Minutes of the Meeting of Joint
Secretary (IC) with the Members of the Staff-Side
of the Standing Committee
(National Council-JCM) held on 19.02.2016
A
Meeting was held under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary (Implementation Cell),
Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, with the Members of the Staff-Side
of the Standing Committee (National Council-JCM) on 19.2.2016 to discuss the issues
raised by the National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) {Joint Consultative Machinery
(JCM)} in their letter No. NJC/2015/7th CPC dt. 10.12.2015, addressed to the Cabinet
Secretary, regarding their Charter of Demands on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay
Commission. The Secretary, Staff-Side of the Standing Committee (National Council-
JCM), who is the convener of the NJCA, along with other office bearers attended
the meeting. The list of the participants from the Staff-Side is attached at Annexure.
2.
Welcoming the members of the Staff-Side, JS(IC) mentioned that the meeting has
been convened to enable the Staff-Side to bring out their concerns on the recommendations
of the 7th
CPC
in the light of the Charter of Demands made by them in the aforesaid letter of
NJCA so that same could be examined in the Implementation Cell and submitted
for consideration of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries. He informed the
office bearers that before arriving at a decision, the ECoS would also hold separate
discussions with the Staff Side.
2.
Commencing the discussions from the Side of the Members of the Staff-Side, Secretary,
Staff-Side, Standing Committee (National Council-JCM), explained that they have
already placed their Charter of Demands as per the letter of NJCA dated 10.12.2015.
He mentioned that the reasons based on which these demands have been made have
also been explained therein. He, however, highlighted that the Staff-Side is not
at all happy with the recommendations of the 7th CPC and, in fact, no section of
the employees is satisfied, as the Commission has recommended a minimal pay
increase as compared to the previous Pay Commissions. He mentioned that the
Staff-Side does not agree with the minimum pay of Rs. 18000 and the reason as
to why the methodology adopted by the 7th CPC to arrive at this figure is not
correct has been explained in their letter dated 10.12.2015. He stated that
Staff-Side demands enhancement of the minimum pay to Rs. 26000 and the reasons
in support of this have been given in their aforesaid letter. He further stated
that an amicable and mutually negotiated settlement of these demands is
necessary as non-acceptance would further cause resentment in the employees. He
informed that Staff-Side has already made their stand clear to go on strike from
11th April, 2016 if their demands are not considered and no amicable settlement
happens.
3.
Thereafter, the other members of the Staff-Side also expressed their arguments
for acceptance of these demands and all of them emphasised that the minimum pay
needs to be revised. Consequently, the fitment multiple of 2.57 would also need
commensurate change. The leader of the Staff-Side explained that the office
bearers who were present in the meeting represent various sections of Central
Government employees including railways, defence civilians, postal employees
etc., the number of which is around Rs. 32 lakhs.
4.
The Staff-Side brought out their concerns on all the 26 demands included in the
Charter of Demands and all the points brought out by them in the letter of the
NJAC dt. 10.12.2015 were reiterated. However, following issues in support of
their demands were highlighted :-
(i)
Minimum Pay needs to be revised to Rs. 26000 p.m. and the minimum pay of Rs.
18000 p.m. as recommended by 7th CPC is not acceptable. This would require upward
revision in the fitment multiple of 2.57 and change in the Pay Matrix. It was
argued that if the 10% of the pay for NPS contribution and the recommended
increase in the CGEIS contribution are taken into account, there would be a
drop in the take-home salary of the employees at the minimum pay of Rs.18000.
(ii)
Central Government employees need to be excluded from the National Pension
Scheme (NPS), which has been a long pending demand of the Staff-Side. The
Staff-Side stated that the Pension Fund which has been created under NPS to
generate annuity for employees, would not ensure reasonable pension. Rather it
is quite likely that it may generate negative returns because of the dismal
performance of the financial market to which the fund is invested, leaving the
employees without any reasonable social security benefit.
(iii)
The 7th
CPC
has recommended abolition of 52 allowances without properly appreciating the
justification of these allowances. The example of break-down allowance in case
of Railway employees was given, stating that this allowances is given so that
the concerned employees take up the necessary follow up action in the case of
breakdown on an urgent basis and therefore its withdrawal is not justified in
operational interests of Railways.
(iv)
The withdrawal of advances, especially LTC, TA, Medical, National Calamity
Advance, was not justified. It was argued that these advances are recovered
from the employees and, therefore, the same should be retained.
(v)
In regard to enhancement of contribution under Group Insurance Scheme, it was
argued that increase in the contribution from the employees was not justified
and if the same is to be raised, the Government should bear the insurance
premium.
(vi)
The post of LDC should be upgraded to UDC and as part of delayering, Grade Pays
of Rs. 1900, Rs. 2400 and Rs. 4600 should be abolished and merged with the next
higher Grades.
(vii)
The rate of increment needs to be raised from 3% to 5% because pay is revised
in the Central Government after 10 years. It was mentioned that in the PSUs the
pay is revised after 5 years and the rate of increment is also higher.
(viii)
Two increments in the feeder post may be granted as promotion benefit.
(ix)
Fixed medical allowance for pensioners who are not covered by CGHS and REHS
needs to be increased from Rs. 500 p.m. to Rs. 2000 p.m.
(x)
The recommendation regarding grant of only 80% of salary for the second year of
Child Care Leave need not be accepted and the existing provisions may be
retained.
(xi)
It was also demanded that though the D/o Expenditure has sought the comments of
the Ministries/Department on the issues pertaining to them after consulting the
Staff Associations, administrative Departments are not inviting the Staff
associations for discussions.
5.
After detailed explanation by the Staff-Side on all the demands included in the
Charter of Demands, JS(IC), while concluding the discussions, assured the
Staff-Side that the concerns and demands made by them would be placed before
the Empowered Committee of Secretaries for consideration after examining the
same in the light of the recommendations of the Commission. He also mentioned
that in cases where the comments of the administrative Ministries/ Departments
would be necessary, e.g., the case of break-down allowance pertaining to
Ministry of Railways, the same would be considered before the issues are placed
before the E-CoS. As regards the issue raised that the administrative
Departments are not inviting staff associations for discussions, JS(IC) mentioned
that the Departments have to formulate the views keeping in view the representations
made by the Staff Associations.
6.
Thereafter, the meeting ended with thanks to the chair.
****
Annexure
Members of the Staff side of the National
Joint Council (JCM), who attended
the meeting with JS (IC) held on 19.02.2016
-7th Central Pay
Commission
S.No Name (S/Shri)
1.
Shiva Gopal Mishra
2.
M.Raghavaiah
3.
N.Kanniah
4.
Guman Singh
5. K.K.N.Kutty
6.
C.Srikumar
7. S.N.Pathak
8.
Ashok
Singh
9.
R.N.Prashar
10. M.S. Raja
11.
Giri
Raj singh
12.
Satish Chander
13. R.Srinivasan
