GEF demands for up-gradation of Pay Band and Grade Pay of Revenue Section staff of PBMC.

A delegation of GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES FEDERATION, A&N Islands consisting of Shri. P.KANNAN, President, Shri. S. K. Majumdar, General Secretary, Shri. H.A.Siddique Vice President and other Office Bearers with Revenue staff of Port Blair Municipal Council,  led by its President  Shri. P.KANNAN met the Secretary, port Blair Municipal council, in his chamber  on 3.10.2012 and submitted a memorandum of demands for up-gradation of Pay Band and Grade Pay of Revenue Section staff of PBMC.

The Secretary had discussed in details and assured the delegation for taking appropriate action on the issue. The President on behalf of the Federation and staff of Revenue Section of PBMC, has expressed his gratitude to the Secretary for the assurance given by him.

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GEF/ANI/2012/72                                                                                                         03.10.2012

  

To

The Secretary,

Port Blair Municipal Council,

Port  Blair.

Subject :- Request for up-gradation of Pay Band and Grade Pay of

                 Revenue Section staff of PBMC- regarding.  

Sir,

            Its our pleasure to submit a genuine demand of Revenue Section Staff of your good organization for up-gradation of their Pay Band and Grade Pay having considering their nature of duties and responsibilities, which is beyond comparable with that of any other department of A&N Administration. It is also a fact that, the revenue section staff of PBMC are generating approximately 60% of total revenue of the Council in the form of Octroi, water tax, Conservancy tax and property tax etc. which is being utilized for the smooth functioning of Council and development of the city i.e. Municipal areas. The taxing officials viz., Tax Collector, Tax Inspector, Assessors, Assistant Revenue officers and Revenue Officer are heartily performing credible service in the Council for the reason the Council has a balanced expenditure, but their basis salary is comparatively lower as compared to other cadre staff including the ministerial staff working in the PBMC and the department of A&N Administration. The promotional avenues available for this cadre staff in the higher running is also less and as a result of which they are stagnated in the grade without any promotion and some are retiring  from entry grade itself.     

            The present scale of pay and grade pay of Revenue Section Staff attached to PBMC are given below :-

Sl. No.	Name of Post	Pay Band + GP	Strength of staff appro.
1	Tax Collector	5200-20200 + 1900	37
2	Tax Inspector	5200-20200 + 2400	05
3	Tax Assessor	5200-20200 + 2800	03
4	Assistant Revenue officer (ARO)	9300-34800 + 4200	02
5	Revenue officer (RO)	9300-34800 + 4600	01

            As may be seen from the above statement, there is huge variation in the sanctioned strength between the entry grade viz., Tax Collector and other  higher posts for the reason, promotional avenues are bare minimum. The Sixth CPC though introduced MACP in place of ACP, it become fall back option. Therefore, promotion is the ultimate need of hour.     

            In the past, the PBMC revised the scale of pay of its employees keeping in view of their counterparts working in other departments of A&N Administration who were getting higher scale of pay, on the basis of recommendation made by Sub-Committee of PBMC. The details are as under :-

    

Sl. No.	Name of Post	Existing Scale of Pay in Rs.	Revised Scale of Pay in Rs.
1	Care Taker	2750-4400	3050-4590
2	Senior Care Taker	3050-4590	4000-6000
3	Videographers	3050-4590	4000-6000
4	Telephone Operator	2750-4400	3050-4590
5	Data Entry Operator	3050-4590	4500-7000

            Sir, it would be appropriate to mention here that, the staff of revenue section are deprived of scale of pay and most neglected staff of the PBMC because they cannot be compared with any other staff of A&N Administration as  because their  nature of duties and responsibilities are different and higher in nature with that of any other revenue collectors. The Tax Collectors have no normal working hours even though the Govt. has prescribed normal duty hours. If a tax collector is posted in an Octroi Naka, he use to work extra hours  without any extra remuneration or benefits on the arrival of ships / flights failing which the tax on goods arrived in the Naka will be evaded. Thus, a Tax Collector performs his duty on odd hours and on such situations he  performs his duty in a strenuous condition, but they are deprived of getting the remuneration what they deserve to get even though they extend better values in the Council’s economy.

            Time and again the employees as well as Municipal Employees Union have been representating   to consider their genuine demand for up-gradation of their pay structure considering their high value of services rendered, but at no point of time, the Council had examined their grievances and as result, these category of staff are truly neglected.  

            As you are aware that the cost of living of these Islands are  much higher than compared to any other parts of India and these employees having performed higher value of services are mentally depressed and deserve for up-gradation of their Pay Band and Grade Pay. Thus, in recognition of their commendable job done in increasing the revenue  from Rs. 20 crores  during 2002-03 into Rs. 80 crore in the year 2011-12,  the up-gradation in pay structure of taxing staff  of PBMC is basically acceptable in the below manner :-  

Sl. No.	Name of Post	Pay Band + GP
1	Tax Collector	5200-20200 + 2400
2	Tax Inspector	5200-20200 + 2800
3	Tax Assessor	5200-20200 + 4200
4	Assistant Revenue officer (ARO)	9300-34800 + 4600
5	Revenue officer (RO)	9300-34800 + 5400

            The total strength of Revenue staff is 48 Nos. out of which 37 Nos. are Tax Collectors. There will not be much financial implication, if the above  Grade Pay is granted to them because most of them have already  reached to the next level of Scale / Grade pay on account of grant of ACP/ MACP.

            Therefore, we request your goodself  to kindly examine the matter and take appropriate action for up-gradation of Pay Band and Grade Pay of Revenue Staff on merit basis considering the facts and circumstances mentioned above. Further, we would like to say that, it is well under the purview of the Council  for grant of financial benefits to their staff.

Thanking You.

Encl : A/A.                                                                                        Yours faithfully,

                                            

( P.KANNAN )

PRESIDENT.

Copy forwarded to General Secretary, Municipal Employees Union, Port Blair for kind information.

PRESIDENT.