UPDATES

Pune, the 20th March, 2011.

Greetings to all of you on the Occasion of Holi!

It is time to update the Members on the developments over the past fortnight or so. The Cadre Restructuring Proposal has been finalized by the Board and submitted to the Department of Expenditure for its approval. Which are the proposals that have been accepted / included and which are the ones rejected/not considered, remains a mystery, due to lack of proper information. Going by the minutes of the Board meeting as circulated in the Internet, it is understood that there is a likely increase in the number of posts of CAO and AO, while the earlier proposal for abolition of 750 posts in the grade of DOS/STA has been dropped. If this is true then this is a welcome change and a result of our consistent stand. Apart from this, there is nothing to show or to be happy about, as the core demand to create a new hierarchical structure in the Ministerial Grade to address the pay disparity in the AO/DOS grade has not been considered as yet despite all our efforts. The other crucial demand relating to the change in the promotional quota for Inspectors and one time relaxation, for filling up of all posts by promotion to the grade of Inspectors have not been considered on flimsy grounds. Further, the minutes of the Departmental Anomaly Committee Meeting held on 23.11.2010 has been issued and are in circulation. The next meeting is scheduled on the 5th of April, 2011. The copy of the notice and minutes are placed below:-

Minutes of the Meeting can be accessed by following the link below:-

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_wcN1t0C9s3NTRmYmJjZDEtOGZlZi00MjRkLTk4MGUtNjVjNDk0NzNiYTE1&hl=en&authkey=CMmV-Dw

In this background there has been call from various quarters for convening a Meeting of the All India Association, to discuss these developments and deliberate the future course of action to be adopted. However, it is felt that it may not be the right time to do so, for the reason that there has not been any definitive information on the cadre restructuring proposal except for whatever has been stated above which again is speculative. Further, nobody has been to New Delhi recently to be in a position to actually get a sense of the things that is happening on the ground. I intend to visit Delhi this coming week and the President and ASG are also scheduled to attend the Anomaly committee meeting. I hope that at the end of these visits, there will be a clearer picture regarding the actual developments, and may be we can then plan our next course of action. The problem here is not about the meeting, but as to what exactly is going to be the reason/ outcome of such meeting, in absence of proper/authentic information and therefore, it may have to wait for some more time.

The issue of the Joint Action Committee is agitating the minds of the Members of this Association. The Inspectors’ Association, which was part of the JAC and was not willing to participate or support any sort of agitation, when there was a genuine requirement to do so, has now joined hands with the Superintendent’s Association and is likely to extend support to the agitation by that Association which were not with them/us initially. While this Association was all along a supporter of a common platform, the pity is that the Inspector’s Association has not thought about this and proceeded to join ranks with that Association, instead of bringing them also to a common platform and put up a joint struggle, which certainly would have made a huge difference. Therefore, the JAC is well and over for all practical purposes. Be that as it may, we wish Good luck to them and all the Associations who were part of the JAC in all their endeavors.

In light of the above factors, it is strongly felt that the spirit and unity of the Members of this Association has to be right up there, so as to lend their strong support, should there be any need for this Association, to take the path of struggle and agitation to get its demands fulfilled, as we cannot depend on others for the purpose. Since, we are still awaiting more details and closely monitoring the progress of the cadre review proposal file, which might move to the next stage, it is not possible to arrive at any such decision at this point in time.

Needless to mention that the monthly subscriptions, which are required to be remitted to the All India Association have not been remitted by many Circles/Units, despite several reminders. It is unfortunate that even the senior leaders, who are aware of the struggle one had to go through in the absence of recognition of the Association, fail to understand the importance of a centralized funding and maintenance of audited accounts for continuation of the recognition. I once again appeal to the leaders of the zonal units and the zonal representatives to kindly forward the share of the All India Association immediately, failing which the undersigned may have to take corrective action, which may not be pleasant and certainly not in the best interests of the cadre.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Mony