POSTAL JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES
FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS
PF-No.PF-PJCA/20
Dated: 16th September, 2016
To
The Secretary,
Department of Post,
Sansad Marg,
Dak Bhawan,
New Delhi-110 001
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 An existing benefit should not be withdrawn, under the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 7thCPC 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
Sd/-
(D. Theagarajan)
Secretary General
Sd/-
(R.N. Parashar)
FNPO Secretary General
Source:
NFPE
