A detailed letter has been submitted by PJCA today to the Department of Posts on the following subject, in which GDS issue has also been submitted.
Sub: - Process
to examine the recommendations made in the report of 7th CPC report –
Modifications sought for –
Ref: - Your No. 7-1/2015-PCC dated 26.11.2015.
The relevant para graph is reproduced here :
19.
Gramin
Dak Sevaks (GDS)
Eventhough the Government repeatedly
refused to include the Gramin Dak Sevaks under the purview of 7th
CPC, the 7th CPC suo-moto reviewed the case of Gramin Dak Sevaks
(GDS) and made the following most damaging and retrograde recommendations
regarding Gramin Dak Sevaks.
Para 11.8.50 - Government of India has so
far held that the GDS is outside the civil services of the Union and shall not
claim to be at par with the Central Government employees. The Supreme Court
Judgment also states that GDS are only holders of civil posts but not civilian
employees. The Commission endorses this view and therefore has no
recommnedations with regard to GDS.
We strongly disagree with the above
observations of the 7th CPC. In Chapter XXXVIII of our memorandum
submitted to 7th CPC, we have explained all the legal points regarding
grant of Civil Servant status to GDS.
We furnish below, the observation made in
the fourth CPC Report by Hon’ble Justice (Retd.) Supreme Court, Shri. P. N.
Singhal, who was the Chairman of the fourth Central Pay Commission, regarding
the status of GDS:
“A letter was received from the Ministry of
Communications (P&T Board) for exclusion of the Extra Departmental
Employees (Now called GDS), numbering about three lakhs, from the purview of
our inquiry. It was stated that the system of Extra-Departmental Agents was
peculiar to the P&T organsation and was designed to extend postal
facilities in rural and backward areas where opening of regular departmental
post offices was not justified due to inadequate workload. The remuneration and
conditions of service of Extra Departmental Agents were also different from
those of regular employees. The third pay commission accepted the view that the
Extra-Departmental agents were not holders of civil posts and decided to
exclude them from its purview. The matter is, however, beyond controversy after
the decision of the Supreme Court in Gokulnandas’ case where it has been
declared that the Extra Departmental Agents is not a casual workers, but
“holds” a post under the administrative control of the state” and that while such
a post is outside the regular civil services, there is no doubt that it a post
under the “state”. In view of this pronouncement, we are unable to accept
the contention that Extra- Departmental employees were outside the purview of
the terms of our commission” From the above observation it is clear that
fourth CPC was in conclusion that the ED Agents (now GDS) are Civil Servants
and therefore they are to be brought under the purview of Pay Commission.
Now the recommendations made by Justice
Ashok Kumar Mathur, Chairman 7th CPC, who is also a Retired Justice
of the Supreme Court is quite contradictory to the observation made by Justice
(Retd) Supreme Court Shri P. N. Singhal, chairman, Fourth CPC.
Further Justice Charanjit Talwar Committee
headed by Retired Justice Shri Charanjit Talwar of Delhi High Court, who was
the Chairman of the One-man Committee which examined the wages and Service
Conditions of Gramin Dak Sevaks (then EDAs) has made the following
recommendations in its report submitted to Government.
“Extra Departmental Agents have to be
included within the overall class of Civil Servants being holders of civil
posts. They can be grouped as “additional” to the departmental employees, but
they cannot be classified as a class apart from the Civil Servants. At any rate
they cannot be classified with the sole object of not granting them benefits
which accrue to departmental employee………………………………. The plea taken by the
Department before the second and third Pay Commissions and also before various
learned Tribunals that ED Agents are a class apart is entirely misconceived. It
is violative of Article 14 and 16 of the constitution…………. They have been
held by the Supreme Court to be Civil Servants. Therefore, these employees are
required in future to be included within the purview of the Pay Commission………….
It is therefore recommended that whenever it is required to review the service
conditions and wage structure of the employees of the Department of Posts, ED
Agents be bracketed along with the departmental employees. There is no need to
set up a separate committee or commission for ED Agents.”
Here again the recommendations made by
Chairman 7th CPC is contradictory to the recommendations of another
Judge Shri. Charanjit Talwar.
Thus it can be safely concluded that the 7th
CPC has not examined the case of GDS in a fair and judicial manner, but simply
repeated the often – repeated arguments of the Postal Board and Government of
India to deny Justice to the three lakhs Gramin Dak Sevaks.
We urge upon the Government of India and
Department of Post to reject the retrograde recommendations of the 7th
CPC relating to GDS and treat the GDS as Civil Servants and extend all the
benefits of the departmental employees on pro-rata basis to Gramin Dak Sevaks
also.
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