A.I.C.A.E.A. LETTER
DATED 25.08.2018 TO C.G.A. ON RESTRUCTURING AAO (CIVIL) EXAMINATION
(RECOGNIZED
BY GOVT. OF INDIA)
Central
Headquarters
Central
Office: - Address
for Communication:-
Room No.
351, ‘B’ Wing, 17/2 – C, P & T Quarters,
Loknayak
Bhawan, Kali Bari Marg,
Khan
Market, New Delhi – 110003
New Delhi-110001
No:-
AICAEA/HQ/A-2/2018/387
Dated:
25.08.2018
To,
Shri Anthony
Lianzuala,
Controller
General of Accounts,
Ministry of
Finance,
Department of
Expenditure,
4th Floor, GPOA, Block-E, INA,
New Delhi – 110023
Subject: - Restructuring
of AAO (Civil) Examination – outcome of the meeting held on 21st
August, 2018 regarding.
Sir,
I have been directed to
inform you that, this Association has reviewed the outcome of the discussions
held in the meeting between the official side of the Office of Controller
General of Accounts and the representatives of All India Civil Accounts
Employees Association at 3.30 PM of 21st August, 2018 on the issue
of restructuring of AAO (Civil) examination. The Association and its members
were disappointed to find that though a few suggestions of the Association had
been considered by the authorities but the approaches adopted on some vital
issues are totally going against the interests of the candidates without any
fault of theirs and against the law of natural justice too.
It has therefore, been
decided to request you to kindly consider following suggestions of this
Association in addition to the suggestions given by it in the meeting of 21st
August 2018 in support of its written submission on 29th June 2018 and
bring suitable modifications in the following provisions of the proposals
formulated by your office for restructuring the AAO (Civil) Examination-
1. CONTINUATION OF 8 PAPERS INSTEAD OF 4 PAPERS:-
As per the proposed new pattern of the examination,
there would be only 4 papers comprising the whole old syllabus with many new
topics. While examining the new syllabus it has been noted that Paper 3 has
subsumed all the papers relating to accounting procedures viz. (Paper 3, 6
& 8) with many new topics relating to electronic portals. It has more than
20 books to be referred and shall make the candidate over burdened. In this respect the Association would like to
state that –
(i) Current procedure is
more logical considering the vastness
of the syllabus and due to further additions recently, number of papers need to
be continued as 8(eight) instead of 4( four).
(ii) Old syllabus may be
updated with the proposed modifications e.g.
Supply Accounts Section of existing Paper 7 may be replaced by Information
Technology (e-Office, e-Payment, GeM, NTRP, PFMS, e-Lekha, WRPS, APMS,
BHAVISHYA, CPGRAMS etc.)/Banking Arrangement.
(iii)The new topics may be added in the
relevant papers.
(iv)
In 8 papers, there is no need of merging the syllabus, so that the
candidates can easily go through the whole syllabus and there would be healthy
question bank to test the wisdom of the candidates.
(v)
The concept of 8
Paper system has been kept unchanged in C&AG’s Organization even after
switching over to Online Examination system.
2. CONTINUATION OF EXEMPTIONS:
Para (ix) of the Annexure to the OM No.
34012/online/MF.CGA(E)/522 dated 15th May 2018 of the office of CGA limits the exemption
earned by the candidate to the immediate next attempt and Para (x) of the
Annexure to the said OM entails the forfeiture of the exemptions earned by the
candidates’ upto AAO (Civil) Examinations-2017.
These provisions
are totally unacceptable as these are not only against the interests of the candidates
but also against the principles of natural justice.
The AAO (Civil)
Examination upto 2017 were conducted by the Controller General of Accounts under
a prescribed system and a syllabus adopted formally in 2006, and the exemptions
were earned by the candidates by rendering their hard labour and by exhibiting
their complete loyalty to the examination and retaining themselves within the
ambit of the system that was brought to operation in 2006. Therefore, imposing
a penalty on them arbitrarily by withdrawing the exemptions earned by them is a
complete injustice.
In para (xi) of the
Annexure to the OM No. 34012/online/MF.CGA (E)/522 dated 15th May 2018
of your office it has been stated that, a candidate will get 6 chances to pass
the Examination, but the facility of exemption has been limited to immediate
next attempt. It is not only confusing
but a subjective proposition which goes against the interest of the
candidates. We would therefore, request you to kindly continue the system of
exemptions in the following manner-
(a)
Whether old or new pattern, provide 6 consecutive/ continued chances to
clear the 8 papers to all.
(b)
In addition to a chance
through the special examination to the candidates appeared the examination upto
2017 and cleared 1 to 7 papers, they may be allowed to migrate to new pattern along with
exemptions already earned by them subject
to overall 6 attempts.
(c)
Validity of the exemptions
earned by the candidates in the new pattern may be allowed till stipulated 6 chances
are exhausted.
3. RATIONALIZATION OF CANDIDATURE POLICY: ALLOWING CANDIDATURE OF GRADUATE AND
ABOVE M.T.S BEING GROUP-C EMPLOYEES :-
As per the para 4 (four) ELIGIBILITY
CONDITIONS of “REGULATION FOR THE JUNIOR ACCOUNTS OFFICER (CIVIL) EXAMINATION
FOR APPOINTMENT AS JUNIOR ACCOUNTS OFFICERS IN DEPARTMENTALIZED ACCOUNTS
ORGANIZATION EFFECTIVE FROM 2006” all categories of Group C Employees who
render a minimum service of three years in their grades on 1st
October of the year of Examination will be eligible for taking part in the
examination.
On the other hand, on the
basis of the recommendations of 6th CPC, Government of India has
abolished the Group D cadre and merged the cadre with the Group C cadres. As
such the MTS are Group C employees and this classification has been reiterated
by the Government of India for more than one occasion. Now-a-days all MTS are being
recruited though the open Examination conducted by SSC and all Central
Government Departments including Civil Accounts Organization are extending all
facilities to MTS which are applicable to Group C employees.
In the Civil Accounts
Organization the promotional prospects for MTS are very bleak. They do not get
promotion as LDC even after completion of 30 years of service. The Departmental
Examination for promotion for them as LDC takes place normally once in five
years. So they do not have the opportunity of getting speedier promotions
despite having requisite qualifications. Whereas, through the present
recruitment process, several graduates and post graduates are being recruited
as MTS due to severe crunch in the job market.
Under the above
background, it is essential that our thought process and perception about the
MTS are changed. We request that the MTS
who are graduates and above may also be allowed to appear the AAO (Civil)
Examination like other Group C Employees among whom some were not even
recruited with the service condition of being graduates.
The decision on your part
to allow the MTS who are graduates and above to appear the AAO (Civil)
Examination will result reciprocal advantages to both employees and the
authorities. On one side the lowest paid but qualified employees shall find a corridor
for career advancement and on the other side the authorities will be getting
better service from a deserving employee.
We shall be thankful, if
the suggestions given above are considered by you sympathetically and favorable
decisions are taken.
Apart from the points
concerning with Restructuring of AAO (Civil) Examinations the issues connected
with (1) conducting regular Departmental Examination for promotion of MTS and
LDCs to next higher grades (2) Conducting Departmental Confirmatory Test for
Accountants in every four months instead
of six months to resolve the issue of deferment of increments were also
discussed in the meeting. These were discussed by us on the basis of the
direction given by the Chairperson in the meeting held between the Official
side of CGA office and the National Executive of All India Civil Accounts
Employees Association on 16th August 2018. We shall however, make
our submissions separately on these two issues for you perusal and
consideration.
We would also like to bring it to your kind information
that, despite the issue of Restructuring of AAO (Civil) examination being an
exclusive issue of All India Civil
Accounts Employees Association as the members of this Association only are appearing the AAO(Civil) Examination, your
office, on the pretext of having wider consultations, ignored the provisions
envisaged in the CCS(Recognition of Service Association) Rules, 1993 and had invited a selected section of those Associations
for discussion which have no connection with the AAO(Civil) Examination. Among
those invited Associations, the All India Associations of PAOs (Civil) being
one of the most matured and reasonable Associations did not attend the meeting
fixed by your office and conveyed that, the issue being a subject matter of All
India Civil Accounts Employees Association, All India Association of PAOs (Civil)
stands by the opinion of All India Civil Accounts Employees Association. But
some other Association from among the invitee Associations which was allowed to
encroach into the area of All India Civil Accounts Employees Association
ignoring provisions of CCS (Recognition of Service Association) Rules, 1993 had
published some confusing and distorted informations in the social media
immediately after a few minutes of conclusion of the meeting with the officers
of your office on 21st August 2018 to mislead the employees. The
incident being very regrettable and unwarranted, we request you to kindly
direct your office to take the contention of this para of the letter in right
perspective and take necessary action in future keeping our submission into consideration.
Thanking you,
Yours Sincerely,
(V. Bhattacharjee)
Secretary General
