PROPOSAL FOR THE CADRE REVIEW OF THE INSPECTOR POSTS AND ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT POSTS
1. PREAMBLE
1.1 The present proposal relates to the cadre review of the Inspector Posts and Assistant Superintendent Posts. The cadre was constituted long back, and is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Communications. The officers of these cadres are selected through Staff Selection Commission and 66.66 percent of the vacancies is filled up by promotion through Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (LDCE) from the feeder grade with not less than five years regular service as on 1st January of the year, to which the vacancies pertain to, in the grade of Postal or Sorting Assistants, Stenographer Grade-II and Lower Selection Grade including regular service put in as Postal or Sorting Assistants, if any.
1.2 The current exercise aims at strengthening the, cadre structure both at the headquarters and the field, on the basis of functional needs, and is designed to enable the department to provide better services in the emerging IT driven scenario, and to effectively respond to an increasing array of competitors and fully realize the potential of its vast network to enhance existing service and offer new services.
1.3 Department of Posts serves every household and touches the lives of millions every day. It serves both the privileged and under privileged sections of the society and reaches out to rural population and urban lives equally at each stage of human life. In the age of globalization, the operating environment and the role of Department of Posts is continuously evolving. The Department has evolved dynamically and is an important link between the Government of India, state governments and citizens for delivery of postal, communication, social and financial services. Postal services are experiencing exhilarating growth in Parcels, e-commerce, financial savings, Rural and Urban Life Insurance products, speed, express and time- sensitive, reliable mail services. Department of Posts has undertaken social benefit payments, such as MGNREGA and social security pension schemes. In order to meet the new developments and challenges, the services provided by the Department of Posts are being both upgraded, as well as, diversified and new services are being introduced. A major IT Modernization Project is in the process of being implemented.
1.4 The Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts are basically responsible for managing Postal and RMS Sub-Divisions. The Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts also occupy other positions like Office Supervisors / Assistant Superintendents (Head Quarters) and Assistant Superintendents (Out Door) in Postal /RMS Division, Investigating Inspectors / Assistant Superintendent (Investigation), Assistant Superintendent (Vigilance), Inspector / Assistant Superintendent (Complaints), Inspector / Assistant Superintendent (Technology) etc. to provide necessary functional support. The Department of Posts is on its way to restructure itself to meet challenges of 21st century. But, since 1979 no cadre review has taken place for Inspector Posts cadre though the said cadre review was implemented in the year 1985. Second cadre review orders issued under No.28-29/87/PE-I dated 20-08-1990 by Department Posts although Presidential approval was conveyed for up-gradation of 245 ASPs Posts of the Head Postmaster as PS Gr. B, but due to opposition from General Line Federations, the said scheme could not be implemented by the department. As per the guidelines issued by Department of Personnel and Training, an exercise to review the cadre structure of each service has to be carried out every five years. For IPoS cadre, 6cadre review already completed and implemented so far.
2 INTRODUCTION
2.1 The Department of Posts, with its network of 1,54,910 Post Offices, is the largest postal network in the world. On an average, 8364 people are served by a Post Office in the country; in rural areas, a Post Office servers 6275 people, and in urban areas, a Post Office serves 26553 people. Average area served by a Post office is 21.22 sq. km. The Department has been in the service of the nation for 163 years. It has evolved dynamically and today is an important link between the Government of India, State Governments and citizens for delivery of postal, communication, social and financial services. Its core functions include booking, transmission and delivery of mail articles, provision of small savings and financial inclusion services. Postal services are experiencing huge growth in Parcels, e-commerce parcels, financial services, Rural and Postal Life Insurance products, speed, express and time-sensitive, reliable mail services. Department’s main vision is to continue to deliver social security services and to enable last mile connectivity as a Government of India platform. The IT Modernization Project aims at transforming the Department into a ‘Technology enabled, self-reliant market leader”. It will result in increased market share and revenues, launch of new products and services, improved service delivery system, motivated workforce and customer satisfaction. Under the IT Modernization Project, integrated modules will cover various functions of Post Offices, Administrative Offices, Account Offices and Mail Offices, etc. Digital India Programme is a flagship programme of Government of India launched in 2014 with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The department is digitizing all the 1,54,910 Post Offices including 1,29,346 Gramin Dak Sewak Post Offices in rural areas. The digital Post Office shall work as multi service centre and become the nodal centre for the dissemination of information vis-a-vis government policies; disbursement of social security benefits; and financial inclusion. These post offices will offer a digital means of communications.
2.2 Rural Information Communication Technology (RICT) project has been launched by the Department in 28107 Branch Post Offices (as on 1/7/2017) and it has been planned to rollout in 40000 BOs through out India during current year. The Core Banking Solutions (CBS) Project is bringing in facilities of ATM banking, Internet Banking and Mobile Banking to Post Offices Savings Bank (POSB) customers 24x7 along with the facilities of National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS). In the Budget 2015-16 speech in Parliament, the Union Finance Minister announced the Government’s intention to set up the Payment Bank by Department of Posts to promote financial inclusion and ease the access of the people to the formal financial system. The Department of Posts received an ‘In Principle’ approval from the RBI on 7/9/2015 for setting up of a Payments Bank. The main objectives of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) is to bring a large number of individuals and small businesses into the formal banking channel by offering MSMEs, small entrepreneurs/ merchants, village panchayats, Self Help Groups (SHGs) etc. Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) of social security payments of various Ministries to beneficiaries, Utility Bill payments for electricity, water, telephone, gas, payments of various central and state government and municipal dues, person to person remittances, distribution of third party financial products such as insurance, mutual funds, pension and credit products. Finally, it was decided by department to roll out 650 branches of IPPB and their linkages with post offices across the country by September 2017.
2.3 The department is facing stiff competition and has been impacted by external factors of liberalization, globalization, digitization which have changed the dynamics of the market. Several new services have been introduced and the existing products redesigned to effectively compete with other players in the market. New products have been designed for various segments of the society. Steps have been taken to introduce information technology on a large scale, which has strengthened the customer interface at each stage of the value chain and improved delivery of service. The complex e-commerce, cash on delivery, logistics movement of consignments and instant money transfer are some new technology driven services that the department has recently embarked upon to meet the changing requirements of the public.
2.4 Department of Posts on an average delivers 624.04 crore pieces of mail every year reaching out to every nook and corner of the country. New opportunities are on the rise from e-commerce and parcel business. In the financial year there are over 40 crore accounts under the Savings Schemes at the end of financial year 2015-16 in Post Office Savings Bank scheme. There is huge potential from savings accounts and remittance business. The Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural PLI have also registered phenomenal growth. Aggregate number of PLI policies and aggregate sum assured as on 31/3/2016 was 4930000 and Rs. 109982.09 crore respectively. Department has published the projection of revenue growth up to 2019-20 which is appended as Annexure-B to this report.
2.5 As on 31/3/2016, there were a total 448840 employees in Department of Posts, of which, 193811 Departmental employees and 255029 are Gramin Dak Sevaks who run the large rural postal network. The present sanction strength of Inspector Posts is 2187 and ASP 1824. Therefore 4011 IPs/ASPs are serving the Department in field and headquarters.
2.6 It is a fact that not a single post of Inspector or Assistant Superintendent Posts has been sanctioned in the Department of Posts for last 50 years despite full justification based on the existing Staff Inspection Units (SIU) norms. But at the insistence of this Association one work study was conducted by the department in the year 1995-96 and it was gathered that as per SIU norms 500 more posts of IPOs / ASPOs was found justified at that time but no post was sanctioned by the department. On the contrary several posts like HSG-II (IPO Line) was taken away from this cadre in the year 1980, some posts of investigating inspector (wireless) and savings bank Development Officers which were being manned by the Inspector Line officers were abolished in the year 1985 and 1992-93 respectively. The work load and job description of Inspectors / Asst. Superintendents Posts have increased manifold due to subsequent diversification of business activities by the Department in different spheres.
2.7 It is a fact that the Inspector (Posts) and Asst. Supdt. Posts are instrumental in achieving the phenomenal growth of the Department of Posts in its savings bank services over the years. Currently DoP has 400.05 million accounts that hold deposits amounting to Rs 486264.66 crore. The department performs these agency services on behalf of the Ministry of Finance and provides financial inclusion to the poorest of the poor in remotest corners of the country through its postal network of 154910 post offices.
2.8 Department of Posts provides Life Insurance Services to Government employees known as Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance services (RPLI) to prospective clients across the country. It currently has a PLI Fund corpus of Rs 109982.09 crore from 49.30 lakhs live policies. The RPLI corpus is Rs 81733.73 from 149.15 lakhs policies. The PLI and RPLI corpus has shown a exponential growth rate. The Department has therefore been at the forefront of providing rural and quality life insurance services to Government staff and has registered an exponential growth in the sector over the last ten years.
3 Promotional Avenues :
3.1 The examination for promotion to the cadre of Inspector Posts is common for Postal / Sorting Assistant having a minimum 5 years qualifying service with just 4 chances for any official and comes with age restrictions. The exam comprises of four papers, each of 3 hours duration for 300 marks. This is one of the toughest competitive examinations conducted at All India level and only few aspirant candidates can get through. How stiff and competitive this examination is, can be easily assessed based on the syllabus. Paper I and II demands in-depth knowledge of the rules and regulations relating to Postal and RMS functions laid down in Postal Manuals and what the officers in All India Services in Central Govt. and Central Secretariat services are required to possess. Paper III deals with various laws comprising Constitution of India, Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC), Indian Evidence Act, COPRA Act & CAT Act, RTI Act 2005, CPC. Paper IV deals with General Knowledge and current affairs.
3.2 The Inspector Posts is required to acquire a fair knowledge of legislature enactments like Constitution of India, Indian Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.PC), Indian Evidence Act, COPRA Act & CAT Act, RTI Act 2005, Indian Post Office Act 1898, Government Savings Bank Act 1873, Indian Post Office Savings Banks Rules 1933, Government Savings Certificate Act 1959, Indian Post Office Savings Certificate Rules 1960.
3.3 This is a pure selection depending upon merit and the vacancies declared for the year. During the year 2016 out of 3207 candidates who appeared for the examination, only 165 have been selected against the declared vacancies by the department i.e. only 5.14.% have been declared successful. The cadre therefore, comprises of the cream of the Department. The successful candidates are required to undergo theoretical training at Postal Training centers and practical training in the field.
3.4 As recommended by the fifth CPC the Government has introduced Direct Recruitment at the level of Inspectors through Staff Selection Commission for 33.33% of the posts. 7CPC has now recommended GP of Rs 4600/- to Inspector posts cadre which is equal to the Inspectors working in other Ministries. An All India Seniority is drawn up based on the merit position of the candidates and this becomes the ultimate document for further promotion to Postal Services Group B Cadre.
4. Proposed scenario and Improvement after implementation of proposed cadre restructuring:-
4.1 The Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts are playing a very pivotal role to achieve the goals outlined for development of the Department through tremendous growth in its Savings Bank services and Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance services (RPLI), e-Commerce and bringing success to Government of India Social and Financial schemes vizMGNREGA payments.
4.2 With a large network of with over 1, 54,910 Post Offices (as on 31.03.2016) of which 1,29,346 (83.50%) in the rural areas, the Post Office touches the life of everyone. At the time of independence, there were 23,344 Post Offices, which were primarily in urban areas. Thus, the network has registered a seven-fold growth since Independence, with the focus of this expansion primarily in rural areas which is the focus of present Government to ensure overall growth. The Department is preparing to manage the massive changes that have arisen on introduction of the IT Modernization Project. With this kind of technology initiative, the Post Office will be in a position to become the front office of the Government to the citizens. Role of the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts has also increased in many folds in implementation & Roll out of IT Modernization Project in general and particularly in Rural ICT.
4.3 In the present environment, inspection of Post Office work which is performed by the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts is the foremost compliance verification tool. In the cadre restructuring of Group-C employees of Department of Posts the posts of SPMs in single and double handed offices have been upgraded to the extent of LSG Posts. Similarly, the posts of SPMs in triple handed offices have been upgraded to the extent of HSG-II Posts. The rising incidents due to technological advancement requiring dedicated man power to be trained and deployed for combating frauds. Therefore, it is proposed to have a dedicated Team of Group-B Officers at each Circle/Regional level for inspection of Offices of having the status of LSG and above.
4.4 Over a period of time, with increased competitiveness, increased accountability and commitment to society (as reflected in Citizen’s Charter), increased transparency (on account of transparent business process, automation and RTI etc.), streamlining of processes, the service delivery expectations and expeditious redressal of Public Grievance and the expectations for quick resolution of Public Grievance are much higher. We have also committed ourselves for improved services. Therefore, it is proposed to have additional Posts of Group-B Officers at Circle/Regional level for e-Commerce, Public Grievance, Technology, Business Development etc. and to upgrade the posts of ASP(HQ) and ASP(OD) in JTS Divisions (Postal/RMS) to PS Group-B Cadre.
4.5 There are 92 National Sorting Hubs (NSHS) in the Country which are headed by Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts. Out of these 92 NSHs, around 20 NSHs are under the jurisdiction JTS Divisions (Postal/RMS). It is proposed to upgrade these 20 posts to PS Group-B Cadre to head the NSHs under the jurisdiction JTS Divisions (Postal/RMS). Besides this hubs which are exclusively looking after the work of Parcel and e-commerce articles etc should be upgraded to PS Gr. B cadre.
4.6 On implementation of Core Banking Solution (CBS), Circle Processing Centers (CPCs) have been established at each Circle Head Quarters. It is proposed to upgrade 23 posts to PS Group-B Cadre to head the Circle Processing Centers (CPCs).
4.7 The issues like career opportunities and career progression are extremely significant for the Department as a whole. For an Inspector Posts it is taking more than 24 years to get PS Group-B through inter-se-seniority promotion. The ratio of Staff strength in PS Group-B cadre to that of the feeder cadre i.e. the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts is 1:5. A career progression is a must to keep the motivation of an Officer alive throughout his career.
In view of the significant work profile in delivery of quality services expeditiously, disposing of Disciplinary /Vigilance cases in a time bound manner, in achieving the desired objective of complaints verification effectively and to meet the career expectations of the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts there is need to upgrade certain posts of Assistant Superintendents of Posts to PS Group-B level at Circle /Regional Offices and Postal/RMS Divisional Offices.
To meet the functional requirement as well as career expectations of the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts and in view of the aforementioned paras the cadre restructuring proposal of the Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts is placed as detailed below:-
Sl. No.
|
Grade
|
Existing Strength
|
Sl. No.
|
Grade
|
Proposed Strength
|
Proposal
|
1.
|
PS Group-B
|
750
|
1.
|
PS Group-B (Non Functional Selection Grade)
|
300
|
The exiting PS Group-B (Non Functional Selection Grade) in the level of Pay Matrix-10 only for those who are senior most and completed not less than a minimum service of two years in PS Group-B.
|
2.
|
PS Group-B
|
1088
|
It is proposed to upgrade the posts of ASP (HQ) and ASP (OD) in JTS Divisions/units (Postal/RMS) to PS Group-B Cadre (171x2=342). It is also proposed the head of National Sorting Hubs (NSHs) in JTS Divisions (Postal/RMS) (20)and all CBS CPCs (23)upgraded to PS Group-B Cadre. Certain posts of Assistant Superintendents Posts (113 + 140) to PS Group-B level at Circle /Regional Offices for looking after new services and Inspection Team.
| |||
2.
|
Assistant Superintendents of Posts
|
1824
|
3.
|
Assistant Superintendents of Posts
|
1264
|
All the Assistant Superintendent Posts will be at Circle / Regional Offices and Postal/RMS Divisional Offices. Also in PSD/ RSD/ CSD /Foreign Post/CBO/BPCs etc.
|
3.
|
Inspector Posts
|
2187
|
4.
|
Inspector Posts
|
2109
|
All the Inspector Posts will function as Sub-Divisional Head (Postal and RMS)
|
Total
|
4761
|
Total
|
4761
| |||
It is also proposed to keep leave reserve post 10% of cadre strength of PS Gr. B.
5. Financial Implications / Financial Neutrality:-
5.1 The financial implications have been computed based on sanctioned strength. The Cadre re-structuring, as proposed above, would not entail any additional expenditure as shown in the Annexure ‘A’ and accordingly therefore in nutshell it will be total saving of Rs. 17,11,300/- to the department of posts.
5.2 At present there are 350 numbers of MACP III officials in the Pay Matrix Level-9 and 100 numbers of MACP II officials in the Pay Matrix Level-8 from the cadre of Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts are available in the Department. Hence the question of matching savings in the respective levels of Pay Matrix to the extent does not arise at all.
5.3 141 HSG-I Posts (IP Line) surrendered to General Line may be taken toward Financial Neutrality. If at all any matching savings is required, the same may be taken in to account and these 141 posts may be adjusted as matching savings.
Conclusion:
Since last 35 years no cadre review has taken place for IP cadre whereas all other cadres had managed to get benefits in their favour periodically. Only one cadre review was taken place for IP cadre, whereas 6 cadre reviews have already been carried out for IPoS cadre. In the year 2012 this Association was called for to attend meeting in connection with Organizational Restructuring in Department of Posts and in the said meeting it was discussed about up-gradation of Class II divisions to Class I division and in each division there would be 2 PS Gr. B officers. In view of the said meeting, the upgraded posts of ASPs to PS Gr. B may be placed in division/RO/CO. Overall there is an attempt to rationalize the cadre structure both at the headquarters and the field on the basis of functional requirement. It will provide more avenues to earn revenue and respond effectively to the growing customer needs. This will also reduce the stagnation and improve career aspects of Inspector Posts by saving of total Rs.17,11,300/- reducing the cost of the establishment permanently thereby it will vouchsafe the deficit of the department minimize.
We are waiting for positive response and if required meeting may be held with our Association for detailed discussion/clarification.
Yours sincerely,
(Vilas Ingale)
General Secretary
Annexure ‘A’
Financial Implications
Sl. No.
|
Grade
|
Existing Strength
|
Entry Pay
|
Total Pay
|
Sl. No.
|
Grade
|
Proposed Strength
|
Entry Pay
|
Total Pay
|
1.
|
PS Group-B
(Level-9)
|
750
|
53100
|
39825000
|
1.
|
PS Group-B (Non Functional Grade) (Level-10)
|
300
|
56100
|
16830000
|
2.
|
PS Group-B (Level-9)
|
1088
|
53100
|
57772800
| |||||
2.
|
Assistant Superintendents of Posts
(Level-8)
|
1824
|
47600
|
86822400
|
3.
|
Assistant Superintendents of Posts (Level-8)
|
1264
|
47600
|
60166400
|
3.
|
Inspector Posts (Level-7)
|
2187
|
44900
|
98196300
|
4.
|
Inspector Posts (Level-7)
|
2109
|
44900
|
94694100
|
4.
|
141 HSG-I Posts surrendered to General Line
|
141
|
44900
|
6330900
| |||||
Total
|
4902-141= 4761
|
231174600
|
Total
|
4761
|
229463300
| ||||
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