7th Pay Commission: Minutes of the 2nd meeting
of Empowered Committee held with NCJCM Staff Side
Minutes of the 2nd meeting of Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS)
Venue: Committee Room, Cabinet Secretariat, Rashtrapati Bhawan
Date of Meeting: Thursday, the 1 st March, 2016
Time of Meeting: 6:45 PM
Members of E-CoS present
1 Cabinet Secretary
2. Chairman, Railway Board
3. Home Secretary
4 Defence Secretary
5 Secretary, D/o Science & Technology
6. Secretary, D/o Personnel & Training
7. M/o Health & Family-Welfare
8. Secretary, D/o Pension and Pensioner’s Welfare
9. Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat 10. Secretary, D/o Posts
11
. Deputy Comptroller and
Auditor General
Secretariat for E-CoS:
Secretariat for E-CoS:
1. Jöint Secretary, Implementation Cell, D/o Expenditure
2. Director, Implementation Cell, D/o Expenditure
Representatives of JCM (Staff-side):
1 . Shri Shiv Gopal Mishra
2. Shri M. Raghavaiah
3. Shri Rakhal Das Gupta
4. Shri Ch. Sankara Rao
5. Shri J.R. Bhosle
6. Shri Guman Singh
7. Shri R.P. Bhatnagar
8. Shri K.S. Murty
9. Shri K.K.N. Kutty
10. Shri C. Srikumar
11 . Shri R. Srinivasan
12. Shri M. Krishnan
13. Shri M.S. Raja
Subject: Implementation
of the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission — 2nd meeting of the
E-CoS
A meeting of the Empowered Committee of
Secretaries (E-CoS) was held on 1 st March, 2016 in the Cabinet Secretariat
under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary to discuss issues raised by
Staff„side of JCM
2. Welcoming the members of E-CoS and JCM Staff
side, Cabinet Secretary observed that the meeting had been called to take a
note of concerns of Stäff-$ide of JCM regarding recommendations of the 7th CPC
and invited the members Of Staff-side of JCM to share their views on the
recommendations.
3. Opening the discussion, representative of
Staff-side of JCM expressed gratitude to Cabinet Secretary for inviting them
for interaction regarding the recommendations of the 7th CPC and requested that
more frequent interactions of JCM may be held to resolve outstanding issues
across the table. It was expressed that 7th CPC has recommended a meager
increase of 14% in the minimum pay as against increase ranging up to 54% during
previous Pay Commissions. It was further stated that the recommendations on
minimum pay, allowances, advances etc. will cause difficulty to employees.
Representative of Staff-side informed that they have already submitted a
charter of demands to the Cabinet Secretary bringing out the issues. These have
also been discussed in the meeting of JS (IC) with Staff-side of JCM held on
19.02.2016.
4. Major concerns expressed by JCM Staff-side
were as under:
The minimum pay of Rs. 18000/- p.m. recommended
by the Commission is on lower side and needs to be revised upward by taking
into account the prices of commodities as on 01.07.2015 and appropriately
factoring in for social obligations & housing.
(ii) New Pension Scheme should be done away
with. Persons governed by the NPS are deprived of Family Pension and do not
have provision of provident fund. As a result they are at a disadvantageous
position as compared to the persons governed by the old system.
(iii) Recommendations on allowances need to be
properly examined before taking a decision.
(iv) Fixed Medical Allowance should be increased
from existing Rs. 500 p.m. to Rs. 2000 p.m. as majority of cities are not
covered under CGI-IS and people residing outside the CGHS covered area are
unable to meet their medical needs with meager amount of Rs. 500 p.m.
(v) Recommendation regarding withdrawal of
non-interest bearing advances may not be accepted.
(vi) Outsourcing of services should be
discouraged as the contract workers are being exploited by contractors and at
the game time the service delivery is being compromised due to inefficiency and
lack of accountability of low aid contractual staff.
(vii) Enhancement in contribution towards Group
Insurance Scheme, is not justified as this would reduce the actual increase in
take home salary considerably. If the rates are to be raised, the Government
should bear the insurance premium.
(viii) The recommendation regarding grant of
only 80% of salary for the second year of Child Care Leave need not be accepted
as this would deter women from availing of CCL, which was introduced as a
welfare measure.
(ix) Annual increments be granted @ 5% instead
of existing 3% and increments may be granted on two dates viz., 1 st of January
and 1 st of July of every year as in the present system of grant of increment
on 1 st July of every year, employees joining/promoted after 1 st January, who
do not complete 6 months services as on 1 st July, have to wait for up to 18
months for grant of increment.
(x) The Commission’s recommendation of
downgrading the Assistants of Central Secretariat for bringing in parity with
their counterparts in the field offices is not appropriate.
(xi) Recommendation regarding PRIS need not be
accepted as no scientific mechanism has been devised to assess the performance
of employees and the same could encourage favoritism.
5. Issues regarding financial up gradation under
MACPS in promotional hierarchy without grading stipulation. grant of two
increments on promotion introduction of Productivity Linked Bonus, treating
Gramin Dak Sevak as Government employees, removal of pap of 5% on compassionate
appointment 8i full pay and allowances In case of Work Related Illness and
Injury Leave improving promotional avenues for technical and supervisory staff
etc. were also raised by members of JCM.
6.During the discussion, representatives of JCM
also suggested that the Nodal Officers nominated by various
Ministries/Departments may hold interactions with recognized Staff Associations
and other stakeholders under their purview so as to identify issues specific to
those Ministries/Departments for redressal.
7. After hearing the participants, Cabinet
Secretary observed that the deliberations have helped E-CoS in understanding
the major concerns of the Staff-side and said that all issues have been taken note of. He assured that fair consideration will be given to all points brought
out by JCM before taking a final view. He further stated that the E-CoS
needs to examine the Report of the Commission in entirety as well as the issues
raised by JCM in consultation with all other stakeholders. As such, it may take
some time to take a final call on the recommendations of the Commission.
8. Cabinet Secretary also advised the members of
E-CoS to hold interactions with their Staff Associations and other stakeholders
under their purview preferably within a week.
9. Meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair.
