Minutes of the meetings of the Committee constituted to look into the promotional prospects of IPOs/ASPOs held on 18.10.2011 and 03.11.2011 in Dak Bhawan, New Delhi

Above minutes have been released by the Department vide No.01-01/2011-SR dated 14.11.2011 which are reproduced below for informaiton of all members.

Minutes of the meeting of the Committee constituted to look into the promotional prospects of IPOs/ASPOs.

In a meeting taken by Secretary (Posts) with All India Association of Inspectors and Assistant Superintendents of Posts on 11.08.2011, it was decided to constitute a Committee which will look into promotional prospects of IPOs/ASPOs.  Accordingly, a Committee was constituted under the Chairpersonship of Member (Personnel) vide Department’s Office Order No.1/1/2011-SR dated 09.09.2011.  The Committee had its first meeting on 18.10.2011, followed by another meeting on 03.11.2011.  The following were present.

S.No	Official Side	Staff Side
1	Member (Opertaions)	Shri R.N. Parashar, Asst. Secretary General, NFPE
2	CGM(Mail Business)	Shri Giri Raj Singh, General Secretary, AllIndiaRMS and MMS Union Group-C
3	Director (Mail Management)	Shri P. Suresh, Circle Secretary, All IndiaRMS and MMS Union and MTS Staff
4	Director(SR)	Shri Devender Kumar, Circle Secretary, National Union RMS and MMS Union, Group-C

The meeting started with the Chairperson welcoming the Staff side. Thereafter, the Staff side explained in detail the stagnation being faced by them in the cadre of IPOs/ASPOs and the long span of service running up to 26 years which they have to put in, before they get promotion to Group-B.  The Staff side also referred to the restructuring of IPOs/ASPOs cadre which the Department took long back but the proposal did not get through.  The Staff side also made a mention of the Grade Pay and promotional prospects of Inspectors in the Departments like Income Tax and Central Excise etc. and pleaded for parity with them.

The Chairperson brought to the notice of the Staff side the difference in the hierarchical structures that exists in the Department of Posts and other Departments like Income Tax and Central Excise as also Central Secretariat.  It was explained to the Staff side that, while in other Departments Inspectors get promotion direct to Group-B, in the Department of Posts there was an intermediary grade of ASPOs who had been conferred the gazetted status about 5 years ago.  The Staff side was also informed of the response of the Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure in the matter of raising the Grade Pay of Inspectors from the existing Rs.4200 to Rs.4600 so as to bring them on par with Inspectors in other Departments. While discussing the possibility of upgrading certain posts in the Circle Offices and other field formations to Group-B so as to accelerate the promotional prospects of IPOs/ASPOs, it was made very clear to the staff side that in view of the response of the Department of Expenditure, they would first have to forego the gazetted status of ASPOs so as to have single level in the cadre as it may facilitate raising the grade pay of IPOs from the existing Rs.4200 to Rs.4600, and may pave way for speedier promotion due to upgrading of certain posts to Group-B.

The Staff side intimated that they are to have their next CWC meeting in the 2^nd half of January 2012 where they would discuss the proposal of foregoing the gazetted status of ASPOs and up- gradation of IPOs, as discussed in the preceding paragraph and would revert back to the Department with a final proposal.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.