Thursday, April 25, 2024

LETTER TO SECRETARY POST FOR GIVING PRIORITY TO SBCO OFFICIALS DURING TRANSFERS:

Ref. No: AIPSBCOEA/Priority to SBCO Officials during transfers/2024                          Dt-22.04.2024

 To

The Secretary,

Department of Post,

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

                                                    Sub:  Request to give priority to the SBCO Officials during transfers-reg…

                    Priority to SBCO officials during transfers:

                   It is requested that all the SBCO PAs need to be given priority during transfers or consider their requests for transfers to post them according to their choice of preference.

 As per the Annexure'A to Letter No. Q-25/1 1/2022-PE-I-DOP dated 16.ll.2022:

1. Modalities for merger of Postal Assistant (SBCO) cadre:

h) However, sanctioned establishment (number of sanctioned posts) of SBCO Branch, as decided from time to time, will continue to remain the same for the purpose of posting ofofficials.

 j) Posting of PA in SBCO will be done from Postal Divisions on tenure basis through Transfer and Placement Committee (TPC) of the Division. However, transfer/posting of PA (SBCO) who chooses to continue in SBCO cadre shall be decided as per extant rules/procedure/practice. Transfer/posting of officials who do not opt to switch over to Postal Operative Side will be made first by the Circle/Regional Office and thereafter, the Divisional TPC will consider transfer/posting for the remaining vacancies in SBCO.

                   So, the posts in SBCO establishment including the merged posts to be notified during Rotational transfers to post the PAs SBCO first by the corresponding Regional offices and then the remaining vacancies to be filled by the divisional heads.

                      Priority to be given to the SBCO officials because there are only very few officials who are remaining back and moreover they were recruited as PAs SBCO exclusively who obviously have full right to claim any of the posts in SBCO rather than the general line PAs.

                     All PAs SBCO may be given their choice of preference even if it a merged post. For instance, if only one PA SBCO is there throughout a region/circle, will he not be transferred till his retirement? Such official has to be given any place which is preferred by him/her even if it is merged and then the other vacancies to be filled by the divisional heads.

                       In case, if a PA SBCO claims a merged post he/she has to be given that post and the general line PA if posted on tenure basis in that place also, can very well be shifted to any other post/place in that HO as this cannot be done in case of PA SBCO.

                      This is the need of the hour as there are very few PAs SBCO posts available (single or hardly double digit numbers in all the circles throughout the country) and far away from each other to rotate the PAs SBCO and creating a mental stress to all the PAs SBCO during each Rotational/Request transfer.

                      The above priority may kindly be extended to all the rule- 38/inter circle transfer cases also.

                                                 A line of reply is solicited please.

 With regards,

 -Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary AIPSBCOEA.

 

Copy to:

The Deputy Director General (P)

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

 The Director,

SR Legal, Department of Posts,

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi- 110 001.

 -Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary AIPSBCOEA.

 

 

LETTER TO SECRETARY POST REGARDING INCREASING THE AMOUNT LIMIT FOR SUPERVISORY TEST CHECK: 

Ref. No: AIPSBCOEA/Test check of supervisors/2024                                                        Dt-22.04.2024

To

The Secretary Post,

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

                        Sub:  Request to reduce the test checking limit of Supervisors SBCO-reg…       

                  To reduce the amount of Supervisory test checking:

As per the Para 4 ( c ) ( i) of the SB order 4/2021 dated 08.03.2021 in connection with the changes of roles of SBCO, “Supervisor SBCO will carry out same checks for all the 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. Supervisor SBCO shall countersign in full on these vouchers in token of having exercised prescribed checks.” Due to this, the quantum of vouchers to be checked by the supervisors are heaped daily and causing difficulty to complete the test checking in time as presently most of the deposits are above Rs. 100000/- and withdrawals above Rs.50000/-. Also, the supervisors are struggling hard to give reply to the correspondence received from all the H.O/S.Os including Divisional office and send the fortnightly, monthly and quarterly reports to the higher ups.

                    Hence, it is requested to increase the limit of checking for deposits to Rs. 5,00,000/- instead of Rs. 1,00,000/- and withdrawals to Rs. 1,00,000/- instead of Rs. 50,000/-. This will not only enable the supervisors to complete the prescribed test checking in time but also do it in an efficient manner.

                                                  A line of reply is solicited please.

 With regards,

-Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary

 AIPSBCOEA.

 

Copy to:

The Senior Deputy Director General,

FS Division, Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi- 110 001.

 The Director,

SR Legal, Department of Posts,

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg, New Delhi- 110 001.

 -Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary

AIPSBCOEA.


LETTER TO SECRETARY POST REGARDING EXTENDING THE ONE TIME RELAXATION OF HSG II PROMOTIONS FOR THE 2024 VACANCIES ALSO:

Ref. No: AIPSBCOEA/One time relaxation of HSG II promotions/2024                       Dt-22.04.2024

To

The Secretary Post,

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

                              Sub: Request for extending the one- time relaxation w.r.t HSG II promotions to the    

                             vacancies for the year 2024 also:

                   One time relaxation in minimum qualifying service condition for promotion to the cadre of Higher Selection Grade-II to be extended for the year 2024 also:

                 Our Association is very much thankful to the Department for relaxing the minimum qualifying service from 6 years to 4 years for promotion to the cadre of HSG II which was an important demand since years together vide the Directorate letter No.X-4/2/2020-SPN-II dated 09.02.2024. It is requested to extend the relaxation for the year 2024 vacancies also so that more officials will be benefited and the Department also would get qualified supervisors soon.  

                                 A line of reply is solicited please.

 With regards,

-Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary

 AIPSBCOEA.

 

Copy to:

The Deputy Director General (P)

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

 The Deputy Director General,

(Establishment), Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

 The Director,

SR Legal, Department of Posts, Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

 -Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary AIPSBCOEA.


LETTER TO SECRETARY POST REGARDING PERMISSION FOR WEEDING OUT OF OLD RECORDS IN SBCO:

Ref. No: AIPSBCOEA/weeding out of old records/2024                                                        Dt-20.04.2024

To

The Secretary Post,

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

                         Sub:  Permission for weeding out of old records in SBCO-reg…     

                  To weed out the time barred old records in SBCO:

                As the POSB reconciliation work is in process, permission is not given to weed out the time barred records in the SBCO units which is leading to over flow of records. The accounts and the balance of V2 SBCO system data/Sanchay post pre migrated data is being compared with the migrated data. The vouchers and consolidations after migration are accumulated at SBCO units which have no role to play in the POSB reconciliation process as only the records pertaining to the migration period from end of the year 2014 to 2016 is required. The vouchers with consolidations are heaped day by day without space at SBCO.                         

               Hence, permission may kindly be accorded for weeding out the time barred vouchers and consolidations for the period (years) before and after 2014-2016 to create space for preserving and arranging the current vouchers without difficulty.

                                                  A line of reply is solicited please.

 With regards,

 -Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary

 AIPSBCOEA.

 

Copy to:

The Senior Deputy Director General,

FS Division, Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

 The Director,

SR Legal, Department of Posts, Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

 -Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary

AIPSBCOEA


LETTER TO SECRETARY POST FOR CADRE RESTRUCTURING OF SBCO:

Ref. No: AIPSBCOEA/Cadre restructuring of SBCO/2024                                                     Dt-04.03.2024

To

The Secretary Post,

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

 Sub:  Request for Cadre restructuring of SBCO -reg…

                                                      Cadre Restructuring of SBCO:

                 On behalf of our All India Postal SBCO Employees Association, letters have been written for implementing the Cadre Restructuring for SBCO vide letter numbers:

Ref.No:AIPSBCOEA/CHQ/letters/Dated-28.08.2019,25.11.2019,02.12.2019,18.5.2020,09.07.2020, 13.07.2020, 30.09.2020 and 29.01.2021, 30.08.2021, 04.07.2022& 25.11.2022.

                 The SBCO officials recruited for the same year at par with the General line PAs have not yet received their LSG promotions. But the General line PAs have received their LSG promotions due to Cadre restructuring and nowswitched over to their HSG II promotions. The situation of SBCO officials though being recruited in the same year unlike the General line officials are very much behind in their career uplift (LSG PROMOTIONS) and facing monetary loss due to non- grant of Cadre restructuring to SBCO. As there are very few supervisory posts in SBCO, the PAs SBCO are not able to get their LSG promotions. They are forced to decline their promotions either for non availability of posts in the regions where they are working or as the few posts available are in the areas very far from their established place. The MACPs are not being awarded as they decline their promotion which is against natural justice. Though MACP is only a financial upgradation for the completion of 10,20 and 30 years of service, the same is being denied when they decline their LSG promotions. Also, after merger only 15% to 20% of PAs SBCO are remaining back, if cadre restructuring is implemented all units of SBCO will have a LSG post which will enable the PA SBCO remaining to accept the LSG promotions without declining and switch over to next level of their career. This will not only benefit the SBCO officials but also full fil the purpose of administration of reducing the numbers of PAs in SBCO Cadre.

                  Hence it is requested to kindly implement Cadre restructuring to SBCO without further delay.

A line of reply is solicited please.

 With regards,

 -Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary

AIPSBCOEA

Copy to:

 The Deputy Director General (P)

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

 The Deputy Director General,

(Establishment),

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

 

The Director,

SR Legal, Department of Posts,

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

  -Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary

AIPSBCOEA

 

RESOLUTIONS OF THE 7TH AIC:

 Ref. No: AIPSBCOEA/Resolutions of 7thAll India Conference/2024                                   Dt-26.02.2024

 To

The Secretary Post,

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.

 Sub:  Resolutions of the 7th All India Conference held on 29.01.2024 & 30.01.2024 at Nagpur – Maharastra…

        The following Resolutions were passed unanimously in the 7th All India Conference of All India Postal SBCO Employees Association held on 29.01.2024 and 30.01.2024 at MLA Hostel, Civil line Nagpur-Maharastra.

 Cadre Restructuring of SBCO:

            On behalf of our All India Postal SBCO Employees Association, letters have been written for implementing the Cadre Restructuring for SBCO vide letter numbers:

Ref.No:AIPSBCOEA/CHQ/letters/Dated-28.08.2019,25.11.2019,02.12.2019,18.5.2020,09.07.2020, 13.07.2020, 30.09.2020 and 29.01.2021, 30.08.2021, 04.07.2022 & 25.11.2022.

           The SBCO officials recruited for the same year at par with the General line PAs have not yet received their LSG promotions. But the General line PAs have received their LSG promotions due to Cadre restructuring and now switched over to their HSG II promotions. The situation of SBCO officials though being recruited in the same year unlike the General line officials are very much behind in their career uplift (LSG PROMOTIONS) and facing monetary loss due to non- grant of Cadre restructuring to SBCO. As there are very few supervisory posts in SBCO, the PAs SBCO are not able to get their LSG promotions. They are forced to decline their promotions either for non availability of posts in the regions where they are working or as the few posts available are in the areas very far from their established place. The MACPs are not being awarded as they decline their promotion which is against natural justice. Though MACP is only a financial upgradation for the completion of 10, 20 and 30 years of service and not a promotion, the same is being denied when they decline their LSG promotions. Also, after merger only 15% to 20% of PAs SBCO are remaining back, if cadre restructuring is implemented all units of SBCO will have a LSG post which will enable the PA SBCO remaining to accept the LSG promotions without declining and switch over to next level of their career. This will not only benefit the SBCO officials but also full fil the purpose of administration of reducing the numbers in PAs SBCO Cadre.

              Hence it is requested to implement Cadre restructuring to SBCO without further delay.

  2. Request to stop irregular recovery imposed on SBCO staff in the name of contributory negligence for petty irregularities:

               On behalf of AIPSBCOEA, it is brought to the kind notice of the Honorable Secretary Post about the irregular recovery of many Lakhs of Rupees imposed on the SBCO staff in the name of Contributory negligence for petty irregularities which is recently becoming a burning issue in SBCO cadre as if it is a punishment for serving in the Department of Post after being very much qualified with so many professional/master degrees and dreams about their future career ; for the intentional misappropriation of some other delinquent officials who cause the pecuniary loss to the Government.

Contributory Negligence /Irregular recovery imposed on SBCO staff:-

              Duties of SBCO staff are well defined in Manual for SB Control, Pairing and ICO Procedures. Accordingly the SBCO staff are exercising the decentralized Audit and Accounts duties and their work actually start after accounting of the transactions. Therefore penalizing the SBCO employees by imposing the recovery of loss irrationally for frauds committed in the Saving Schemes in sub-offices and branch offices is contrary to the statutory rules. D.O.No. INV-17/18/2021-INV-DOP Dated 29.11.2021 issued by the Director General is not being followed and in each and every fraud case the innocent SBCO officials are being trapped and imposed penalty of recovery in the name of contributory negligence which has to be stopped immediately.

 The SBCO staff are not related to any type of monetary transactions and accordingly they should not be identified as sub-offender/co-offender in misappropriation cases. It is clearly laid down that under Rule 11 (iii) CCS (CCA) Rules 1965, the penalty of recovery can be imposed on a Government servant only when it is established that a Govt. Servant is directly responsible for the act of negligence and breach of orders causing the financial loss.

            Therefore, the implication of this OM is to recover the entire loss from the delinquent official but the recovery may be spread over till entire loss is discovered.

              The entire loss caused to the Government is to be recovered from the Delinquent official only. The meaning of “Delinquent” is one who is proved to be the “accused” or the “criminal” who has committed the theft himself to cause the misappropriation. So, the recovery of amount should be levied on him, if he doesn’t have liquid cash then his properties can be seized/attached by court to bear the loss. Anyhow, he will be possessing the fraudulent amount in his name/family members/in the form of assets. So, amount should be recovered only from the delinquent official through any one source as mentioned above and very serious cases to be filed against him to put behind the bars.

     But usually, the Administration is recovering the amount misappropriated from the other innocent officials who come into the scene only after the delinquent official has defrauded the amount intentionally by himself. The relevant vouchers/consolidations are sent to the Accounting office only on the next day of the transaction where it is handed over to the SBCO branch. The officials of SBCO have not seen the depositor, or collected money from him, or tallied the cash across the counter for the particular day of transaction on which the fraud happened. Only with the available documents received, voucher checking is done for the H.O and all the S.Os under it by hardly 2-3 SBCO officials on the next day. Now, each and every transaction has to be checked through the vouchers received at SBCO 100% for all the offices including H.O and the S.Os under it for that particular date. Practically speaking, almost all the SBCO units throughout the country are filled up by 2/3rd of the total sanctioned strength only. Also, even if the SBCO officials have checked the relevant vouchers for all the criteria as per the SB orders and procedures, the occurrence of fraud cannot be prevented as already the fraud had taken place on the previous day itself. Moreover the fraudulent person usually do not commit any omission in the vouchers mishandled by him to do the fraud. In this situation it is very shocking that how the administration wants to put the innocent SBCO officials into trap for recovering the amount which was defrauded by a criminal intentionally, without recovering the amount directly from the accused who has done the misappropriation.

            This is nothing but, indirectly supporting the criminal who has misappropriated the amount and caused the pecuniary loss to the Government. This is a way of encouraging frauds and patronizing the criminals who misappropriate amounts in crores in this technical/technological scenario. So, a mentality has developed among such black sheep who have a crooked mind of indulging in frauds that the amount he will swindle will be collected from some other innocent officials and not from him fully. So, the amount he has not repaid to the Department will be a profit for such a person. Automatically, in this business minded world, such criminals will continue to do the frauds unless and until very strict methods are not adopted to collect the full amount from the concerned person who has misappropriated the amount intentionally and very serious cases to be filed against him to put him behind the bars.

                 As mentioned above the innocent SBCO employees who is in no way connected in the frauds are made scape goats for only working for the Department and Auditing the POSB transactions sincerely amidst the technical issues, staff shortage and all the draw backs of the software which is not in a way that each and every fraud can be detected by them. Every possibility/loop hole would be there for a fraudulent person to commit frauds in the CBS/GL integrated scenario whatever it is. Hence, the SBCO staff should not be held responsible for any type of recovery in misappropriation cases as they do not contribute either directly or indirectly to the fraud and SBCO staff may be exempted from contributory negligence as they are not involved directly in monetary transactions.

 3. Change of Control of SBCO to GM PA & F/Absorption of SBCO officials into DAP:

                 The AIPSBCOEA, has already expressed the willingness of the SBCO officials (PAs SBCO including LSG, HSG II & HSG I Supervisors in SBCO) who are established at the Head Post Offices level to perform the works to be assigned to the PAO staff after decentralization under the control of the concerned AO/GM PA&F vide many such letters before (.Dt-19.12.2020, Dated:06.01.2022,                      Dt: 10.02.2022, Dt: 09.03.2022, Dt: 17.05.2022, Dt- 20.12.2022, Dt: 26.12.2022, 21.01.2023, 08.06.2023 & 29.03.2023). This will be very much apt, as both SBCO and PAO were bifurcated from the same parent organization AG P&T during 1960 and 1976 respectively as detailed in the letters sent already. Both the wings are performing the same nature of Audit work, interlinked with each other in every way. SBCO is functioning at Hos and performing the checking and auditing work on behalf of PAO only.

                   The SBCO officials may be brought under the Control of GM PA & F or absorb them directly to the Postal Accounts wing which is our long pending demand. This will fulfill the staff shortage in all the PAOs. Moreover, works related to POSB accounts (all SB Categories) including reconciliation is being allotted to and done by the SBCO officials on behalf of DAP. The SBCO officials are ready to take up any such works which is expected to be done by the officials of PAO after change of control/absorption into Postal Accounts.

                  This is the right time whereinall the SBCO officials (PAs SBCO including LSG, HSG II & HSG I Supervisors in SBCO) who are remaining in SBCO Cadre approximately 300 after merger may be brought under the control of GM PA&F/absorb them totally into PAO not only to meet the long pending demand of the Association but also to fulfill the staff shortage experienced in all the PAOs to strengthen the Accounts and Audit of the Department of Posts.

                    There is no need of any specialized training to the SBCO officials as already all of them are well versed with auditing and accounting work. Control change/absorbing all the SBCO officials (PAs SBCO including LSG, HSG II & HSG I Supervisors in SBCO) into Postal Accounts wing for utilizing them effectively to strengthen the Audit and Accounts, can be done without much dislocation or difficulty, as only very less number of SBCO employees are left over in the cadre throughout the country after merger.

                 Hence, on behalf of All India Postal SBCO Employees Association, it is once again requested either to change the control of SBCO to GM PA & F or to absorb all the SBCO officials (PAs SBCO including LSG, HSG II & HSG I Supervisors in SBCO) remaining after merger in SBCO into the Postal Accounts wing. This will not only to pave way for augmentation of Audit and Accounts but also for the amelioration of the Department. This step of control change or absorption of all the SBCO officials into the Postal Accounts will be a milestone in the Audit and Accounts wing as the same will enhance the safety and security of public money invested, ensure proper auditing of the Departmental income and expenditure, meet the staff shortage of all the Postal Accounts wing and ultimately fulfill the expectation of the Department and the long pending demand of our Association.

 4. Request to fill up all the vacancies araised in SBCO due to merger:

          As per the Directorate order dated 16.11.2022, all the vacancies araised in SBCO due to merger to be filled by the concerned divisional heads on tenure basis. But this is not followed seriously at ground level due to which all the supervisors are facing hardship to complete the day today voucher checking and other related works. Hence, filling up of vacancies up to the sanctioned strength to be emphasized again from Directorate to ensure smooth functioning of SBCO.

5. Priority to SBCO officials during transfers:

          It is requested that all the SBCO PAs including Supervisors need to be given priority during transfers or consider their requests for transfers to post them according to their choice of preference. All the posts in SBCO establishment including the merged posts to be notified during Rotational transfers to post the PAs SBCO first by the corresponding Regional offices and then the remaining vacancies to be filled by the divisional heads. Priority to be given to the SBCO officials because there are only very few officials who are remaining back and moreover they were recruited as PAs SBCO exclusively who obviously have full right to claim any of the posts in SBCO rather than the general line PAs. All PAs SBCO may be given their choice of preference even if it a merged post. For instance, if only one PA SBCO is there throughout a region/circle, will he not be transferred till his retirement? Such official has to be given any place which is preferred by him/her even if it is merged and then the other vacancies to be filled by the divisional heads. In case, if a PA SBCO claims a merged post he/she has to be given that post and the general line PA if posted on tenure basis in that place, can very well be shifted to any other post/place in that HO as this cannot be done in case of PA SBCO. This is the need of the hour as there are very few PAs SBCO posts available and far away from each other to rotate the PAs SBCO and creating a mental stress to all the PAs SBCO during each Rotational/Request transfer. The above priority may kindly be extended to all the rule- 38/inter circle transfer cases also.

 6. Weeding out permission:

            As the POSB reconciliation work is in process, permission is not given to weed out the time barred records in the SBCO units which is leading to over flow of records. The accounts and the balance of V2 SBCO system data is being compared for the reconciliation work with the Sanchay post migrated data. The vouchers and consolidations after migration are accumulated at SBCO units and have no role to play in the POSB reconciliation process as only the records pertaining to the migration period from end of the year 2014 to 2016 is required. The vouchers with consolidations are only heaped day by day without space. Hence, permission may kindly be accorded for weeding out the time barred vouchers and consolidations for the periods (years) before and after 2014-2016 to create space for preserving and arranging the current vouchers without difficulty.

 It is kindly requested that all the above demands of SBCO may be taken up seriously and settled without delay.

 A line of reply is solicited please.

 With regards,

 -Sd- 

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary

AIPSBCOEA

 

Copy to:

The Director,

SR Legal, Department of Posts,

Dak Bhawan, Sansad Marg,

New Delhi- 110 001.