Last week, the 49th annual meeting of the NC-JCM tackled some big issues like the 8th Pay Commission, pension problems, gaps in policy implementation, and policy inconsistencies across various departments.
Led by cabinet secretary TV Somanathan, the meeting saw participation from National Council of the Joint Consultative Machinery (staff side) secretary Shiva Gopal Mishra along with 30 other staff side members. They focused on issues affecting central government employees and shared their expectations from the 8th Pay Commission and the central government. ET Wealth Online breaks down seven key issues discussed in the meeting.
1. 8th Pay Commission-related demands
The staff side said that it has submitted its memorandum of demands for the 8th Pay Commission. The document included suggestions about minimum pay, fitment factor, rate of increment, promotion policy, among others.
NCJCM (staff side) requested the cabinet secretary to have continuous interactions with them and their members.
Other than that, The staff side urged the cabinet secretary to push the central government to implement the terms of reference (ToR) of the 8th Pay Commission and include issues like pension revision of the existing pensioners.
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The staff side has also requested the inclusion of issues like the restoration of Old Pension Scheme (OPS), restoration of the commuted portion of pension, and pension enhancements.
2. Increasing number of court cases
The staff side raised concerns about the increasing number of service-related pending court cases in Central Administrative Tribunals, High Courts and the Supreme Court.
They said that it has now become a norm for all ministries and departments to file appeals, SLPs and review petitions, in violation of the National Litigations policy. This process drags on for years, leaving the affected employees feeling demoralised and demotivated.
Citing the example of the 5th Pay Commission, the staff side said that the CPC has categorically recommended quoting various judgments of the Supreme Courts that “decisions taken in one specific case either by the judiciary or the government should be applied to all other identical cases without forcing the other employees to approach the court of law for an identical remedy or relief.
The staff side requested the cabinet secretary to implement the recommendations of the 5th CPC and to avoid multiplicity of litigations on service matters.
3. Extending deemed deputation of ordnance employees
The staff side said that the government has converted 41 ordnance factories into seven corporations and employees are on deemed deputation in the 7 DPSUs for the past five years.
The staff side that the central government has said in the Madras High Court that service conditions of such employees will be protected till they remain on deemed deputation.
The employee body has requested the government to publish a notification for extending the deemed deputation period of such employees.
C Srikumar, secretary, All India Defence Employees’ Federation, the staff side member who raised this issue in the meeting, later told ET Wealth Online that the cabinet secretary has agreed to recommend to a group of ministers for extending the deemed deputation of ordnance factory employees as central government employees till their retirement.
4. Delay in government order implementation for AIIMS employees
The staff side said that a Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) order related to the posting of spouses in the same station is not being followed by the All India Institute of medical Sciences (AIIMS), due to which families of the employees are suffering.
Many women employees have left their job under family compulsions, said the staff side. The staff side also asked from the cabinet secretary to issue instructions to the AIIMS mentioning that the DOPT order on spouse posting is equally applicable to all the AIIMS located in different parts of the country.
5. Non-implementation of Arbitration Awards for employees, pensioners
The staff side pointed out that said that an issue which is a major concern for employees and pensioners is the non-implementation of arbitration awards which have been pending for years. The staff side has requested the Cabinet Secretary that all these awards should be implemented on the basis of proposals given by the staff side to the government.
6. Promotion-related policies
The staff side said that Rule 10 of CCS (RP) Rules 2016 that the employee should compete 6 months from the date of promotion for getting the next increment is causing hardship to the employees.
Citing the “dies-non” clause in the rules, the staff side says that such a clause imposed during this period even for a day postpone the increment of the employee.
The staff side said that the ‘dies-non clause should not be a bar for granting increment. The staff side has requested to change the clause and instead of 6 months, to treat it as 180 days.
7. Hire new employees to reduce work pressure on existing staff
The staff side said that in many departments such as Railways, workload and new projects are increasing day by day, but the additional manpower is being sanctioned.
The staff side says that the lack of manpower is affecting the quality of projects and the work subjecting to work pressure on the existing employees.
“To meet the manpower shortage the administration is resorting to out sourcing, privatisation, etc., This may be stopped and all the available vacancies may be filed through permanent employment in all departments,” says staff side.
