INDIAN RAILWAYS PROMOTEE OFFICERS FEDERATION
RAMAN KUMAR SHARMA Room No.268,
Secretary General Rail Bhawan,
NEW DELHI
Dated : May 27th, 2013
Sub : Minutes of the Executive Committee Meeting of
IRPOF held on 21st & 22nd March, 2013 at New Delhi
General Secretary Shri Y.P. Mittal welcomed all the delegates and office bearers of IRPOF attending the ECM/IRPOF and he thanked Shri Deepak Shelly, President/IRPOF for giving an opportunity to host ECM at Delhi and bid farewell to Shri J.P. Singh, Ex. President/IRPOF and Shri Jitendra Singh, Ex. Secy. General/IRPOF. He mentioned that it is a matter of pride that NRPOA is also expressing thanks to Shri S.K. Khanna, Founder Member and ex. Secy. Genl/IRPOF for his continuous support and struggle. He mentioned that due to conference being held at New Delhi the availability of ORH were limited and all possible efforts have been made to accommodate all the delegates. However, if any inconvenience has been caused, it is regretted. Elaborating the detailed programme he mentioned that Federation may continue its meeting upto 16.00 hrs thereafter a break is required as arrangements for the Open session are to be done as Hon’ble Minister of Railways will be attending the Open Session. He wishes ECM a grand success and once again thanked all the participants who have come to attend the meeting.
President Shri Deepak Shelly started the proceedings of the ECM of IRPOF and he explained the importance and sanctity of the meeting and also impressed upon the delegates to be attentive, disciplined and focused on the core issues which are of great concern. He also mentioned that the meeting is not a forum of fault finding, levelling allegations on each other, discussing outstanding dues but serious discussions on important issues and steps to be taken to get them resolved favourably, is required. He requested the delegates that they should adhere to time limit allotted when invited to express their views and also not to repeat the same issues which have been addressed by the earlier speakers.
Shri G.P. Prabhakar, Genl. Secy/NERPOA – starting the discussion he welcomed all the delegates and mentioned that it’s a new beginning and IRPOF should function unitedly as a team. Differences, if any, should be resolved and not carried over for a longer period. He further explained having difference of opinion on issues and healthy criticism should not be taken in wrong perspective and sometimes such criticism helps in moving in a right direction which is beneficial both for promotee officers and the Federation. He assured full support to the Federation in its working and also expected that issues of promotee officers will be highlighted at all the forums and transparency in functioning of the system should be apparent. We need to achieve confidence of our members and their faith in our functioning.
Shri S.S. Parashar, Genl. Secy/NCRPOA - He thanked Genl. Secy/NRPOA and his team for making necessary arrangements. Citing from the past experience he was bit critical that IRPOF had been functioning around one or two persons for the past two decades. He expressed his views that proper functioning of Federation at all India level is next to impossible to be managed only by President/IRPOF or Secy. Genl/IRPOF or both of them. Formation of team, assigning different duties will only enable smooth functioning and give justice to all the organised services and officers of Misc. Cadre. Team work will also relieve President and Secy. General from petty issues and they can concentrate and focus in negotiations and future planning which requires utmost importance. He mentioned that the concept of POM meeting is vanishing and GMs are conducting meetings by changing its nomenclature simply with the intention that the members of recognised unions could not attend it. We desire that this issue should be taken up by Secy. General IRPOF in the GMs conference scheduled to be held on 3.4.2013. Further PREM meetings and Formal Meetings are also not being held as per schedule which deprives the Promotee Officers Association a chance to raise their concern before General Managers. He informed the House that vehicles have been provided to all the officers over NCR and also intimated the works done by NCRPOA in their zone. He further mentioned that 5-6 years back all the members of Promotee Officers Association used to eagerly wait for the issue of PROP and it was much sought for magazine as it contained lot of information related to promotee officers. With the advancement of technology the information is shared in real time by e. mail, SMS, FAX etc and by the time PROP is issued, the information contained in the magazine is already available with the members hence, they have least interest in going through the magazine. He requested President/IRPOF that quota for PROP of NCRPOA should be reduced to 100 copies only and similarly requirements of all zonal railways/production units should be reassessed and required number of copies of PROP should only be got published to avoid wastage of money and paper.
He appreciated the functioning of Federation’s website irpof.co.in and mentioned that still there is scope for further improvement. A link on Indian Railways website should also be available as the links of AIRF, NFIR and FROA are available on Indian Railways website. He stressed that to run any organisation effectively financial health should be sound. No outstanding dues are pending against NCRPOA and requested all the delegates to get the outstanding dues cleared as soon as possible.
Shri K.V. Vardarajan, Genl. Secy/SRPOA - thanking NRPOA for excellent arrangements for the ECM. He requested the House that we are coming from far off places spending 3-4 days in to and fro journey hence we should be very serious in the meeting in 2nd half. Without mentioning the names of the delegates, he expressed his anguish that members present in the morning are not seen in the meeting, this shows how serious we are and in such a situation what we can expect for the betterment of promotee officers. He was very categorical about irregular Formal meetings of Federation at Board’s level and even at zonal level. In many railways Formal meetings have not been conducted for years together but the constituent units are functioning there regularly. It is not a healthy sign that we are unable to avail the facilities already provided and if situation continues like this then the days are not far when the facilities will be curtailed by Board and if such situation arises then we can blaim none else but ourselves. He mentioned that SRPOA has cleared all the dues and nothing is pending on their account. He stressed that issues raised in the Formal meeting at Board’s level are pending for years together and they are either dropped or they face natural death as they become obsolete with the passage of time. A proper effective monitoring system needs to be devised and it is the responsibility of entire Exe. Body of IRPOF to ensure that the issues of major concern raised at Board’s level are brought to logical conclusion. Federation has done little work for Misc. Cadre Grade pay 5400 and officers with more than 10-12 years of Group ‘B’ service are retiring in GP.4800 without getting any promotion after induction to Group’B’. The problems of Misc. Cadre are increasing day by day and its accumulation is causing anguish amongst them which if not tackled and pacified will lead to situation where faith of members of Misc. Cadre in Federation will erode. He further mentioned that R&P Rules for Misc cadre in many categories are yet to be framed and Federation should come forward and get some relief for them. He mentioned that 80% upgradation to Accounts officers was implemented w.e.f. 1.1.1996 and officers of other departments were give this benefit w.e.f. 25.4.2003 but benefit of 80% upgradation is not available to the promotee officers working in Misc. Cadre. This is a genuine demand and VI Pay Commission in its recommendation had already mentioned that all Group’B’ officers should be granted 80% upgradation on completion of 4 years of service, but this recommendation has also not been implemented in the case of Misc. Cadre. VI Pay Commission in its recommendation had mentioned that restructuring for Group’A’ officers should be done and the process of restructuring of Group’A’ officers has started in the Board., Our Federation should be vigilant and keep close watch on the activities so that the posts of Senior scale are not surrendered and promotional prospects or the career advancement of promotee officers is not hampered at the cost of Group‘A’ restructuring. The rules regarding creation of work charge posts and the calculation of mean pay for creating work charged posts are not clear, it needs clarification from Railway Board. Work charge post are continuing for 15-20 years continuously and they need to be converted to revenue posts as they are required regularly for the system. At the last he mentioned that SRPOA is having their own website and connectivity of this site should be available through a link on IRPOF Home page and similarly other Associations having their own website should also be available on IRPOF home page. In the last, he mentioned that delay in DPCs is a problem which could not be tackled either by the Railway Board or our Federation and now it seems that delay is an inherent part of conducting DPCs. Instructions of DOP&T on the subject are not being implemented and neither the demand of our Federation to grant seniority from 1st April of the Vacancy year is being acceded to by the Railway Board which is really pinching promotee officers. This issue needs to be taken up on top priority as it will benefit all the promotee officers working in all departments.
Shri D.N. Verma, Genl. Secy/ERPOA - welcomed the new Executive Body of IRPOF and cautioned that in the days to come in the existing environment it is going to be very difficult for promote officers to survive, if they are not vigilant about their cause. We should stand unitedly and work for the benefit of promotee officers collectively. He was astonished to mention that meetings are conducted by Federation where people come and go away availing nice hospitability but the back office of the Federation is not functioning as till date the minutes of the last AGM and ECM held at Mumbai and RDSO have not been issued and we have come for the next ECM at New Delhi. What message can be given to our members in absence of the minutes and this show how sincerely we are working for the cause of the promote officers. He further mentioned that uploading of minutes on the website is a good sign but this do not absolve the Federation of sending copies of the minutes to all the General Secretaries of Zonal Railways and Production Units by post. All the correspondence should invariably be sent to the constituent affiliated units by post and in addition to it publicity can be done by uploading on the website and printing them in the PROP. He mentioned that website of IRPOF is being managed and maintained by the Federation fund and it can be accessed by any member of the Federation, but contrary to this password protected documents were uploaded on the IRPOF website which is ridiculous and do not meet with the democratic trend with which the Federation should function. All the office bearers and members had to request the then Secretary General for a password to access the document which shows the autocratic attitude and thinking and it needs to be dispelled . Our Federation had discussed the issue of uploading of ACRs on the website of all the officers and Railway Board could have access to it. This will help in curbing delay in collection of ACRs at the time of Group’A’ induction. The issue has not been pursued actively by the Federation after discussion and today the paper for induction to Group’A’ could not be sent even for those departments for which final eligibility list has been issued. The sole reason is non completion of ACRs for which promote officers and our members are not at all responsible and their suffering on account of stagnation are being compounded by every passing day. He further mentioned that Federation cannot function smoothly on any individuals shoulder but it requires collective working and to ensure this distribution of work and responsibility has to be done which will expedite functioning of IRPOF and also instil confidence amongst the office bearers, members and constituent units. Departmental committees should be formed and they should be allowed to function independently under the supervision of Federation. No attention has been paid to the grievances of Misc categories and getting no relief from the administration or the Federation the members of Misc categories have been forced to go to Court for redressal of their grievances. If Federation do not awake and look after the problems of Misc categories then days are not far when Misc cadre officers will get disillusioned and not participate in our activities. He was very categorical that the Federation should function as per its constitution and if it is felt that some provisions have become obsolete or any new addition is to be made then proper procedure of constitution amendment should be adhered. A Constitution amendment committee should be formed and they should be entrusted with the job of collecting proposed amendments from all the constituent units and members and compile them and submit to President IRPOF who will examine and place before the ECM for discussion and thereafter approval of General body should be taken on the proposed amendments. All the amendments should be placed before the general body and passed by secret ballot in case there is difference of opinion.
The monthly subscription being paid by the members of the zonal association varies from place to place. Some members are paying subscription @Rs.20/- , Rs.30/- Rs.50/- & Rs.100/- per month which should be uniform over Indian Railways. This aspect should be looked into at the time of constitution amendments. Further elaborating the issue he mentioned that Federation is charging Affiliation fee @ Rs.100/- per member from the affiliated units irrespective of the fact whether the concerned members are paying their membership or not. In such a situation we are losing on account of subscription collected through membership and this needs to be rectified either by making Affiliation fee proportionate to actual member who are paying subscription or the subscription should be compulsory for all the members because Federation is working without any distinction amongst the members. A serious thought has to be given on this issue otherwise defaulters who are not paying their monthly subscription may be enjoying all the benefits from Association/Federation. In the last he mentioned that after constitution is amended and passed by the general body, a signed copy of the constitution should be provided to all General Secretaries for record and booklet should be printed for the members.