Minutes of the Fifth Review Meeting with cadre authorities on issues pertaining to CSS/CSSS/CSCS held on 24th June, 2011 - reg.

No.21/14/2010-CS.I(P) / Vol.II

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

Department of Personnel & Training

Room No.209, 2nd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhawan,

New Delhi. The 4th July, 2011.

Subject :- Minutes of the Fifth Review Meeting with cadre authorities on issues pertaining to CSS/CSSS/CSCS held on 24th June, 2011 - reg.

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   The undersigned is directed to say that in order to strengthen the cadre management of Central Secretariat Service, Central Secretariat Stenographers Service and Central Secretariat Clerical Service, the fifth review meeting was held under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary (CS) on 24th June 2011 in North Block, New Delhi with all the cadre units.

   2. The minutes of the meeting have been uploaded on the website of the Department of Personnel & Training at www.persmin.nic.in -> CS Division -> CSS -> Miscellaneous Circulars. All the cadre units are requested to peruse the minutes and take necessary action accordingly.

sd/-

(Monica Bhatia)

Director (CS.I)

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Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

Department of Personnel & Training

MINUTES OF THE FIFTH CADRE REVIEW MEETING WITH CADRE UNITS ON ISSUES PERTAINING TO CSS/CSSS/CSCS HELD ON 24TH JUNE 2011



   The Fifth Review Meeting with the cadre units on issues pertaining to CSS/CSSS/CSCS was held on 24th June 2011 under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary (CS) in Room No.119, North Block, New Delhi. The agenda items for the meeting are at Annexure-I. The list of participants is at Annexure-II.



   2. Welcoming the representatives from the Ministries/Departments, Director, CS.I, DOP&T initiated the discussion. The items on the agenda were taken up for discussion as under: -



Item No.1:- APAR completion of all CSS Officers for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 and previous years and timely updating of APAR monitoring software by Nodal Officers



   Director (CS-I) observed that this issue was discussed in previous meetings as well. She mentioned that CS Division has been, from time to time, writing to the cadre units to complete the APARs of the CSS officers in time. The position of availability/non-availability of the APARs of CSS officers is also available in the APAR monitoring software. For the year 2009-10, 557 APARs in the grade of Under Secretary and 171 APARs in the grade of Deputy Secretary/Director are yet to be received in DOP&T. She also mentioned that the APAR software is not being used /updated by some of the cadre units. The problems being faced by the cadre units in this regard are not being brought to the notice of the DOP&T.



   JS (CS) expressed concern about the slow progress of completion of APARs. From the inputs furnished by the cadre units during the meeting it was observed that more than 50% of APARs for the year 2009-10 were pending. He impressed upon the cadre units the adverse implications of non-availability of APARs on the promotion of the officers. Also, for want of APARs, the officers are not nominated for the mandatory training. JS (CS) once again reiterated that the cadre units should make all out efforts to get the pending APARs completed urgently. Ministry of Agriculture & D/o Expenditure and some other cadre units assured that they would expedite the process of completion. All the cadre units were cautioned that in case promotion of any officer is held up owing to nona vailability of his APARs, the defaulting cadre unit would solely be responsible for the same.



It was decided that-



     (i) It is the responsibility of the Ministry/Department where an officer is posted at present, to get the pending APARs completed.



     (ii) D.O. letters would be issued to the Ministries/Departments along with the names of the officers whose APARs are pending.



     (iii) Instructions would be issued to the effect that if APAR of any officer for the year 2009-10 or years previous to that is not completed by 31st July, 2011, it should be treated as no APAR year for that officer.



Item No. 2:- Completion of CR Dossiers of Assistants/PAs who have appeared for Combined LDCE 2006, 2007 and 2008



   Director (CS-I) informed that the results of the written examination of SO/PS Combined Limited Departmental Competitive Examination for 2006, 2007 and 2008 had been declared. The UPSC has already asked for the completed CR Dossiers of the qualified candidates from the cadre units. The Ministries/Departments should now send the CR Dossiers of the successful candidates to the UPSC without any delay so that assessment of the ACRs could be completed and final results declared early.



   The representatives of the cadre units informed about the position of sending CR Dossiers of the qualified candidates to the UPSC. It was observed that the CR Dossiers were not complete in the case of a few Ministries/Departments. The representative of the Ministry of Coal mentioned that the CR Dossiers of six qualified candidates had not been sent to UPSC for want of vigilance clearance in respect of those candidates. It was clarified that their dossiers should not be held back for want of vigilance clearance which could be sent later.



   JS (CS) informed that the matter regarding assessment of the ACRs of the qualified candidates was reviewed with Secretary, UPSC on 23 June, 2011. The UPSC would not start the process of assessment if all the CR Dossiers were not received by them. He, therefore, urged the cadre units to send the CR Dossiers of the qualified candidates to UPSC urgently. Department of Expenditure was requested to expedite the dossiers as they had not sent the dossiers so far.



Item No.3:- Status of submission of Immovable Property Returns (IPRs) for 2009 and 2010



   Dir (CS-I) mentioned that non-submission of IPRs was discussed in the previous meeting. She informed that despite repeated persuasion there are several Ministries/Departments from where IPRs for the year 2009 & 2010 are still pending. In the grades of Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Director the number of defaulters for the years 2009 and 2010 are 262 and 258 respectively.



   JS (CS) observed that IPR has become a sensitive issue. There were several reports in the media about non-submission of IPRs by the central Government employees. While asking the cadre units to initiate stringent action against the defaulters, he requested them for expediting submission of the pending IPRs.



   Upon enquiry by the representative of the Department of Animal Husbandry about applicability of the requirement of submission of IPR by those who hold a Group B post on ad-hoc basis, it was mentioned that this would be clarified.



Item No. 4:- Surrendering of officers by Ministries to DOP&T



   JS(CS) observed that some Ministries/Departments surrender officials/officers posted in those Ministries to DOP&T, sometimes without any valid reasons or on grounds which are unacceptable, without even consulting CS Division before such surrender and ask for replacements. Such action on the part of the cadre units not only hampers smooth cadre management, but also puts the official/officer in difficulty in so far as drawal of pay and allowances are concerned. It becomes difficult for the DOP&T to accommodate such officers till they are posted to some other Ministry or Department. Transferring of non-performing officers to another Ministry does not address the core issue of non-performance of the officer. JS (CS) further observed that there are circumstances when a sympathetic view could be taken instead of surrendering an officer. He mentioned about a recent case where a Ministry has surrendered an officer to DOP&T on grounds which can be said to be inhuman and in that case the post has been transferred by the DOP&T from that Ministry to DOP&T to accommodate the officer. He asked the cadre units not to resort to such action unless there are extremely valid grounds. In such cases, necessary and appropriate action should first be taken against the erring official and then a request be made for transfer of the official. DOPT can then take a considered view of the matter.



It was decided that:-



     (i) If any Ministry/Department surrenders an officer/official to DOP&T without following the proper procedure, it would be presumed that the post stands surrendered to DOP&T along with the incumbent.



     (ii) A general circular would be issued to all the Ministries/Departments in this regard.



Item No. 5:- Collection of Data/information and vigilance status for Review DPC of the Select Lists 2003 to 2008 of the grade of Under Secretaries



   Regarding the proposal to hold review DPC of Under Secretary of CSS for the Select List years 2003 to 2008 against those vacancies, which had arisen on account of USs who were away from the cadre on deputation, study leave, long leave, taken voluntary retirement and ceased to be in service for any reasons etc., Director, CS.I reminded the cadre units that in spite of repeated persuasion, the requisite information in this regard has not been received from 14 Ministries/Departments. She urged the defaulting cadre units to expedite the same.



   Intervening, JS (CS) informed that due to the court case filed by Ms. Garima Singh, CS Division has not been able to make further regular promotions from the grade of Under Secretary to the grade of Deputy Secretary. He further informed that after the final judgement of Hon’ble CAT, Principal Bench, New Delhi, the relevant file has been referred to the Ministry of Law seeking their opinion. Further action would be taken depending on the opinion received from the Ministry of Law. Due to this, the mandatory training programme has also been affected.



Item No. 6:- Collection of ACRs/APARs and vigilance clearance in respect of Section Officers who are in the zone of consideration for promotion to the grade of Under Secretary on ad-hoc basis



   JS (CS) informed that it has not been possible to hold DPC for making regular promotion to the grade of Under Secretary in the aftermath of decision of Hon’ble CAT, Principal Bench, New Delhi in Ms. Garima Singh’s case. However, he added that CS Division is soon going to promote approximately 200 SOs of Select List 2003 to the grade of Under Secretary on ad-hoc basis to tide over the shortfall in the grade till the posts are filled on regular basis. He said that Ministries/ Departments would be informed shortly about the names of officers falling in the zone of consideration and that they would be requested to forward the APAR dossiers of such officers alongwith vigilance status to enable the CS Division to consider promoting on ad hoc basis. He requested the cadre units to inform at an early date the latest vacancy position in the grade of US.



Item No.7:- Updation of CSL of PAs



   DS (CS-II) informed that all cadre units were requested vide OM dated 31-1-2011 to furnish the details of all Steno Grade C whose names figured in the CSL of Steno Grade C circulated earlier and who had been promoted as PS on regular basis or who had left the service due to other reasons so that their names could be deleted from the CSL. He said that the requisite information was still awaited from 17 cadre units. He requested the representatives of defaulting cadre units to expedite the information for updating the CSL of PAs.



Item No.8:- Completion and forwarding of recommendations of DPCs for ad-hoc promotion of PAs to the grade of PS



   DS (CS.II) informed that orders for zone of ad-hoc promotion of PAs to the PS grade were issued vide OM dated 31-3-2011 and all the cadre units were requested to furnish the details of the DPCs in respect of those officials who are covered within the zone but could not be accommodated within the cadre for non-availability of vacancies by 1-5-2011. However, the requisite information was awaited from 16 cadre units. Some of the representatives of the defaulting cadre units informed that they had already sent the requisite information on the preceding day which was noted while representatives of the 13 cadre units (Corporate Affairs, Culture, Environment & Forests, Mines, Social Justice & Empowerment, Science & Technology, Secondary & Higher Education, Steel, Telecom, UPSC, Urban Development, Coal and Youth Affairs & Sports) assured that they would be sending the recommendations of DPC within a week.



Item No.9:- Completion and forwarding of recommendations of DPCs for ad-hoc promotion of Steno Grade ‘D’ to the grade of PA



   It was mentioned by OS (CS-II) that orders for zone of ad-hoc promotion of Steno Grade D to the grade of PA were issued vide OM dated 4/5/2011 and the Cadre Units were requested to furnish the details of DPCs recommendations in respect of all eligible Steno Grade D who are covered within the zone by 6/6/2011. He mentioned that the information is still awaited from 15 cadre units. The representatives present in the meeting informed the latest position in this regard from which it was observed that six Ministries had already sent the information. Others agreed to send the information by 30.6.2011.



Item No.10:- Non-relieving of Steno Grade ‘D’ on regular promotion as PA under the Select List 2005 to 2008



   DS (CS.ll) pointed out that in spite of the Select Lists of PA under SQ for 2005 and 2006 issued on 14/11/2008 and 5/1/2010 respectively and Select Lists of PA under SQ for 2007 and 2008 issued on 10/8/2010 and 30/8/2010 respectively, some cadre units had not yet relieved Stenos Grade ‘D’ who have been nominated to other cadre units on promotion as PA. He requested these cadre units to relieve their Steno Grade ‘D’ / PA( Ad-hoc) immediately for better cadre management of CSSS or issue the debarment orders in respect of those officials who are not willing to avail of their regular promotion. He read out the names of the officials who have not yet been relieved from the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation, Home Affairs, MSME, Defence, Commerce, Expenditure and Minority Affairs.. Representatives of these cadre units explained the position regarding their officials which was noted. The representative of MHA informed that the two officials have been debarred from promotion.



Item No.11:- Non-receipt of CR Dossier of PSs of Select List years 2001- 2004



   DS (CS.ll) informed that 7 Cadre Units (Water Resources, Power, Labour & Employment, Secondary & Higher Education, MHA, Finance and Coal) have not yet sent the CR Dossiers in respect of Private Secretaries. The representative from Labour & Employment informed that the CR Dossier of Shri G S Bindra has not been received from Road Transport and highways and it is understood that the Dossier is missing in that Ministry. He assured to send the available ACRs/APARs to DOP&T. The representative of Ministry of Coal informed that Shri D.K. Jain had already retired. Other defaulting cadre units were requested to send the CR dossiers without any further delay.



Item No.12:- Vigilance clearance and minor/major penalty certificate in respect of PSs



   DS (CS.Il) indicated that only 11 cadre units, namely, Planning Commission, Health & FW, Rural development, Fertilizers, Civil Aviation, UPSC, Coal, Telecom, Environment & Forests, Labour & Employment and Science & Technology have furnished information pertaining to vigilance clearance and minor/major penalty statement in respect of PSs. He requested the remaining cadre units to expedite the information.



Item No.13:- Information on promotion of UDCs of Select Lists 2002 and 2003 to the grade of Assistants (ad-hoc)



   DS (CS.ll) informed that the details of promotions of UDCs of SL 2002 and SL 2003 to the grade of Assistant (on ad-hoc basis) were ordered vide OM dated 21/1/2011. He mentioned that 6 cadre units, namely, Civil Aviation, Coal, Corporate Affairs, Posts, Rural Development and Youth Affairs & Sports have not yet furnished the complete information. The representatives from these Ministries except Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports informed that they had already sent the requisite information on preceding dates.



   3. Apart from the above agenda items, the following issues were also discussed: -



   (i) The representative of Ministry of Defence raised the issue of filling up of vacancies of Steno Grade ‘D’. Responding to this, JS (CS) mentioned that the vacancies of Steno Grade ‘D’ in most of the Ministries/Department are due to non-completion of the exercise of optimization of direct recruitment of civilian posts. The cadres were required to intimate only those vacancies in the Steno Grade ‘D’ which were approved by the Screening Committees. JS (CS) further observed that due to non-reporting of vacancies of Steno Grade ‘D’ accurately, DOP&T has not been able to make any recruitment to the grade. However, based on the rough estimates, 550 vacancies have been reported to SSC. The examination is over and results have been declared. Around 350 candidates have been recommended. Dossiers are yet to be received.



   (ii) The representative of MHA raised the issue of stepping of pay of Assistants and requested for issuing a clarification similar to the one as has been done in CSSS. JS (CS) explained that DOP&T has been pursuing the issue with the Department of Expenditure which has not agreed with DOP&T.



   (iii) The representative of MHA further raised the issue of common seniority list of Assistants of 2003. Director (CS.l) informed that the draft Common Seniority List of Assistant of 2003 is being issued shortly.



   (iv) Representative of Health Ministry sought clarification about the entitlement of stenographic assistance for the officers. This was clarified by DS (CS.lI) stating that there is no change in the entitlement.



   (v) JS (CS) asked cadre authorities that Rotational Transfers of Under Secretary done in January 2011 be implemented without further delay if not already done so far.



   (vi) JS (CS) informed representatives of the cadre units that directly recruited assistants would be posted in Ministries/Departments by end of August, 2011. Before duties are assigned to them, these new assistants should be imparted proper induction for the first 15 days about the working of different sections in the Ministry to enable them to become sensitized to the working in that Ministry.



   (vii) JS (CS) directed that since a representative of UPSC was not present in the meeting, a D.O. letter be written to the UPSC listing all the pending issues with them such as pending IPRs, pending APARs etc.

FIFTH MONTHLY CADRE REVIEW MEETING WITH THE CADRE UNITS ON ISSUES PERTAINING TO CSS/CSSS/CSCS ON 24TH JUNE 2011

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AGENDA

   i) APAR completion of all CSS Officers for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 and previous years and timely updating of APAR monitoring software by Nodal Officers;



   ii) Completion of CR Dossiers of Assistants/PAs who have appeared for Combined LDCE 2006, 2007 and 2008;



   iii) Status of submission of Immovable Property Returns for 2009 and 2010;



   iv) Surrendering of officers by Ministries to DOP&T;



   v) Collection of Data/information and vigilance status for Review DPC of the Select Lists 2003 to 2008 of the grade of Under Secretaries;



   vi) Collection of ACRs/APARs and vigilance clearance in respect of Section Officers who are in the zone of consideration for promotion to the grade of Under Secretary on ad-hoc basis;



   vii) Updation of CSL of PAs;



   viii) Completion and forwarding of recommendations of DPCs for ad-hoc promotion of PAs to the grade of PS;



   ix) Completion and forwarding of recommendations of DPCs for ad-hoc promotion of Steno Grade ‘D’ to the grade of PA;



  x) Non-relieving of Steno Grade ‘D’ on regular promotion as PA under the Select List 2005 to 2008;



   xi) Non-receipt of CR Dossier of PSs of Select List years 2001-2004;



   xii) Vigilance clearance and minor/major penalty certificate in respect of PSs;



   xiii) Information on promotion of UDCs of Select Lists 2002 and 2003 to the grade of Assistants (ad-hoc);



Source:www.persmin.gov.in