LETTER TO THE SECRETARY POST REGARDING PROVISION OF STAFF TO SBCO on a WAR FOOTING MEASURE:

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 1/3^rd 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.

LETTER TO CPMG MAHARASTRA CIRCLE REGARDING ISSUE OF GRADATION LIST & FILLING UP OF SUPERVISORY POSTS IN SBCO:

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 1/3^rd 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,

Yours Sincerely,

 -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

 

 Wish you a Very Happy Holi to All!

 

 CONDOLENCES TO THE GREAT MILITANT LEADER COMRADE M. KRISHNAN

Comrades,

Comrade. M. Krishnan really made his life memorable in the hearts of the working class by the depth of his sincerity. There are no words to describe the loss caused by the sudden demise of the beloved comrade. Heartfelt tributes and Red salutes are paid by the All India Postal SBCO Employees Association. Com. M. Krishnan played a vital role in organizing our AIPSBCOEA 3^rd All India Conference at Thekkadi, Kerala where he himself monitored all the arrangements personally and the 5^th All India Conference at Haridwar, Uttarkhand from 5^th to 7^th July 2019.

The All India Postal SBCO Employees Association, expresses profound grief and shock at the sudden passing away of Comrade M Krishnan, former Secretary General Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers on 28th February 2021 night at a Hospital in Kerala. He was in hospital undergoing treatment for Covid 19. His demise is a very big loss to the trade union movement in the country at this juncture.

 Comrade M. Krishnan who was called “ Krishnaeten” dedicated his life in moulding the Confederation of Central Government Employees and the NFPE movement. In 1974, he joined the kerala Circle Kasargod Division as a Postal Assistant. Com. Krishnan became the Secretary of the Kasargod branch, which was part of the then kannur division from 1976. He has been the Divisional Secretary of the P3 Union since the formation of the Kasargod Division in 1980. He served as the Divisional Secretary, President  NFPTE  Co ordination Committee Convener and Worker’s  Co ordination  Committee Convener  in Kasargod District till 1992. His headquarters  was shifted to Tiruvananthapuram when he was elected as P3 Circle Secretary in 1992. In 1996, he was elected as Convenor of the NFPTE State Co ordinating Committee and later State General Secretary of the Confederation. It was an era of intense struggles in Kerala Circle, in front of the PMG Office and against the contracting out of the AEGIS office.

 He proved to be an eminent leader and contributed a new direction to the NFPE and the Confederation at the All India level as he was elected as the All India President at the P3 Union’s Himachal Pradesh Conference. He was subsequently elected All India General Secretary of the P3 Union, Secretary General of the NFPE and Secretary General of the Confederation. He led a number of agitations at the All India level, including the 16 days strike exclusively for GDS employees. After retiring from service in August 2014, he joined CPI Kasargod District Committee as part of the General movement, along with the duties of the Confederation later he was shifted to Tiruvananthapuram in connection with the recently held local body elections as a member of the CPI (M) Chala area Committee took the helm of the election campaign and won a resounding victory of Com. Arya Rajendran , who was elected as the Mayor of Tiruvananthapuram. Although he vacated the post of Secretary General of the Confederation at the Nagpur Conference in 2020, he continued to lead the Central Employees movement as the Vice President of the All India Union. He has left his wife Smt. Sarojini (retd. from Indian Oversees Bank),  Anju Krishnan (Son, settled in Ireland)  Anjana Krishnan (daughter) with us.

 He led many struggles at Circle to National level. Numerous strike struggles, particularly by the postal employees at national level, braving many attacks and atrocities during last couple of decades are the examples of his effective leadership in the employees’ movement. 

He also took initiative in organizing effective solidarity actions for many struggles of various sectors.  He had been one of such leading personalities of Central Govt employees’ movement who contributed immensely during the span of around four and half decades of his active trade union life, to fully aligning and effectively involving the Central Govt employees movement with the united movement of the working class on all major policy issues thereby ,making the employees movement an integral part of the countrywide united struggles of the working class against neoliberal policy regime.   He had attended many international conferences of TUI Public Services and WFTU.

 AIPSBCOEA CHQ pays respectful homage to the departed leader and convey heartfelt condolences to his family and comrades. Red Salute to comrade M Krishnan. 

-Sd-

SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM

General Secretary.

 

GIST OF THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE MEETING HELD ON 13.2.21 AT BANGALORE:-

Comrades,

The Federal Executive Meeting was held at Hotel Samrat Residency in Bangalore on 13.2.2021. All Federal Executives, General Secretaries, NFPE Office Bearers participated in the Meeting under the President ship of Comrade P.V. Rajendran, Secretary General  Comrade R. N. Parashar and Ex Secretary General Comrade C.C. Pillai.

 All the Agendas proposed were discussed in the meeting including their own sectional  issues  by all the  Office Bearers and General Secretaries . On behalf of the All India Postal SBCO Employees Association, the following points were discussed and placed at the apex body for necessary action:-

 1.    Any new proposals, schemes, SB Orders whenever introduced regarding any particular wing of the Department of Post , the concerned representatives of the Association to be called for discussion before implementation.

2.    A drive for Recruitments to be conducted as an one time measure to fill up all the vacant posts in all cadres including SBCO up to the sanctioned strength which will be a solution for many of the staff side problems.

3.    The  “very Good” bench mark for MACPs to be relaxed as it is the usual financial up gradation for completing 10, 20 & 30 years of service. The denial of MACP when LSG promotions are declined  is not correct , as LSG promotion is in no way connected with the regular financial up gradation under MACP for completing 10, 20 & 30 years of service . So, the financial up gradation under MACP should be allowed either the officials accept or decline their LSG promotion.

4.    The leave during the lockdown period to be regularized for all the officials who were unable to attend the office due to genuine reasons (unavailability of transport, identified as covid positive either self or family members, residence at containment zone). Exemptions to be granted to all the pregnant women &, physically challenged as per the instructions of MHA for whom the same is not granted. Compensation of Rs. 10,00,000 to be granted to the family of officials who lost their lives due to Covid-19, with compassionate appointment to one of the family member.

5.    Membership verification to be done by manual check off system as earlier and not through online system.

6.    One time relaxation in RRs of HSG II & HSG I posts to fill up all the Supervisory posts in SBCO cadre.

7.    Inter Circle transfer requests to be expedited in a systematic and quick manner to relieve the officials in time in all the Circles.

8.    SBCO officials not to be brought under contributory negligence in fraud cases as they are in no way connected with the monetary transactions done at the counter. SBCO  is purely doing the work of Audit only the next day (or) when they receive the returns after the transactions are completed at the counters . So, the money misappropriated to be recovered only from the primary offenders i.e. the maker-checker and not from the innocent officials in the name of subsidiary offenders. For any lapses in the work the CCS Conduct Rules may be applied for punishments. Hence SBCO officials should not be brought under contributory negligence.

9.    SBCO officials to be permitted for writing the PRS Group B Exams.

10. Cadre Restructuring to be done immediately for SBCO as per the suggestions given by the AIPSBCOEA CHQ.

11. SBCO to be brought under the control of GM PA & F with nomenclature change.

12.  Immunity from transfers to be granted to the Circle Office Bearers  of AIPSBCOEA in Circles like UP, MP, Assam, Odisha, Telangana as per the Directorate’s letter Nos. 69-18/70-SPB-I Dt.23.03.1973 & 02.01.1974  and No. X-12/1/2019-SPB-II Dt. 03^rd June 2020.

13. Child Care Leave to be granted to women employees for all genuine reasons without denial of the same.

 With Regards,

 -Sd-

SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM

General Secretary

AIPSBCOEA.

 

 

SUBJECTS FOR PERIODICAL MEETING OF SERVICE ASSOCIATIONS AT DIRECTORATE:

Ref.No.: AIPSBCOEA/CHQ/Periodical Meeting of Service Associations/2021           Dt-02.02.2021.

To

The Secretary,

Department of Post,

DakBhawan, SansadMarg,

New Delhi – 110 001.

Subject :-      Periodical Meeting of Service Associations in Department of Posts, New Delhi – reg.

 Reference:-1.Directorate letter File No. 02-01/2021-SR dated 18^th January, 2021.

 Respected Sir,

 On behalf of the All India Postal SBCO Employees Association, the following items are placed for discussion in the Periodical meeting to be held with the Service Associations for necessary action Please.

 1.       Cadre Restructuring of SBCO :-

The Cadre Restructuring of SBCO may be done which is very eagerly awaited by each and every SBCO official. As the Department knows that the promotional avenues of SBCO officials are very less, the young officials joining SBCO with a lot of dreams and hope usually are forced to decline the LSG promotions due to non- availability of LSG Posts in their working / residing Regions/Divisions. Also there are only very few LSG, HSG II and HSG I Posts in SBCO in all the Circles. As of now SBCO is doing 100% voucher checking of all SB categories including the work of Certificates. Hence  Cadre Restructuring may be done by filling all the vacant posts of SBCO up to the Sanctioned strength and increasing  the Sanctioned strength of the SBCO units simultaneously increasing the number of promotional posts  according to the new ad hoc time factor as  additional works have been entrusted to SBCO after CBS & GL integration. The AIPSBCOEA CHQ has already submitted letters to the Department regarding Cadre Restructuring of SBCO vide letters dated 28.8.2019, 18.5.2020, 9.7.2020,13.7.2020,30.9.2020 & 29.1.2021 for reference.The Cadre Restructuring may be done based on the number of accounts justification and  Increase in the Sanctioned strength of  PA Posts due to entrustment of excess work after CBS after GL integration as mentioned in all the CHQ letters mentioned above.

 2.       Change of Control of SBCO to GM PA & F:-

Our Association wishes to point out that the duplicate accounting done by SBCO wing has been abolished with induction of CBS &Finacle in POSB banking operations. As such the SBCO wing is now entrusted with sole work of auditing of day to day transactions of POSB and Certificates by the latest orders. This work is being done by the SBCO on behalf of Postal Accounts at all the Head Post Offices.SBCO should be differentiated from the General line PAs by Nomenclature Change as the work done by the General line PAs are verified (or) inspected  and scrutinized by the SBCO officials. Now the Government/Department should take initiative to re-designate the SBCO wing as POSB Audit wing and rename its cadre as Auditors and make it as part of Postal Audit office. The nomenclature of the staff of present SBCO should be re-designated as   “Auditors”,  “Senior Auditors”, “ Chief Auditors” ,”Executive Auditors” and “Chief Executive Auditors”  as per the cadre/pay levels. The term AUDIT defines “an official inspection of an organizations account by an independent body and it cannot be expected to detect every fraud”. Fortunately the work presently done by SBCO has still coincided with the definition of AUDIT. The SBCO cadre is treated as distinct category in the department so far. 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 a must and inevitable.

 As the SBCO is now under the control of the Divisional heads , the importance of audit and independent/fearless  functioning of SBCO is becoming a big question mark . It is repeated again that SBCO is performing all the work on behalf of Postal Accounts having similar nature of work. Hence as both DAP and SBCO were formed from the same AG P & T Audit , SBCO may be brought under the control of GM PAF which is our very important demand.

Time and again, our Association is demanding that the SBCO wing should be brought under

thecontrol of Director of Accounts (Postal) for effective functioning as both the wings are

Performingthe same nature of work and bifurcated from the AG P&T only. Of late an order was

issuedassigning the work of NSCs & KVPs to SBCO which was previously done by DAP w.e.f

01.07.2016vide SB Order 06/2016 issued vide No.32-01/2016-SB Dt.21.01.2019. In our strong

opinion, anrobust internal audit should be mooted out for POSB like various audit organizations (ie) P

& Taudit General, Audit Civil Audit, Defence and Railway Audit, striving for the safety of public

money.

 3.       Non- grant of immunity from transfer to the Circle Office Bearers of the Association in many Circles ( Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Assam ) :-

On behalf of the All India Postal SBCO Employees Association , the  issue regarding non grant of immunity from transfer to the Circle Office Bearers of the Association were even highlighted in the memorandum sent to Directorate dated 09.03.2020. The Directorate’s orders regarding grant of immunity to Circle Office Bearers of the Association is to be followed at all the Circles voluntarily by the Heads of the Circles, but inspite of claiming the same by the Circle Office Bearers and intervention of the All India CHQ many Circles are still not granting the immunity from transfer to Our Association’s Circle Office Bearers which is nothing but violation and disobedience of the               Directorate’s orders dated   07.12.1970 , 23.03.1973 and 02.01.1974& 03.06.2020.

              References:Directorate letter Nos.69-18/70-SPB-I Dt. 07.12.1970 and 69-52/72-SPB-I Dt.

23.03.1973 and 02.01.1974.&No. X-12/1/2019-SPB-II Dt. 03rd June 2020.

 The activities and functioning  of the Association is very much affected due to non- availability of the Circle Office Bearers at the Circle Headquarters in many Circles like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, Assam )  Hence , the Honorable  Secretary Post may kindly look into the matter immediately and issue favorable orders/instructions to the Circle Heads to transfer the Circle Office Bearers  of AIPSBCOEA to the Circle Headquarters under immunity grounds which is the need of the hour for the smooth functioning of the Association.The letter from the AIPSBCOEA CHQ  alreadysent on 27.8.2020, 27.1.2021  regarding this issue.

Once again it is requested for a kind intervention and issuance of necessary  instructions to the Circle

Heads of ( Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha& Assam )by the Honorable

Secretary Post and grant immunity from transfer to the Circle Office Bearers of AIPSBCOEA.

 The first two items are the needs of the hour for the SBCO wing which will createan independent cell to perform the work on the spot without any fear of reprisal for pointing out the genuine mistakes and detection of irregularities spontaneously. The third item is very important for the smooth functioning of the Association and its activities without any difficulties.

 A line of reply is solicited Please.

 With Regards,

-Sd-

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary.

 

Copy To:-

The Director SR & Legal,

Department of Post,

DakBhawan, SansadMarg, New Delhi – 110 001.

                                                                                                                                                                                      -Sd-

(SHP. JASMINE JALAL BEGAM)

General Secretary.