Ref. No: AIPSBCOEA/CHQ/Recruitment Rules/2019
Dated- 20.09.2019
To,
Smt Meera
Handa,
Honourable Director General,
Department of Posts,
Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi – 110 001.
Sub: -Framing of
Department of Posts (Postal Assistant and Sorting Assistant) Recruitment Rules
2019 – Reg.
Ref:- Directorate letter F.No. 04-05/2015-SPB-I
,Government of India, Ministry of
Communications, Department of Posts,
Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi, dated
18.9.2019.
Respected Sir,
Our Association would like
to bring to the kind notice of the competent authority with reference to the
letter number cited in the above reference, regarding revision of the
recruitment rules (RRs) for appointing the Postal Assistant/Sorting Assistant
including SBCO in the Department of Posts, with the following guidelines:
As per Para-2(b)PA(SBCO):
(i)
There will be no further appointment in SBCO cadre.
(ii)
Existing officials of PA(SBCO) cadre will continue
to be in PA(SBCO) Cadre till they are promoted or retired.
(iii)
All existing and consequent vacancies of PA(SBCO)
shall be added to the strength of PA of Postal Division.
(iv)
Posting of PA(SBCO) will be done from Divisions as
in Post offices.
It is transpired from the
above points that the SBCO branch under Department of Posts is going to be
abolished in due course which is completely in-contravention of the following
prescribed procedures of the CAG, Government of India.
The
SBCO and ICO(SB) branches were introduced in the Department of Posts
bifurcating from Accountant General ,
Posts & Telegraph as per the order of AG P & T No. Admn. III/5(S)4A-KWiii/2806 Dated at Simla
the 31st March 1964. The aim of the bifurcation was to transfer of
Audit and Accounting work to the HPO. Since then, SBCO has been performing the
Audit and Account functions of the various SB categories of accounts involving
crores of Rupees of lacs of Depositors
in HPO.
1.
The Audit function of SBCO has been mentioned
clearly in 1960 under Para-1(Preamble) of introduction POSSS Part-IV by A.N.
Dureja authorized by the then P & T Board.
2.
The Internal control wing which is similar to SBCO
is now called as “Internal Audit Office” as per Directorate Letter No.
CIS/AU-1/101-06-07/2276 Dated 05.02.2007.
3.
The withdrawal vouchers have been checked by the
SBCO staff (even now) by putting their
signature in the place marked as
“Auditor” on the SB-7.(withdrawal voucher).
4.
As per the Directorate order No.97-8/95-SB Dated
12.10.1995 newly created , the posts of Supervisor SBCO are carrying out the functions
of JAO of erstwhile Audit and Account office.
5.
SBCO has to carry out the reality check to avoid
delayed detection of fraud vide the Directorate Letter No.25-31/2017-FS-CBS
Dated 19.11.2018.
6.
Preventive Vigilance –Procedure has to be followed
by the SBCO to prevent fraud vide Directorate Letter
No.4-5/DR-02/2018-Inv.Dated 20.12.2018
Through an Act of amendment by Nodal Ministry (Ministry of
Finance) Small savings Audit & accounting work was transferred from the
Audit office to the Post Office in 1964 with formation of new nomenclature as
“SBCO”. Since then miseries of SBCO Employees are notwiped out in the last 55 years and have lost everything
from Designation to the pay & perks. On similar lines the Account wing was
also introduced in the Department of Posts w.e.f.01.04.76 in the form of Office
of Director of Accounts (Postal). Both the wings were previously part of AG P & T.
Later on , Shri. J.S.
Bhatia Member P & T Board (FD & AF) formulated a separate manual known
as “Postal Manual of SB Control, Pairing & Internal Check Organisation” for
duties of SBCO staff headed by AO ICO(SB) on the pattern of P& T Audit.
Time and again, our Association is
demanding that the SBCO wing should be brought under the control of Director of
Accounts (Postal) for effective functioning. Of late,an order was issued assigning
the work of NSCs & KVPs to SBCO
which was previously done by DAP w.e.f
01.07.2016 vide SB Order 06/2016 issued vide No.32-01/2016-SB
Dt.21.01.2019.
Ultimately SBCO section is dealing with
the work of audit only (ie) downloading the datas from Finacle and voucher
checking with utmost concentration. The term AUDIT defines “an official
inspection of an organizations account by an independent body.Fortunately, the
work being done by SBCO has coincided with the definition of AUDIT. SBCO cadre is
called as distinct category according to the department, in other words
independent body. POSB is very large banking institution under the Department
of Posts having crores of account holders and multi crore of rupees as
investment by the people.Proper audit to POSB system is inevitable.In our
strong opinion, an robust internal audit should be mooted out in POSB like
various audit organizations (ie) P & T audit General, Audit Civil Audit,
Defence and Railway Audit which are watchdogs to the safety of public money.
In Finacle the SBCO Auditor’s manual issued
by India Post reveals that all the transactions are to be verified by the SBCO staff or auditor and all SBCO staff/Auditors have to get
login IDs from CEPT, Chennai to view LOT. These lines are incorporated in page
No. 03 of the said manual. Accordingly, the entire Manual indicates the
detective controls by SBCO/Auditor staff.
In the Auditor’s Manual under the head “Detective Controls”-Comparison of
Account number and amount in the voucher with LOT, it has been written as
“However, the SBCO staff or Auditor
has to verify all the transactions from the vouchers received from the LOT
available in the Finacle Application. All SBCO
Staff/Auditors have to get Login IDs from CEPT Chennai Team to view LOT
either in production or through MIS server.
Under the head “ Sample LOT is given
below” it has been written as “ SBCO/Auditor
has to verify Account Number and Amount mentioned in LOT with the voucher and
in case of any discrepancy, full transaction can be viewed in Finacle
Application with input as TRAN ID mentioned in LOT and voucher. SBCO/Audit has to raise the objection
procedurally for the discrepancy.,,
There is a head written as “Inquiries
and reports for SBCO/AUDITOR staff.
Menu options
1.
HACSP
2.
HACLI
3.
HACLPCA
4.
HACI
Under the head “Detective Controls –
Interest Inquiries” written as
All Financial organizations will be
receiving various income. The major share of the income for Min. of Finance comes
from interest. SBCO/AUDITOR has to
see that annual interest , closing interest and the post maturity (overdue)
interest has been correctly accounted for.
The two types of interest inquiries
are:
Interest Inquiries
Interest Reports
These inquiries are on the various
activities/transactions conducted by the employees working in a Post Office.
These reports and inquiries are effective for operations as well as detective
controls for SBCO/AUDITOR staff.
It has been written as All other field
shown in the screen are auto populated. The Auditors can even specify what type of Interest they are looking
for, for example, additional, overdue or penal and so on, by choosing from the
dropdown in interest type.
The Reamendments of Recruitment Rules
for PA/SAs Cadre (PA(CO), PA(SBCO), PA(PO), PA(RLO) and SA-Proposal vide
Directorate F.No. 09-03/2017-SPB-I Dt. 18.10.17 was proposed earlier which was strongly opposed by the
General secretary of AIPSBCOEA through individual ballot in the letter dated
03.11.2017.
In fine, the following points are appended with
reference to the proposed RRs mentioned in the letter cited under reference :
The Savings Bank Control Organisation
was set up w.e.f 01.01.1960 with the approval of AG P & T , CAG and
Ministry of Finance to ensure an On-Spot Checking over the work of Small
Savings Schemes for audit & accounting, vouchers checking &
reconciliation work vested within AG P&T which has its own separate
identity other than existing PA Cadre in the Department being their nature of duties
identical to the Audit & Accounts wing.
It is pertinent to mention that all the
financial institutions must have a separate wing for Checking, Auditing &
Accounting to safeguard the public money and on that’s why the Department has
termed SBCO as unique cadre and recruit the personnel separately.Inter-change
of SBCO staff with operative work (POs)vice versa,was not allowed.SBCO is considered
as custodian of small savings business records in order to prevent any untoward
incidents of misuse.
It is understood that the RRs of
PA(SBCO) notified on 21.05.15 under the proviso to Article 309 of the
Constitution were framed for 100% direct recruitment (Col. 10) with promotional
avenues through DPC headed by DPS as Chairperson and they come under Circle Cadre.
In 2017, the proposed RRs of PA/SA
cadre circulated is strongly opposed by the entire rank and file in SBCO and it was requested to maintain
separate identity for SBCO cadre in proposed amendments in RRs of PA/SA cadre
or consider their absorption with Audit & Accounts Wing being originated
from AG P & T. Hence the RR proposal vide Directorate F.No.
09-03/2017-SPB-I Dt. 18.10.17 was dropped.
We
are, still affirm since both SBCO and DAP were bifurcated from the erstwhile AG
P & T by 1964 and 1976 respectively, the basic work of Audit continues to
be common to both SBCO and DAP. The nature of work is of similar type dealing
with the POSB Audit and Accounting and
the financial transactions of pay and allowance of employees which are also
accounted through the POSB Accounts only.
In view
of the above it is requested to kindly
reconsider the framing of the present proposed Recruitment Rules and to
rechristen the SBCO as SB Audit Organization and PA (SBCO) as AUDITORs in order to function effectively under the
control of GM(PA & F) for the proper caring of crores of money deposited by
lacs of customers.
With
Regards,
Yours
Sincerely,
-Sd-
(SHP.
Jasmine Jalal Begam)
General
Secretary
Copy To:
1.
The DDG. FS Division, DOP, Dak Bhawan,
Sansad Marg, New Delhi -110 001.
2.
The DDG. Establishment, DOP, Dak Bhawan,
Sansad Marg, New Delhi -110 001.
3.
The DDG. SR Legal, DOP, Dak Bhawan,
Sansad Marg, New Delhi -110 001.
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