ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE CCGGOO AT CHENNAI

Dear friends and comrades,

The second National Conference of the Confederation of Central Government Gazetted Officers’ Organisations (CCGGOO) was held on 12^th and 13^th October 2018 at Chennai. Office Bearers and representatives of 19 Organisations from various parts of India participated in the Conference.

          Shri. T.K. Rangarajan, MP, Dr. M. Raghaviah, Leader of the Staff Side in the National JCM, Shri. Thomas Franco, Secretary General, AIPCOC, Shri. V.K.Tomar, Secretary General, National Confederation of Public Sector Officers Association and Shri. Raja, Working President of the Confederation of CG Employees & Workers, were some of the dignitaries who attended the inaugural session and addressed the Conference.

          After the inaugural session, a special Womens’ Convention was held in which women officers performed a skit highlighting the plight of working women in Government Offices and was followed by a lecture by Prof. Dr. N. Chandra, on the challenges faced by women officers.

          In the Business Session that followed, Shri. S. Mohan, Secretary General, CCGGOO placed his Report for discussion and approval by the house.

Excerpts from the report are:

Developments after the submission of 7th Pay Commission Report :

After a big hype the Pay Commission Report was submitted to the Government on 19th November 2015 but none of our demands was accepted by this Pay Commission. It was the most disappointing, retrograde and worst recommendations ever made by any previous Pay Commission with only 14.29% increase in pay after 10 years. It is the Pay Commission which offered the lowest benets to the staff of the Central Government. Near about 50 lakh Central government employees and one Lakh and half Gazetted ofcers were betrayed. Most of the recommendations in the case of minimum wage, tment formulae, pay scales to the Gazetted ofcers, MACP are most retrograde. Then Government formed Empowered Committee. This Empowered Committee recommendations were not available till now in the public domain.

In respect of the following demands of the Group B Gazetted Ofcers and promotee Group 'A' Gazetted ofcers, unfortunately, no action appears to have been initiated in respect of 1.Setting up of Apex level Grievance Redressal Machinery to Gazetted Ofcers, 2. Revision of Minimum Wage & Fitment Factor, 3.MACP Benets on promotional hierarchy 4.Anomaly committee to Gazetted Ofcers  5.Appointment of Cadre review committee to Gazetted Ofcers and restructuring of the Group 'B' Gazetted cadre in all Departments, 6. Bonus, Leave Benets to Gazetted Ofcers, 10.Unied pay scale equivalent to the Grade Pay of Rs.5400/- to all entry level Group 'B' Gazetted Ofcers, Subsequent -Time scales/levels in a time bound manner as is followed for Gr.''A'' cadre. 11.Parity to be ensured to all Ofcers and staff in eld/subordinate ofces with Central Secretariat by upgrading their pay scales and not by downgrading the pay scales of the CSS.

Day Long Mass Dharna on 25th February 2016 at Jantar Mantar :

For the First time in the History, the Gazetted Ofcers organized a massive Dharna on 25^th Februray 2016, against the retrograde recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. More than 650 Gazetted ofcers participated. This Dharna created history in the annals of the movement of Gazetted Ofcer Associations.

Because of this Dharna, the Joint Secretary, Pay Commission Implementation Cell invited the leaders of CCGGOO. This was also the rst of its kind. We communicated our feelings and issues to the Government in addition to the other common issues.

Meeting with Joint Secretary, Pay Commission Implementation Cell:

The issues such as entry level Grade pay to the Gazetted Ofcers should be 5400 at PBII and its equivalent level in the 7th Pay Commission, the Grievance Redressal Machinery for the Gazetted Ofcers and removal of Ceiling limit of DCRG etc. were highlighted. It was also pointed out that there were mistakes in the Pay Matrix and insisted to correct them. Further, we argued for the bonus to Gazetted ofcers apart from the common issues of minimum wage, restoration of HRA, increment rate at 5% and other issues. The Joint Secretary gave us patient hearing and agreed to take up these issues positively and appraise the Cabinet Secretary. It was also pointed out that in certain departments, either no nodal ofcers were appointed or even if it is appointed, those nodal ofcers had not given due regard to the suggestions of the ofcers' federations which were recognised in those departments, over anomalies of the 7th Pay Commission Report.

12

 Meeting with Dy. Speaker of the Loksabha :

The Delegation of CCGGOO met the Honourable Dy. Speaker, Dr. M. Thambidurai at his residence on 25th February 2016 at New Delhi. We argued our case for Higher Grade pay of Rs.5400 to the entry level Gazetted Ofcers in the Central Government and to establish suitable

Grievance Redressal Machinery to the Gazetted Ofcers to resolve their issues in the Central Government. The Honourable Dy. Speaker agreed to bring our demands to the notice of the Honourable Minister of State, Shri. Jitendera Singh in respect of establishing a suitable Grievance Redressal Machinery to Gazetted ofcers and to Honourable Minister of Finance Shri.Arun Jaitley, for entry level pay of Rs.5400 to all Gazetted Ofcers in the Central Government.

Indenite Strike Notice Served :

This Confederation, through detailed Memorandum and substantive oral evidences, elucidated before the 7th Pay Commission their legitimate demands and grievances faced by the Gazetted Ofcers in various Central Government Departments. However, to our utter dismay and disappointment, we found that most of our legitimate demands were not adequately addressed by the 7th Pay Commission. Further, we also being one of the main stakeholders, we repeatedly sought meetings with Cabinet Secretary to ventilate our grievances exclusively pertaining to our Gazetted Cadre. But, unfortunately, no meeting was called for to give us a fair hearing. Despite our efforts and cooperation with the Pay Commission and other forums, none of our demands has been accepted. In such Circumstances, the Gazetted Ofcers are also left with no option but to join the strike by the staff Side on 11th July 2016. It was assured that Minimum Pay and Fitment Formula would be increased a High Level Committee would be constituted to submit recommendations in regard to the Government. It was also assure that all other issues arising out of implementation of 7th CPC would be considered favorably. Four months time limit was also xed for implementation of the assurances. Based on the above assurances the indenite strike was deferred for four months.

 Parliament March on 15th December 2016:

It was an unprecedented success. It was an outburst of resentment of entirety of the Central Government employees and Gazetted Ofcers, despite cancellation and delayed running of several trains in North India due to heavy fog and the havoc unleashed by the cyclone in Tamil Nadu and conveyed a strong message of anger and democratic protest against the total negative stand of the present Government against its own employees.

About 15000 Central Government employees, including Gazetted Ofcers not less than 500 participated in the Parliament March and Rally. This march was organised by the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers against the backtracking of the commitments made by the Group of Ministers led by the Home Minister to revisit the issue of minimum pay and tment factor within four months. The Central Government Employees and Gazetted Ofcers were upset over the development and it also manifested lot in the "March to Parliament".

13

Prevention of Corruption Bill:

Views of Confederation of Central Government Gazetted Ofcers Organizations on the proposed amendment to "Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 submitted to the Chairman, Select Committee of Rajya Sabha headed by Shri. Madhav Dave, Member of Parliament on Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2013 on 1st April as follows:

We were of the opinion that insertion of clause (d) in section 2 of PC Act dening the terms 'undue advantage' and 'legal remuneration' apparently cannot be misused for ling malicious and false complaints against public functionaries to harass them because the language employed seemed to be unambiguous. The deciency was also in consonance with United Nations Convention against Corruption. As to the dealing with attachment and forfeiture of properties (disproportionate assets/proceeds of crime) this Association concurs with the amendment. However, we were of the opinion that a provision in Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was better than the provision in the Criminal Law (Amendment) ordinance 1944 because PMLA was more practical one than the colonial criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance. Notwithstanding the fact that introducing the concept of 'mens rea' by introducing clause 13(i)(b) would put additional burden on the investigating agency to establish

criminal intent, this new provision is necessary since both 'Mens rea' and 'Actus reus' were essential to establish a crime as per criminal jurisprudence. Moreover, the word 'intentionally' would protect the innocent government ofcials who were targeted under the PC Act. 'Intentional' must be the criterion and should be well dened. As to prescribing time frame for completion of the trial of two years subject to a maximum of four years seemed to be practicable.

This Confederation vouchsafe the recommendations of the Law Commission of India (Report No 254) with reference to paras 1.7, 2.4.4, 2.10.2 and 4.3.4. To conclude, bribery is often committed with the bribe givers willing participation and he has to face trial. Besides amendment to the PC Act, the participation of society in combating corruption is all the more necessary and therefore it is important to raise public awareness regarding the existence, causes, and gravity of and threat posed by corruption. Enforcing whistle blowers Act, RTI Act, and comprehensive Public Procurement Act would help strengthening transparency in public ofces.

Pension is also under privatisation:

The dened benet pension scheme was replaced by the dened Contributory Pension Scheme by the Government in 2003 and made it applicable to all employees joining the Central services on or after 01-01-2004.. Despite the non-passage of the PFRDA bill and the consequent absence of a valid law till 2014, to support the Pension Regulatory Authority, the Government introduced the New Contributory Pension System w.e.f. 01.01.2004 through executive at. Confederation has been agitating continuously against the NPS and also against introduction of the PFRDA bill in the Parliament as the NPS is going to make social security in old age uncertain and dependent on market forces. The PFRDA bill has provisions empowering the Government to cover employees now left out and to amend the existing entitlements of pension benets. Despite the opposition of Central and State Government Employees Federations and also the left parties in Parliament, the Government went ahead with the PFRDA Bill.

"Dened Contributory Pension Scheme does not guarantee returns. Benets depends upon as to how the investment has fared in the stock market. The stock markets have never remained strong over a long period of time. It is not only volatile but susceptible to manipulation and machinations. The global nancial crisis in 2008 has been the product of investment derivative manipulations. It wiped out the earnings of lakhs of workers, employees, teachers and many others. No Government came to render help to those unfortunate losers, whereas bail-out packages of millions of dollars were rolled out to rescue culprits. "Large number of Ofcers have joined the Central Services since 2004 and so is the case with the various state Governments, who have adopted the Dened Contributory Pension Scheme in replacement of Dened Benet Pension Scheme. It is estimated that they presently constitute almost one-third of the total Officers in Government departments in the country. The deeper study of the functioning of the Contributory Pension Scheme has proved that the promised better returns in the form of Annuity is nothing but an ever eluding mirage." "It is satisfying to note that the employees due to the consistent efforts undertaken by the Confederation have begun to observe the dimension of the problem and the support and solidarity provided by the democratically elected Government to the corporate houses. It is also equally gratifying that the young comrades have also begun to realize that this has to be resisted and defeated."

Repeal of Pension Act:

In accordance with the policy of Government of India to repeal obsolete Acts, the question of repeal of Pension Act, 1871 has been under serious consideration for some time in the past. In this connection it is strongly felt that the Pension Act, 1871 must be excluded from the list of the obsolete Acts to be repealed as some of the provisions of the Act provide security to the pensioners against attachment and assignment of pension. It is a potential threat that the protection against attachment by courts provided in the Pension Act, 1871 would eventually be taken away from the statute if the same is repealed. Apart from Government servants of Central/State, Government Pension is being granted to retiring employees of many quasi Government organizations and freedom ghters. The repeal will be a death blow to the social security schemes which has been a right.

Pensioners Option I recommended by 7th CPC is not Considered.

The Committee chaired by the Secretary (Pension) had not recommended the Option Number - 1 recommended by 7th Central Pay Commission for xation of pension of pre - 2016 Pensioners. Instead it recommended extension of the benet of pension determination recommended by 5th CPC i.e. arriving at notional pay in 7th CPC by applying formula for pay revision for serving employees in each Pay Commission revision and consequent pension xation. Thus, the one and only favourable recommendation of 7th CPC ie; the real parity in Pension which is also approved by Cabinet with a rider "subject to feasibility" was mercilessly rejected by Government, despite repeated requests and demands from Confederation of Central Govt. Gazetted Ofcers' Organisations (CCGGOO), NCCPA, CCGEW, NJCA and other C.G employees & Pensioners Associations.

International Day of Fight for Pensioner's Rights:

The CCGGOO observed the Call of World Federation of Trade Union – Trade Union International - Pensioners and Retirees to observe 1st October 2017 as the International day of ght for the persioners rights. Since 1st October falls on holiday, CCGGOO requested its afliates to observe the call of International day of Pensioners Rights on any one of the day in the 1st week of October. Accordingly the afliated units of CCGGOO observed this call by holding General Body meeting, Gate Meetings, Demonstrations, Conventions throughout India, and all other form of protest as well as awareness programmes with demands that correspond to our true needs, having as perspective, a society without exploitation, poverty, wars, calamities.

Anomaly Committee:

Recently the Government of India formed the Anomaly Committee, but no representation has been given to the Gazetted Ofcers and Promotee Ofcers working in the Central Government. There is a mechanism to resolve the issue relating to anomalies pertaining to Group C and Non-Gazetted Group-B employees. CCGGOO welcomes that move. At the same time, this Government is not considering the anomalies pertaining to Gazetted and promotee cadres as an issue to be resolved and it has not created any mechanism to resolve this issue. This is a great injustice perpetrated on us. Lot of anomalies pertains to the cadre of Gazetted and Promotee cadres were not heard by the Apex Level Ofcers for years together. There is a mechanism to solve the individual anomalies restricted to individuals but there is no mechanism to resolve the same to Gazetted Ofcers in respect of anomalies commonly prevailing in two or more Departments and this situation should not continue in the Central Government. Anomalies arising out of 6^th Central Pay Commission itself are pertaining to Gazetted cadre which are piling up and have not been resolved so far by the respective Departments. In this backdrop, failing to consider the anomalies pertaining to Gazetted cadre is not at all justiable.

Bench Mark appraisal from Good to Very Good:

The Government accepted the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission in respect of the Bench mark for appraisal for promotion and nancial upgradation under MACPS should be enhanced to "Very Good" from "Good". In this connection, it is apprehended that the acceptance and eventual implementation of the aforesaid recommendation of 7th CPC would result in untold sufferings to the Central Government Gazetted Ofcers and Employees in so far as this implementation will lead to arbitrary, biased treatment by superior ofcers while writing the APARs of their subordinates. In the absence of specic standards of appraisal and ranking such subjectivity cannot be eliminated. Enhancing the bench mark from "Good" to "Very Good" deprive the benet to employees in large members owing to the biased, arbitrary exercise of powers at the hands of superior ofcers. It has created a fear psychosis in the minds of employees and Gazetted ofcers and it may be a major deterrent to the Gazetted Ofcers in discharging their responsibilities without fear or favour and it would lead to lot of court cases by the affected employees. In the meanwhile, many Departments, using the peculiar situation of absence of any clear notication in this regard have stopped the procedure of convening of Departmental Promotion Committee and have stopped promotions and MACP nancial up gradation to the ofcial under the guise of waiting for clarication from the ministry in this regard. This creates further chaotic situation and immediate guidance is necessary to all Departments from the Government in this regard. The DoPT has issued order reiterating the Government position altering the bench mark from Good to Very Good. Our Strong opinion that there is a lot of court cases before the Supreme Court on bench mark appraisal. The recent Judgment ensured that the concerned ofcial should be communicated by the higher ofcial in case if he is not considered for required bench mark.

In the recent order, Department / DoPT did not provide any reasonable opportunity to the concerned ofcial in the case of promotion and Financial Up-Gradation. Further, the present order changed the tenets of the recommendations and gave priority to its own ideas of curbing further rights to the Gazetted Ofcers. Hence CCGGOO does not agree with this DoPT order. Our Fight will continue in this regard.

Reservation for Persons with Benchmark Disabilities:

It is painfully surprising to note that reservation to persons with disabilities belonging to Groups 'A' and 'B' is restricted to direct recruitment only and reservation in promotion for those Government servants with disabilities is not contemplated. The Hon'ble Supreme Court has, in various judgments, ruled that the Disabilities Act, provides for full participation and equality by people with disabilities and in order to remove any discrimination against them, vis-à-vis non-disabled persons, the act should be interpreted liberally. Denial of reservation in promotion in the cadres of Group 'A' and 'B' by DoPT in the OM to be issued will be against the interest of the disabled serving employees and spirit of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to which India is a signatory.

Our Demands :

(1) Creating a Permanent Negotiating Forum in form and style of JCM, for redressal of various grievances faced by Gazetted Group B and promotee Group A ofcers.

(2) Appoint an expert committee for assessing the intrinsic value of the job content of each grade and post at the intermediary level. Various anomalies arising after the implementation of the recommendations of the Pay Commission are mainly due to lack of scientic assessment of Job content of each Grade in the Gazetted Ofcers cadres.

(3) The difference of Pay between two consecutive cadres in Group B & C are proportionately much lower than the difference in Pay between two consecutive cadres in Group A and this anomaly is to be eradicated.

(4) Rationalization of the MACP scheme.

(5) Demanded that the Bonus, up to certain limit, is to be given to all ofcers.

(6) Uniform Pay for these common cadre ofcers across all the Departments

(7) The entry level group B Gazetted ofcers needs to be placed one step below the entry level Group 'A' and they should be placed one step above the non-Gazetted Group 'B'. Hence the best possible way to consider them to place the Gazetted Group 'B' on equivalent replacement scale of Pay Band 2 in Rs. 5,400 Grade Pay.

After discussions and passing of the Secretary General’s Report, Com. R. Chandramouli, the former President of AIACEGEO placed the resolutions by the Resolutions committee, which were unanimously passed. The details of the said resolutions will be put on the blog after receipt of the minutes of the meeting.

Thereafter the following office bearers were elected unanimously for the period from 2018 - 2020. 

Chairman: 

Com.Rakesh Prakash Tiwari, Railways.

Vice Chairmen:

1.Com.P.R. Charan Babu, CPWD

2.Com. V. Krishna Mohan, Defence

3.Com.R. Manimohan, Central Excise

Secretary General:

Com. Baskar Battacharya, Income tax

Additional Secretary General:

Com. O.S.Sudhakaran, Audit

Joint Secretaries:

1.Com.Mahesh Kumar, P&T Accounts.

2.Com. M. Saravanan, DGQA

3.Com. Dr. R.Mridha,  Zoological Survey. 

4. Com.Arun Kumar Sinha       (nominated)

Finance secretary:

Com. Koushik Roy,  Central Excise.

Organising Secretaries:

1.Com.  S.S. Chauhan,  PAO

2.Com.  Ashutosh Kumar,   SSOA

3.Com.  Ramasahay  Yadav, Films Division

4.Com.  Rajendran, MPEDA

5.Com.  V.Kanagarajan, Postal

6.Com.  Raj Purohit, BES

7.Com.  V. Narmatha,  Audit, Women Sub-committee 

8.Com.  T. Babu, Customs

9.Com.  Satish Kumar,   Ordnance Factories.

10.Com. P.J.Zadoo,India Meteorological Department. 

Auditor:

Com. C. Rajendran, CPWD.

The newly elected Secretary General Com. Baskar Battacharya announced that Com. S. Mohan, the outgoing Secretary General would be a permanent invitee for all the meetings of the CCGGOO for the period 2018-2020.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR AIACEGEO:

          This is the first Conference of the CCGGOO we are attending.  In fact the decision to join CCGGOO was taken only in December 2017 at the Mumbai AIEC. Until then Com. Chandramouli and the units of Chennai and Kolkatta were alone involved in attending the meetings of the CCGGOO at the local levels.

In the conference, we found that on numerical scale, we were one among the major Associations.  However, we are aware that we are lagging behind in our organizational approach to issues, when compared to Organisations such as ITGOA, Audit, Postal, Railways, etc. 

While the SG of the ITGOA could say in the conference that they have never missed any strike call at the national level, we cannot have any such claims.

Many of us still believe that by lobbying and liaising we can get things done for the cadre.  Repeatedly such measures have failed, because such methods can help only to get postings or transfers for individuals, but have no effect on policy making for CG Employees. Those organizations which achieve their demands on cadre issues, do so in an organized manner. Lobbying etc are only part of the back channel diplomacy and not the main course.

Considering our importance in the larger scheme of the Central Government Gazetted Officers’ movement, the CCGGOO has given us two responsibilities, that of Vice Chairman and Finance Secretary (Treasurer).  While it is an opportunity for us to be on the platform of CCGGOO it is as well a challenge for us to rise up to their level of commitment and sustained movement.

Long live Associations.

Long live unity.