IAS bosses in various Central ministries. But a delegation of Central Secretariat Service (CSS) led by RK Ojha strongly pitched for their case of pay parity with IAS and other services when they met MoS in PMO and personnel Jitendra Singh on Monday. In a memorandum to the minister, the CSS delegation pointed out a number of anomalies and said that in certain cases, a deputy secretary of CSS who has put in more than 15 years of service neither gets the same pay scale nor promotion as joint secretary nor the non-functional upgradation (NFU).
CSS officers work at various ranks including under secretary, deputy secretary, director, joint secretary and additional secretary. Prior to the 6th Central Pay Commission, the only facility which was permitted to other organised Group ‘A’ services was provision of Junior Administrative Grade (JAG) or Non-Functional Selection Grade (NFSG). But they argue, the 4th, 5th and 6th Pay Commission reports have never said that the benefits given to organised Group ‘A’ service will not be available to Central Secretariat Service. “Therefore, in the interest of harmonious relationship between different officers of same rank and different services, it is important to have a proper harmony and parity as far as environment and conditions of work are concerned”, the CSS delegation argued, according to an official statement issued by the personnel ministry.
Minister Singh gave a patient hearing and said the Central Secretariat Service is one of the earliest organised services in the country and an important constituent of the Central government machinery, according to the official statement.
Fine, each group A service has its own unique contribution to the government, they can aspire for better prospects. The problem lies not just seeking parity with IAS but in requesting a whole new approach to Human resource management. First and foremost the current mechanism of seniority based on UPSC exam, recuitment year should go-away and periodic performance reviews say once in 4 years to be done for all and the seniority for all services to be re-cast. Persons who are performing better needs to be moved up the chain, there is no need of calling so many services as most of them JAG and above do general administrative work. Cadre unification needs to be done at say on 15th year of service, based on merit, interview, qualifications etc., From there the SAG and above posts need to be filled thru selection and by giving clear targets and tenure (say 3 years) as done in CEO selection in private sector. Government officers esp at middle and senior level have the onerous task of taking country to a better and developed economy, the current performance of officers of all cadres is medicore at the best. Compare it with any CEO / CFO / CTO of a private company the difference is obvious.To sum it all government officers need to embrace drastic changes in the way they are functioning, forget about small issues like pay parity etc.,
ReplyDeleteActually central secretariat service was originally created as a permanent structure with lower level staff only. Thus a person joined as LDC after clearing staff selection commission exam and slowly climbed the ladder. He would be promoted as a UDC then as an Assistant and then Section Officer and finally retire as an Under secretary. Thus he would get five promotions in his career. Even the IAS get five promotions in their entire career (Under Secretary, Director, Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary and Secretay)
ReplyDeleteAll posts up to Under Secretary were reserved for the CSS only. The posts of directors and above were filled up on Deputation basis. No one had any problem. The British were intelligent and did not make the CSS powerful they allowed it to remain a subordinate service. CSS does not have any All india Transfer liability and it is a Delhi based comfortable service with no independent decision making, thus lower responsibility as compared to field postings and heading Departments in the field. It is a known fact that CSS are reluctant to be transferred out of delhi and have been a failure as Head of Departments as they are groomed to submit files to superiors. Over the years due to remaining in one city and their vast networking capacity CSS began to expand. Entry at Assistant Grade and section Officer Grade led to stagnation in promotion. Due to proximity to Ministers and contacts they were able to get large number of benefits and corruption within Minisitries grew. No Minister dare go against their wishes because he knows they can spoil anything by submitting a negative Note in File. No IAS officer has the guts to take a stand against the CSS. The fall in quality of IAS and many cannot even draft letters or file note – all this led to arrogance and therefore today the mighty Babus demand to be treated at par with IAS. It is the CSS who know how incompetent the IAS Secretarys are and the IAS is afraid of being exposed by CSS. So CSS is now claiming its pound of flesh.
Its not about the money its about power...;)
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