Monday, August 27, 2018

A.I.C.A.E.A. LETTER DATED 25.08.2018 TO C.G.A. ON RESTRUCTURING AAO (CIVIL) EXAMINATION


All India Civil Accounts Employees Association
(RECOGNIZED BY GOVT. OF INDIA)
Central Headquarters
Phone No. 011-23345070, Mob. No. 9868520926 e-mail:- aicaeachq@gmail.com
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

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