to continue
with OTA for these categories of staff for which it is not statutory
requirement, then the rate of OTA for such staff should be increased by 50%
from their current levels.
Demand
of the staff side: OTA rates are revised in the year
1987. For the last 30 years no revision has taken place. Eventhough an
arbitration award for enhancement is given, the same is also pending
implementation for the last 20 years. After 7th CPC revision, one
hour wage of an MTS is Rs. 75/- where as rate for one hour OTA is Rs.15.85
only!!! Hence it is requested that overtime allowance wherever sanctioned must
be based upon the actual basic pay of the entitled employee.
11. Dress Allowance
(a) Para 08.16.14 may be referred. The 7th
CPC recommended four slabs of Dress allowance per year for various categories
of employees. In the Department of Posts there are about 75000 Postmen and Multi-Tasking
staff wearing uniform. Their name is not
mentioned in the category of employees shown in the table. Even if it is
included in the other categories of staff, then the Dress Allowance per year
will be Rs.5000/- only. At present the Postmen/MTS staff of Postal department
are getting more than Rs.5000/- for uniform plus washing allowance. Hence it
should be made clear under which category the Postmen and MTS staff of Postal
department are to be included, in the dress allowance table recommended by the
7th CPC. These official may be granted Rs.10000/- as dress
allowance.
(b) It is further demanded that the Dress
Allowance ceiling to be raised to Rs.32400 per annum.
(c) If cloth for dress is provided
stitching charges should be revised reasonably.
(d) Washing allowance should be increased
from Rs.90/- to 150/- Rupees per month.
Yours faithfully
(D.
Theagarajan) (R.N. Parashar)
Secretary
General FNPO Secretary General
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