Minutes Of The 2nd Meeting Of Empowered Committee Of Secretaries (E-CoS)
Venue: Committee Room, Cabinet Secretariat, Rashtrapati BhawanDate of
Meeting: Thursday, the 1 st March, 2016Time of Meeting: 6:45 PM
Members of E-CoS present
1 Cabinet Secretary
2. Chairman, Railway Board
3. Home Secretary
4 Defence Secretary
5 Secretary, D/o Science & Technology
6. Secretary, D/o Personnel & Training
7. Secretary, M/o Health & Family-Welfare
8. Secretary, D/o Pension and Pensioner’s Welfare
9. Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat
10. Secretary, D/o Posts
1 1 . Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General
Secretariat for E-CoS:
1. Jöint Secretary, Implementation Cell, D/o Expenditure
2. Director, Implementation Cell, D/o Expenditure
Representatives of JCM (Staff-side):
1 . Shri Shiv Gopal Mishra
2. Shri M. Raghavaiah
3. Shri Rakhal Das Gupta
4. Shri Ch. Sankara Rao
5. Shri J.R. Bhosle
6. Shri Guman Singh
7. Shri R.P. Bhatnagar
8. Shri K.S. Murty
9. Shri K.K.N. Kutty
10. Shri C. Srikumar
11 . Shri R. Srinivasan
12. Shri M. Krishnan
13. Shri M.s. Raja
Subject: Implementation of the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission — 2nd meeting of the E-CoS
A meeting of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) was held on 1
st March, 2016 in the Cabinet Secretariat under the chairmanship of the
Cabinet Secretary to discuss issues raised by Staff„side of JCM
2. Welcoming the members of E-CoS and JCM Staffrside, Cabinet Secretary
observed that the meeting had been called to take a note of concerns of
Stäff-$ide of JCM regarding recommendations of the 7th CPC and invited
the members Of Staff-side of JCM to share their views on the
recommendations.
3. Opening the discussion, representative of Staff-side of JCM expressed
gratitude to Cabinet Secretary for inviting them for interaction
regarding the recommendations of the 7th CPC and requested that more
frequent interactions of JCM may be held to resolve outstanding issues
across the table. It was expressed that 7th CPC has recommended a meager
increase of 14% in the minimum pay as against increase ranging up to
54% during previous Pay Commissions. It was further stated that the
recommendations on minimum pay, allowances, advances etc. will cause
difficulty to employees. Representative of Staff-side informed that they
have already submitted a charter of demands to the Cabinet Secretary
bringing out the issues. These have also been discussed in the meeting
of JS (IC) with Staff-side of JCM held on 19.02.2016.
4. Major concerns expressed by JCM Staff-side were as under:
The minimum pay of Rs. 18000/- p.m. recommended by the Commission is on
lower side and needs to be revised upward by taking into account the
prices of commodities as on 01.07.2015 and appropriately factoring in
for social obligations & housing.
(ii) New Pension Scheme should be done away with. Persons governed by
the NPS are deprived of Family Pension and do not have provision of
provident fund. As a result they are at a disadvantageous position as
compared to the persons governed by the old system.
(iii) Recommendations on allowances need to be properly examined before taking a decision.
(iv) Fixed Medical Allowance should be increased from existing Rs. 500
p.m. to Rs. 2000 p.m. as majority of cities are not covered under CGI-IS
and people residing outside the CGHS covered area are unable to meet
their medical needs with meager amount of Rs. 500 p.m.
(v) Recommendation regarding withdrawal of non•interest bearing advances may not be accepted.
(vi) Outsourcing of services should be discouraged as the contract
workers are being exploited by contractors and at the game time the
service delivery is being compromised due to inefficiency and lack of
accountability of low aid contractual staff.
(vii) Enhancement in contribution towards Group Insurance Scheme, is not
justified as this would reduce the actual increase in take home salary
considerably. If the rates are to be raised, the Government should bear
the insurance premium
(viii) The recommendation regarding grant of only 80% of salary for the
second year of Child Care Leave need not be accepted as this would deter
women from availing of CCL, which was introduced as a welfare measure.
(ix) Annual increments be granted @ 5% instead of existing 3% and
increments may be granted on two dates viz., 1 st of January and 1 st of
July of every year as in the present system of grant of increment on 1
st July of every year, employees joining/promoted after 1 st January,
who do not complete 6 months services as on 1 st July, have to wait for
up to 18 months for grant of increment.
(x) The Commission’s recommendation of downgrading the Assistants of
Central Secretariat for bringing in parity with their counterparts in
the field offices is not appropriate.
(xi) Recommendation regarding PRIS need not be accepted as no scientific
mechanism has been devised to assess the performance of employees and
the same could e courage favoritism.
5. Issues regarding financ al upgradation under MACPS in promotional
hierarchy without grading stipulation. grant of two increments on
promotion introduction of Productivity Linked Bonus, treating Grameen
Dak Sevak as Government employees, removal of pap of 5% on compassionate
appointment 8i full pay and allowances In case of Work Related Illness
and Injury Leave improving promotional avenues for technical and
supervisory staff etc. were also raised by members of JCM.
6. During the discussion, representatives of JCM also suggested that the
Nodal Officers nominated by various Ministries/Departments may hold
interactions with recognized Staff Associations and other stakeholders
under their purview so as to identify issues specific to those
Ministries/Departments for redressal.
7. After hearing the participants, Cabinet Secretary observed that the
deliberations have helped E-CoS in understanding the major concerns of
the Staff-side and said that all issues have been taken note of. He
assured that fair consideration will be given to all points brought out
by JCM before taking a final view. He further stated that the E-CoS
needs to examine the Report of the Commission in entirety as well as the
issues raised by JCM in consultation with all other stakeholders. As
such, it may take some time to take a final call on the recommendations
of the Commission.
8. Cabinet Secretary also advised the members of E-CoS to hold
interactions with their Staff Associations and other stakeholders under
their purview preferably within a week.
9. Meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair.
