Monday, June 29, 2020


NATIONAL FEDERATION OF CIVIL ACCOUNTS ASSOCIATIONS
Contact :( 0)9868520926. E-mail: aicaeachq@gmail.com.
Website: nfcaahqnd.blogspot.com
                                               Represented By
All India Civil Accounts Employees Association
          (RECOGNISED BY GOVT. OF INDIA)
              CENTRAL HEADQUARTERS: NEW DELHI
       All India Civil Accounts Employees Association Category -II
             CENTRAL HEADQUARTERS: MUMBAI
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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. NFCAA/HQ/A-1/Cir-10/2020                                                                                      Dated: 28.05.2020
To,
            All Federal Executive Members,
            All Women Committee Members,
All Branch Secretaries of AICAEA & AICAEA Cat- II
Dear Comrades, 
We hope all of you are safe, healthy and happy

NFCAA congratulates all those Office Bearers,  Branches, Units and members who have responded to the call given by the NATIONAL FEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT & ALLIED EMPLOYEES & WORKERS ORGANISATIONS (NFCGA-EWO) to observe the ”NATIONAL RESENTMENT DAY” on 22ND May 2020 and implemented the programme sincerely.  NFCGA-EWO has been able to garner the support of a very large section of employees and workers including the casual, contingent, outsourced and contract workers. The NFCGA-EWO could be able to establish that it is an organisation for the most exploited sections of employees and workers connected with the functioning of the Central Government Employees. Therefore, it is beyond any doubt that the NFCGA-EWO would soon be in a position to resolve the long pending issues of the employees.

 DEPARTMENTAL FRONT

So far as the issues connected with the employees and officers of Civil Accounts organisation are concerned, the members of Federal executives of NFCAA have been requested to convey their opinion about the course of action to be taken. However, the status of some of the pending major issues   and the actions proposed to be taken by the Federation headquarters are being informed below 

STATUS OF MAJOR ISSUES PENDING WITH CGA
1.         DRAFT RECRUITMENT RULE  OF AO-SR. AO: MERGER OF AO-SR. AO 
  The merger of AO-Sr. AO and conferring them the Group “A” status is the 6th demand of our 22 point Charter of demands.  The office of CGA vide OM. dated 20th May 2020 circulated the Draft Recruitment Rules for the AO and Sr. AO and at the same time, asked the stakeholders including the Associations to offer their comments within 30 days of issuing of the OM. Hope all you have taken note of the Draft RR and the opinion expressed against it by Com. Amol V Sule, SG, AICAEA CAT II. The action of CGA is totally anti-employee and anti-Association. CGA is not ready to appreciate the responsibilities being discharged by the AO and Senior AOs. While the Government of India has accepted that the job nature and responsibilities of the AO-Sr. AO are one and the same, AO-Sr. AOs working in the C&AGs have been merged as Sr. AO and granted the status of Gr. A, it has no justification that CGA shall take a different stand. The AO- Sr. AOs in Civil Accounts organisation are discharging higher responsibilities. Functionally the AO-Sr. AO is not different and they are discharging the responsibilities as head of offices by virtue of being the in-charge of independent offices. After conferring the status of essential service to the Civil Accounts organisation, the responsibilities of AO-Sr. AOs have increased manifold.   
  The issue of merger of AO-Sr.AO being directly connected with the future prospects of AAOs in specific and indirectly connected with all categories of Civil Accounts organisation, It has been decided that responding to the OMs dated 20th May 2020 and 26th May 2020, the stakeholder Associations i.e. AICAEA and the AICAEA CAT-II shall submit their comments within the prescribed time frame. If any Branch feels to send its comment for incorporation that would be submitted to the Central Headquarters of AICAEA and AICAEACAT II, they are requested to send the same within 5th June2020.  
2.    RESTORATION OF A.A.O. (CIVIL) EXAMINATION SYSTEM AND NEGOTIATED SETTLEMENT OF SYSTEM OF EXEMPTIONS: 
CGA is not serious on the issue and the issues connected with the conduct of AAO (Civil) Examination have created wide resentment amongst the members. CGA has not initiated any action to conduct the examination other than issuing tender notice for outsourcing the conduct of AAO (Civil) Examination which was not at all an agreement with the Associations. Present CGA did not also respond to the repeated requests of the Association long before the spread of COVID-19 pandemic   to settle the issues by holding dialogue with the stakeholder Associations. This had led to filing of a case to CAT by a section of the employees and the application was dismissed due to inefficient drafting and pleadings.
It was proposed through Circular No. 9 that, after the final shut down of negotiation, a composite Petition in the court of law should be filed by the Association which would be the most effective action in achieving a favourable settlement.    
In this connection, all Branches were requested to contact the members who are appearing or to appear the AAO (Civil) examination and explain to them the approach of the NFCAA.  Branches were also requested to provide feedback after having interaction with the members concerned.   But, probably due to lock down, the majority of the Branches have not taken required initiatives.
It has been assessed by us that inertness or lethargy on the part of us in such a situation would cause serious complication as the affected individuals in groups are either contemplating to move to court on their issues or shall come under the provocations of disruptive forces.
Under the above circumstances, it is being proposed that another letter by the Association concerned may be issued to CGA seeking negotiated settlement and in the event of non-response; the Association may now file a petition in the court without any further delay. Branches may therefore, forward their opinion in this regard before 10th June 2020.
3.        CADRE REVIEW
We are routinely receiving inquiries regarding progress of Cadre Review. But according to
our information, the issue is lying pending with the Department of Expenditure and as per the assurance to the staff side; CGA is not perusing the matter with the Department of Expenditure and the issue has therefore, gone to cold storage. Only united struggle will help to succeed.
4.       RECOGNITION TO A.I.C.A.E.A. CAT-II 
Reluctant persuasion on the part of the CGA office has not made any notable progress on this matter. It is essential that organisational action against the unjustified approach of the authorities is needed
5.        CLASSIFICATION OF CIVIL ACCOUNTS AS “ESSENTIAL SERVICE”; FACILITIES REGARDING
The affiliates of NFCAA have already raised the issue of putting the employees and officers of Civil Accounts under compensation coverage of Rupees One crore in the event of their death due to corona infection while performing duty like other essential services employees . The letter in this regard has been issued to the Secretary, Department of Expenditure by the affiliates of NFCAA on 25.04.2020 and CGA was requested to offer her recommendations to Department of Expenditure.  But CGA has not taken any action on our letters so far.
6.        RESTORATION OF THE SYSTEM OF GRANT OF PROMOTION TO SR. ACCOUNTANT AS A.A.O. AGAINST 10 PERCENT PROMOTION QUOTA:- 
 The system of granting promotion to Sr. Accountant as AAO against 10% promotion quota had been stopped from October 2015 abruptly by the office of CGA. Though it was informed long back that the issue is on the verge of settlement but there is no progress on this issue. Since the affected members are contemplating to seek redressal from court, it is suggestive to resort to legal action.
7.         PROMOTION OF ALL M.T.S./L.D.C. TO NEXT HIGHER GRADES AGAINST THE VACANCIES AS ONE TIME MEASURE: - 
Office of CGA demanded a copy of earlier such orders as a basis for processing the demand   and a very old order exists with AICAEA West Bengal Branch which needs to be supplied to fortify our demand. Therefore action can be taken only after the receipt of the document from West Bengal Branch.
8.        MERGER OF ACCOUNTANT AND SR. ACCOUNTANT: - 
Though the proposal submitted by the AICAEA moved for consideration. But the   issue is still awaiting the decision of the Controller General of Accounts. Therefore, the issue needs to be perused through organisational actions.
9.        MERGER OF DEO WITH CADRE OF ACCOUNTANT: - 
CGA authorities are not in favour of merger of cadre of DEO with cadre of Accountant even though there involves no financial implication and its mere question of giving status to less than 100 employees who worked for organization for almost four decades and suffered due to change in work pattern over the years. Since the demand is also a part of the Cadre Review also, organisational actions are a must.
10.      SETTLEMENT OF REST OF THE DEMANDS OF 22 POINT CHARTER OF DEMANDS:
Other demands including the demands listed in the 22 point Charter of Demands are pending at various stages in the office of CGA and the demands have been put to cold storage. On 18th March, 2020 CGA office had conveyed that some of the demands have been forwarded to higher authorities. But the majority of the issues are yet pending. Even the issues that could be settled at the level of CGA have not also been acted upon. It is therefore, the organisational action which could settle the issues.
STATUS OF MAJOR ISSUES PENDING WITH
DEPARTMENT OF EXPENDITURE
1.      CONVENING THE VERY FIRST MEETING OF THE DEPARTMENTAL COUNCIL (JCM) FOR DISCUSSION AND SETTLEMENT OF 15 PENDING ITEMS: -  
       No progress obviously due to ongoing pandemic condition. 
2.     INCREASING THE STRENGTH OF STAFF SIDE MEMBERS IN DEPARTMENTAL COUNCIL (JCM) TO ELEVATE IT TO THE PRESCRIBED SIZE IN TERMS OF THE JCM SCHEME:- 
       The Department of Expenditure has not taken any action in this matter.
3.     ALLOTMENT OF PROPORTIONATE NUMBER OF STAFF SIDE (2ND) SEATS TO THE CIVIL ACCOUNTS ORGANIZATION IN THE NATIONAL COUNCIL (JCM):- 
The proposal of allotment of proportionate number of staff side (2nd) seats to the Civil Accounts Organization in the National council (JCM) is pending with DOE on which the DOE has not informed anything so far.

It is true that, in the present scenario of our country, it is essential to ensure safety of the countrymen first. But unfortunately the Government is not taking care of the interests of the working class of the country altogether. Workers of the unorganised sectors are suffering extremely. They have become homeless and jobless. They are dying while walking to their home thousand kilometres away, due to ailments and out of starvation etc. 
As Central Government Employees we have not been given adequate facilities for protecting us from the threat of Coronavirus infections and as a result of which many got infected while performing their duties and some of them have died also. Our legitimately due DA and Dearness Allowance have been freezed for one and a half years in spite of the fact that we have contributed at least one Day’s salary to the PM CARE fund.  
So far as we the Civil Accounts Employees are concerned, we have been made the part of essential service. Though we have accepted this decision of the government sportingly and have been rendering our service selflessly, we have not been granted any facility as members of essential service. Our office masters have not been delegated the powers to handle the local issues as applicable in respect of a department rendering essential service. Even we have not been brought under the Insurance Converge against COVID 19 infections like any other essential service department.  These issues are pending for years together and the authorities are not taking any action on those items even which could be settled in order to improve efficiency in the present condition of the country.
Therefore, inertness on our part in this critical situation would be very costly for our future. We need to act very fast at least for the settlement of our very important issues. Though the Federal Executive shall not be able to meet immediately due to the present condition, but on the basis of the interactions next course of action shall be decided and informed to you all.
With warm greetings,
                                                                                               
(V.Bhattacharjee)
Secretary General

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