Officers of the police and revenue
services have petitioned the 7th Pay Commission seeking scrapping of the
Centre’s empanelment process for appointments to the posts of secretary,
additional secretary and joint secretary.
The Indian Revenue Service (IRS)
association has demanded scrapping of the empanelment process which is
dominated by the IAS and sought higher pay. The IPS association has quoted
statistics to demonstrate how other services have always been discriminated
both in pay and positions compared to the ‘elite’ Indian Administrative Service
(IAS).
About 75% of the joint secretaries,
85% of the additional secretaries and 90% of the secretaries are from
IAS. The proportion of IAS dramatically increases from 10-12% at the level
of directors to 75% at the JS level, a presentation from the IPS association
says.
The 7th Pay Commission was
constituted in February 2014 and is expected to give its report by October this
year. Its recommendation will guide how the salary and various allowances of
central staff will be revised besides improving their service condition.
“Strong entry barriers have been
erected for other services, with 5-10 years gap in empanelment to prevent them
from reaching JS level,” the IPS officers have pleaded before the pay
commission, saying this is causing frustration among the forces that is leading
country’s fight against terror and left-wing terrorism.
Out of 20 joint secretaries in the
home ministry, only one is from the IPS and the department of internal security
is not even headed by an IPS. “The system over a period of time created the
ruling class who occupy JS and above posts and the working class which are
compelled to remain at directors’ level and below,” the presentation says.
The IRS officers have
asked the pay panel to consider giving them more pay over the IAS as they are
“performing the most important sovereign function of revenue collection.” The
two-year edge being enjoyed by the IAS should be reconsidered in the present
context when they are no longer handling revenue collection for central
government, the IRS presentation says.
The IRS officers have also
questioned the two-year edge enjoyed by the Indian Foreign Service, seeking the
pay panel to reconsider this “in the light of service conditions particularly
whether any hardships are faced by them.”
A change in the composition of the
civil services board, committee of secretaries and the special committee of
secretaries has been sought with representation of members of other cadres.
“A rule should be made which
prevents no two persons belonging to a single service to be appointed as
members of these three bodies,” the IRS officers have demanded to bring in the
required change in the central staffing scheme.
The IPS officers have claimed that
the present system of batch-wise empanelment for senior posts is causing huge
discrimination. Merit and right man for the right post is not the norm followed
for selection, they said, demanding transparency in empanelment
May 16, 2015
Kalaivaraikalai
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