AIPSBCOEA/CHQ/Filling up of vacancies at SBCO/2021 Dated:24.3.2021
To
The Secretary,
Department of Post,
Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi – 110 001.
Respected Sir,
Sub: Regarding Provision of Staff to SBCO Cadre on a War footing measure…
Ref: AIPSBCOEA/CHQ/Change of Roles of SBCO/2021 dated 11.03.2021.
The All India Postal SBCO Employees Association CHQ would like to bring to the kind notice of the Honorable Secretary Post about the acute Staff shortage in SBCO Cadre which is leading to many difficulties while performing the day to day works in SBCO branch and to attend all the additional works allotted to SBCO officials vide the SB Orders issued from time to time. The Association suggests the following for filling up of the vacancies in SBCO cadre in a war foot manner so as to enable smooth functioning of SBCO units without accumulation of pending due to shortage of staff at almost all the units.
Additional works assigned to SBCO:
1. Checking of KVPs & NSCs:
The checking work of KVPs & NSCs Vide SB Order 06/2016, Addendum dt. 28.04.17 have been transferred from DPA to SBCO was not adhered by the Circles and after a gap of about 02 years vide Addendum –II dt. 21.01.19 it has been forcibly entrusted to SBCO with pending work which is highly objectionable. The Department has also failed to consult with Service Associations being policy matter at this juncture simultaneously to make good the shortage of staff. The statistical data of 2017-18 read with Annual Report of Department for Savings Scheme accounts were reported to Directorate vide Association letter No. AIPSBCOEA/CHQ/SB-03/18 Dt. 23.03.18 & 16.04.18 with figures of about 35,67,14,046 accounts with 1,54,882 post offices for justification of additional staff for checking of transactions & vouchers.
Then vide Addendum- II Dt. 21.01.19 the new work of checking and auditing for KVPs & NSCs w.e.f. 01.07.16 have also been entrusted to SBCO without any in service training to the staff. The provision of additional staff have also been considered to manage the work. As per Annual Report published by the Department for 2017-18 the KVPs sold in 2016-17, 48,83,849 and in 2017-18 up to Nov. 2017 were 25,36,891, total about 74,20,740 and this additional work have been entrusted to SBCO without consideration of required staff for the said work. The data of NSCs registered with post offices are excluded with KVPs. The details of KVPs/NSCs issued & discharged from 01.07.16 to up to date are also not available with SBCO.
Thus the adequate staff in SBCO for 100% checking of Savings Schemes accounts about 35.67 crores plus 74.20 lakhs for KVPs registered with post offices along with NSCs (Data not published in A.R. of the Department) shall be required for the work of checking & auditing.
It was stated by AIPSBCOEA CHQ that this arrear work of about 2 years also to be entrusted to SBCO for checking which will take about 12 to 18 months time as and when the present entire staff (shortage) attend this work by keeping in abeyance of routine work. Thus the pendency will increase day by day and become unmanageable in future.
It has been noticed by the Association that checking work of KVPs & NSCs is being done by Postal Accounts Staff (DAP) on percentile basis that is only about 20% whereas the SBCO have burden of 100% checking read with SB Order 06/2016 issued vide No. 32-01/2016-SB Dt. 21.01.2019 like other savings schemes.
2. Works assigned as per SB Order 03/2018 dated 12.03.2018:
According to SB Order 03/2018 issued on 12.03.2018 the provision for 100% verification of transactions by SBCO through MIS server was introduced, and that is not possible in prevailing under staffed situation in SBCO . This changed provision introduced against the Postal Manual of SB Control Procedure of Rule 11 & 15 and SB Order No. 14/2015 was a policy matter and must be taken into faith in consultation with service Association.
3. Change of Roles of SBCO as per SB Order 4/2021:
Now, the revised set of roles of SBCO were issued vide the SB Order 4/2021 Superceding the roles prescribed vide SB Order No. 14/2015 applicable only in case of CBS Post Offices where CSI is implemented and GLs are integrated. The reply narrating the ground reality was sent by the AIPSBCOEA CHQ vide letter dated 11.3.2021 w.r.t. the SB Order 4/2021 dated 08.03.2021.
(i) Duties assigned to PA(SBCO) as per SB Order 4/2021:
The PA (SBCO) needs to receive the returns every morning which includes sealed voucher bundles along with the long book consolidation, documents viz spoiled passbooks for safe custody, unused cheque leaves, ‘will follow ‘ vouchers etc . The PA (SBCO) is to tally the total of debit and credit side available on the print out of the “ Long Book Consolidation Reports” received from the Post Offices with the soft copy of the “Long Book Detailed Report” respectively , generated and downloaded from Finacle MIS Server for each post office. The PA(SBCO) is to perform general check of all the vouchers in addition to verification of each and every voucher with reference to the Finacle generated common LOT (100%) checking as prescribed in para 4 and also tally all vouchers received from concerned Post Office by opening the Long book detailed reports. Checking of Manual corrections made for Finacle related figures in CSI Daily Account, Checking of unverified Non – Financial entries pending and deleted transactions of previous day(s), Checking of Office Accounts 0322, 0408, 0409, 0410 and forwarding the extracts of objections relating to HO and SOs to APM/SPMs , all these works/ checking to be performed by the PA (SBCO).
(ii) Duties assigned to Supervisor SBCO as per SB Order 4/2021:
The Supervisor (SBCO) is to receive the voucher bundles from the designated PA(SBCO) and then assign and hand over the voucher bundles to SBCO PA (s) according to MDW or availability of staff and workload. The Supervisor is to carry out all the same checks as mentioned in Para 4, deposit vouchers amounting to Rs. 1,00,000/- or more and all the withdrawals including loans and account closure vouchers amounting to Rs. 50,000/- or more, which are already checked by every SBCO PA. This is really very hectic as the mentioned checking includes almost all the transactions of one day for each SOL. Carrying out test checking as above instead of 5% test checking will be a very tedious work for the Supervisor which will be more than the work done by all the PAs of that office. The Supervisor has to do checking and correction of Interest and Balances, checking of consolidations, finacle office accounts & other transactions, maintain Review registers PA wise, verify manual corrections, unverified Non-financial entries , pending and deleted transactions of previous day(s), writing and maintenance of objection register, unused cheque foils, undelivered / spoiled passbooks, will follow items, vouchers for inquiry, safe custody of keys, custody and preservation of records, forwarding the extracts of objections relating to HO and SOs to APM/SPMs and submitting the monthly progress reports, etc.
Acute staff shortage in SBCO Cadre throughout the country:
As mentioned in all the previous letters sent from the AIPSBCOEA CHQ, SBCO is facing acute staff shortage throughout the country in all the circles. Except very few City units almost all SBCO units are functioning with 1/3rd sanctioned strength and even single handed in many units. Moreover there are no regular Supervisors posted in 80% of SBCO units , in many units a single official is compelled to perform the duties of both Supervisor and PA. Many of the senior officials have retired from service whose vacancies are lying unfilled. In this staff shortage scenario performing 100% checking in addition to the newly added works of NSC & KVP , and the additional works as per the SB Order 4/2021 is practically not possible. This will only lead to pendency of works at SBCO. If Administration wants SBCO to perform all the works effectively as mentioned in the SB Order 4/2021 dated 08.03.2021, the staff strength position should be completely concentrated and filled up to the sanctioned strength and even review the establishment according to the additional works added to increase the sanctioned strength of all the SBCO units. A special drive may be conducted by the department to fill up all the vacancies as an one time measure in SBCO giving top priority.
In the sphere of acute shortage of SBCO staff the official position of some circles for examples are laid down as under for assessment to other remaining circles facing acute shortage:-( may vary subject to retirements and new recruitments):
U.P. Circle:
|
Cadre |
Sanctioned strength |
Shortage |
|
PA |
496 |
110 |
|
LSG |
49 |
31 |
|
HSG –II |
14 |
8 |
|
HSG –I |
31 |
31 |
Bihar Circle:
|
Cadre |
Sanctioned strength |
Shortage |
|
PA |
159 |
34 |
|
LSG |
18 |
14 |
|
HSG –II |
7 |
1 |
|
HSG –I |
10 |
10 |
Tamilnadu Circle:
|
Cadre |
Sanctioned strength |
Shortage |
|
PA |
374 |
90 |
|
LSG |
41 |
26 |
|
HSG –II |
17 |
9 |
|
HSG –I |
5 |
4 |
Chhatisgarh Circle:
|
Cadre |
Sanctioned strength strength |
Vacant |
|
PA |
47 |
21 |
|
LSG |
4 |
2 |
Gujarat Circle:
|
Cadre |
Sanctioned strength |
Shortage |
|
PA |
188 |
88 |
|
LSG |
19 |
12 |
|
HSG –II |
4 |
4 |
|
HSG –I |
3 |
1 |
Jharkhand Circle:
|
Cadre |
Sanctioned strength |
Shortage |
|
PA |
74 |
22 |
|
LSG |
8 |
7 |
|
HSG –II |
3 |
1 |
|
HSG –I |
3 |
2 |
Maharastra Circle:
|
Cadre |
Sanctioned strength |
Shortage |
|
PA |
507 |
313 |
|
LSG |
16 |
14 |
|
HSG –II |
31 |
30 |
|
HSG –I |
35 |
35 |
Madhya Pradesh Circle:
|
Cadre |
Sanctioned strength |
Shortage |
|
PA |
158 |
83 |
|
LSG |
11 |
4 |
|
HSG –II |
2 |
1 |
|
HSG –I |
2 |
2 |
Posting of Supervisors in SBCO:
The LSG/HSG II/ HSG I posts are very limited in SBCO and are lying vacant for years together. One time relaxationin RRs of HSG II & HSG I Posts may be given to fill up all the Supervisory posts lying vacant at SBCO by relaxing the Recruitment Rules , for which letter has already been written twice by AIPSBCOEA dated 20.1.2020 &18.5.2020. The Cadre Restructuring of SBCO is still pending which is to be implemented immediately taking into consideration all the suggestions given by this Association for solving the issue regarding Vacancies in Supervisory Posts. Till such timeOfficiating arrangements may be done in SBCO in line with FR 35 and/or FR-22(I)(a)(i) or as applicable under departmental rules for handling higher responsibility post. As the work of both PA SBCO & Supervisor SBCO is specifically distinguished and distinct in the SB Order 4/2021 dated 08.03.2021 and as 80% of units are not posted with regular Supervisors, allthe Supervisory posts may be filled up as mentioned above.
Suggestions of AIPSBCOEA CHQ to fill up all vacant posts in SBCO:
1. This Association suggests to conduct a Special Drive of Recruitment to fill up all the vacant posts in SBCO Cadre as Department is concentrating more on SBCO by redefining new roles to SBCO PAs and Supervisors vide the SB Orders issued recently. Additional works have been allotted to SBCO Cadre as mentioned above and hence the staff shortage has to be made good for Spot freeperformance as per the expectation of the Department.
2. Providing PA assistance to all the SBCO units up to the sanctioned strength as per the SB Order 14/2015.
3. Posting 40% of officials to SBCO Cadre who are recruited now vide promotions from Postman to PA to fill up the vacancies in SBCO Cadre throughout the country in each and every H.O.
4. Cadre Restructuring of SBCO may be done immediately to increase the number of Supervisory Posts (LSG, HSG II & HSG I) enabling the youngsters to get their promotions quickly without declining the same.
Hence it is again requested that all the vacancies of SBCO may kindly be filled up to the sanctioned strength by kindly implementing the above mentioned suggestions at a war footing measure to enable SBCO officials to work as per the expectation of the Department , SB Orders and Control Procedure without any practical difficulties.
A line of reply is solicited Please.
With Regards,
-Sd-
SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM
General Secretary
AIPSBCOEA.
Copy to:
1. 1. The Deputy Director General Establishment,
Department of Post,
Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi – 110 001.
2. 2. The Deputy Director General (FS),
Department of Post,
Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi – 110 001.
3. 3. The Director SR & Legal,
Department of Post,
Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi – 110 001.
-Sd-
SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM
General Secretary
AIPSBCOEA.
AIPSBCOEA/CHQ/Gradation list & filling up of supervisory post/2021 Dated:15.3.2021
To
The Chief Postmaster General,Maharastra Circle,
Mumbai GPO,
Mumbai – 400 001.
Subject: Regarding preparation of Gradation list for SBCO cadre and filling up of the
Vacant Supervisory Posts in SBCO.
On behalf of AIPSBCOEA CHQ, two major issues are brought to the notice of the Honorable Chief Postmaster General ,Maharastra Circle. The first issue is that the preparation of Gradation list for SBCO is pending since 2011. The last Gradation list was issued vide CO letter No. STA/19-8/2011 dated 31.3.2011 which was corrected up to 01.07.2010. As per the Directorate’s order Gradation list is to be issued once in six years. Inspite of continuous subjects placed by the AIPSBCOEA Circle Association right from the year 2015 and many letters written for the same , the issue of Gradation list for the SBCO employees is still pending which is the most important document/record to be prepared by the Administration w.r.t the assessment of seniority/promotions/transfers/other details of the SBCO cadre. Hence, it is kindly requested that the Gradation list may be prepared and issued immediately which is the basic record of the SBCO Cadre.
The Second issue is that the Supervisory Posts are lying vacant for years together in Maharastra Circle. There are 35 HSG I, 31 HSG II and 16 LSG Posts in SBCO Cadre in the Circle totally, out of which 35 HSG I, 30 HSG II and 14 LSG Posts are lying vacant. So, only 3 regular Supervisors are working out of 82 supervisory Posts in the Circle. The officials who have just entered service and with very few years of service are now forced to do the duties of the regular Supervisor (LSG, HSG II & HSG I). These officials do not have experience and proper training for performing the duties of the regular Supervisors which lead to many problems while discharging their duties practically in many units. Moreover the duties of the PA SBCO and Supervisor SBCO are distinct and have their own responsibility as per all the SB Orders issued from time to time and the Control Procedure laid for SBCO. Hence , it is kindly requested that an one time action may be taken immediately to fill up all the Supervisory Posts (LSG, HSG II & HSG I) lying vacant for years together at SBCO by conducting DPC . According to rule “Departmental Promotion Committee should meet at regular annual intervals to draw panels to be utilized for promotions over a year. Action will be initiated well in advance without waiting till a vacancy arises. The meeting should not be held up for the reason that Recruitment Rules are under revision. Rules in force on the date of DPC meeting will be followed. Convening of DPC meeting can be dispensed with only after a certificate is issued by the Appointing Authority that there are no vacancies to be filled that year”.
It is again emphasized by the AIPSBCOEA CHQ, that in no other Circle,both the above issues are pending so long. Hence, a kind intervention of the respected Chief Postmaster General is requested for issue of Gradation list for the SBCO Cadre as on date and to streamline the filling up of the regular Supervisory Posts (LSG, HSG II & HSG I) in SBCO by conducting DPC without further delay for welfare of the SBCO Officials and for the smooth functioning of the Administration.
A line of reply is solicited Please.
With Regards,
-Sd-
SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM
General Secretary
AIPSBCOEA.
LETTER REGARDING CHANGE OF ROLES OF SBCO AS PER SB ORDER 4/2021 DATED 8.3.2021:
Ref: AIPSBCOEA/CHQ/Change of Roles of SBCO/2021 Dt-11.3.2021
To,
The Secretary ,
Department of Posts,
DakBhawan, SansadMarg,
New Delhi – 110 001.
Sub: -Change of Roles of SBCO– Reg.
Ref:-1. Directorate letter F. No. 116-15/2013-SB(Pt-SBCO) Dated 08.03.2021.
Respected Sir,
On behalf of the All India Postal SBCO Employees Association , the views and difficulties of the SBCO Employees with respect to the SB Order 4/2021 dated 08.03.2021 are brought to the notice of the Honorable Secretary Post. The revised set of roles of SBCO were issued vide the SB Order 4/2021 Superceding the roles prescribed vide SB Order No. 14/2015 applicable only in case of CBS Post Offices where CSI is implemented and GLs are integrated. Our Association likes to thank the Administration for concentrating on SBCO wing and changing the roles of SBCO according to the GL integration scenario taking into account the suggestions given by our AIPSBCOEA. But ,the important suggestion regarding the staff shortage in SBCO cadre is not yet taken up and made good . The SB Order 4/2021 does not suit the ground reality of the SBCO units. Hence the following suggestions are given by the AIPSBCOEA CHQ for the effective functioning of SBCO and to serve the Department to its fullest expectations.
Duties assigned to PA(SBCO) as per SB Order 4/2021:
The PA (SBCO) needs to receive the returns every morning which includes sealed voucher bundles along with the long book consolidation, documents viz spoiled passbooks for safe custody, unused cheque leaves, ‘will follow ‘ vouchers etc . The PA (SBCO) is to tally the total of debit and credit side available on the print out of the “ Long Book Consolidation Reports” received from the Post Offices with the soft copy of the “Long Book Detailed Report” respectively , generated and downloaded from Finacle MIS Server for each post office. The PA(SBCO) is to perform general check of all the vouchers in addition to verification of each and every voucher with reference to the Finacle generated common LOT (100%) checking as prescribed in para 4and also tally all vouchers received from concerned Post Office by opening the Long book detailed reports. Checking of Manual corrections made for Finacle related figures in CSI Daily Account, Checking of unverified Non – Financial entries pending and deleted transactions of previous day(s), Checking of Office Accounts 0322, 0408, 0409, 0410 and forwarding the extracts of objections relating to HO and SOs to APM/SPMs , all these works/ checking to be performed by the PA (SBCO).
In Sl No. 1 (ii) point No. 7 under Duties of Postal Assistant, it is mentioned that any work which may be entrusted to him by the Supervisor/Divisional Head/Postmaster/AO (ICO) and also in the orders issued from time to time. It is really shocking that the SBCO PA is ordered to do any work entrusted by all the authorities right from the Supervisor, Divisional Head, Postmaster, AO (ICO) and also the works mentioned in the orders issued from time to time. How can an Official brought under the control of all the higher-ups at the same time and whose order he is to follow if it is in controversy or not according to the latest SB Order issued. So, ironically Savings Bank Control Organisation is made as Savings Bank Controlled Organisation. Hence it is requested to modify the order so that the SBCO PA may work according to MDW approved by AO (ICO) , any work entrusted to him by the Supervisor and orders issued from time to time. Only this will enable the SBCO unit to function spot free and independently without undue pressure or influence of any kind.
Duties assigned to Supervisor SBCO as per SB Order 4/2021:
The Supervisor (SBCO) is to receive the voucher bundles from the designated PA(SBCO) and then assign and hand over the voucher bundles to SBCO PA (s) according to MDW or availability of staff and workload. The Supervisor is to carry out all the same checks as mentioned in Para 4, deposit vouchers amounting to Rs. 1,00,000/- or more and all the withdrawals including loans and account closure vouchers amounting to Rs. 50,000/- or more, which are already checked by every SBCO PA. This is really very hectic as the mentioned checking includes almost all the transactions of one day for each SOL. Carrying out test checking as above instead of 5% test checking will be a very tedious work for the Supervisor which will be more than the work done by all the PAs of that office. The Supervisor has to do checking and correction of Interest and Balances, checking of consolidations, finacle office accounts & other transactions, maintain Review registers PA wise, verify manual corrections, unverified Non-financial entries , pending and deleted transactions of previous day(s), writing and maintenance of objection register, unused cheque foils, undelivered / spoiled passbooks, will follow items, vouchers for inquiry, safe custody of keys, custody and preservation of records, forwarding the extracts of objections relating to HO and SOs to APM/SPMs and submitting the monthly progress reports, etc.
Acute staff shortage in SBCO Cadre throughout the country:
The expectation of the Administration to prevent any fraudulent activities in the POSB is very much appreciated and the SBCO employees are always there to give their fullest cooperation for the same. But as mentioned in all the previous letters sent from the AIPSBCOEA CHQ, SBCO is facing acute staff shortage throughout the country in all the circles. Except very few City units almost all SBCO units are functioning with 1/3rd sanctioned strength and even single handed in many units. Moreover there are no regular Supervisors posted in 80% of SBCO units , in many units a single official is compelled to perform the duties of both Supervisor and PA. In Circles like Andhra and Telangana90% of Hos are running with single SBCO PA due to new post creation ban. Many of the senior officials have retired from service whose vacancies are lying unfilled. The LSG/HSG II/ HSG I posts are very limited in SBCO and are lying vacant for years together. One time relaxation may be given to fill up all the Supervisory posts lying vacant at SBCO by relaxing the Recruitment Rules , for which letter has already been written twice by AIPSBCOEA. In this staff shortage scenario performing 100% checking in addition to the newly added works as per the SB Order 4/2021 is practically not possible. This will only lead to pendency of works at SBCO. If Administration wants SBCO to perform all the works effectively as mentioned in the SB Order 4/2021 dated 08.03.2021, the staff strength position should be completely concentrated and filled up to the sanctioned strength and even review the establishment according to the additional works added to increase the sanctioned strength of all the SBCO units. A special drive may be conducted by the department to fill up all the vacancies as an one time measure in SBCO giving top priority.
Proper Infrastructure and training:
The SBCO units may be provided with new/updated systems individually for each PA SBCO . All the SBCO employees are to be given an exclusive training for performing their duties according to the new SB Orders as new menus are to be invoked for checking the additional works like manual entries, unverified/deleted transactions/office accounts etc. Without proper infrastructure and training no work can be performed in a systematic, procedural and effective manner. So, it is requested to give the necessary infrastructure and training to the SBCO officials.
Hence on behalf of AIPSBCOEA CHQ, the above suggestionsregarding filling up of vacant posts of SBCO up to the sanctioned strength, revising the establishment according to the additional works, filling up of the Supervisory posts by relaxing the recruitment rules, giving proper infrastructure and training to SBCO officials may be given top priority and implemented immediately so that the SBCO cadre may function effectively as expected by the Administration. But without implementing the above suggestions, the Administration cannot expect the wanted quality of work from the SBCO cadre which is not at all possible with the current staff position and also it is registered by the AIPSBCOEA CHQ that the staff of SBCO should not be held responsible for any lapses/fraud cases while performing their duties as per the SB Order 4/2021 with the present acute staff shortage position. (Or) defer the SB Order 4/2021 till the vacancies are filled up to the Sanctioned strength in all the SBCO units.
A line of reply is solicited please.
With Regards,
-Sd-
(SHP. Jasmine Jalal Begam)
General Secretary
Copy To:-
1. 1. The Member (P),
Department of Post,
Dak Bhawan,Sansad Marg,
New Delhi- 110 001.
2. 2.The Director SR & Legal,
Department of Post,
Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,
New Delhi- 110 001.
-Sd-
(SHP.Jasmine Jalal Begam) General Secretary
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