LDC-UDC ISSUE: FORWARDING OF THE CASE TO SECRETARY DEPARTMENT EXPENDITURE

ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF (NG)

MINISTRY OF STATISTICS & PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

GOVERNMENT ON INDIA

(Web site: www.aiamshq.blogspot.in)

NSSO (FOD), Hall No. 201 & 205, Vijay Stumbh,

Zone I, Maharana Pratap Nagar,

No. 4/GS/2013                                                                                         Bhopal, 14/10/2013

To

            The Secretary,

            Department of Expenditure,

            Ministry of Finance,

North Block, New Delhi-110001

Sub:    Upgradation of Grade Pay of LDC & UDC in the Administrative Branch of Government of India Offices.

Sir,

           It is submitted that the Department of Personal & Training vide letter No 25/2/20134-CS,II(B) dated 19/09/2013 has directed this Association to take up the “Upgradation of the Grade Pay of LDC & UDC in the subordinate Offices” directly with your office for consideration. On the subject,  this Association had made an appeal to the Prime Minister’s Office vide letter No. 3/GS/2013 dated 20/06/2013 and the same was forwarded to DoPT vide PMO ID No. 4/3/2013-PMP4/67682 dated 15/07/2013. CS II Division of the DoPT had identified the case as an anomaly and as such the same was sent to the Deputy Secretary, JCA with a direction to take action at his level. But the JCA has returned the case to CS II Section even without considering the fact that an Agenda item on the subject is pending for discussion in the National Anomaly Committee. The final meeting of the Committee is yet to be convened. The LDC & UDC of the subordinate offices are pained to view this action in view of the fact that they are shouldering heavy responsibilities, which are meant for even Assistant and above, in the subordinate offices whereas in monetary front they have been pushed to the level of MTS. What is more distressing is that no desk appears to be available in DoPT to consider the common issues of the lakhs of central Government Employees working outside Central Secretarial Services. Otherwise, the issues relating to LDC & UDC of Non CSCS forwarded by the Prime Minister’s Office would not have been dealt by the CS II section. On the other hand the employees posted in the subordinate offices are working as the representative of the Government close to the people at grass root level and successfully implementing the various projects and welfare programmes of the Government.

            The case received from the DoPT is sent to you in original (Part I: Page No.1 to 22) with a request to revise the grade pay of the LDC & UDC in subordinate offices to Rs. 2400 and 2800 respectively on the following grounds:

1.   Unlike in the duties as specified in the DoPT manual allocation of multiple nature of duties/responsibilities, meant for higher posts also, to LDCs & UDCs is the major reason for the smooth functioning of the subordinate Offices. This has not been brought to the notice of the Pay Commission and as such 6^th Pay Commission has not taken a favorable decision to this section. On the other hand, 6^th Pay Commission has recommended a deserving pay structure to MTS.  Furthermore, the educational & technical qualifications prescribed for DEO & LDC are the same but the DEO has been granted Rs. 2400 grade pay. In this connection, details of the pay structure granted to the MTS, DEO & LDC in comparison to the duties assigned, are given in Part II (Page No,23 to 25) for your perusal.

2.       We have been receiving numerous telephone calls, SMS & e-mail, besides posting appeals/comments on various web sites, dealing the issues of Central Government Employees, citing the difficulties faced due to allocation of higher quality/responsibility work to LDCs and UDCs in various subordinate offices & Para-military organizations, supporting the revision of Grade pay of LDC & UDC. The relevant portion of a comment on the difficulties faced by an LDC to pull his office, posted in our web site is given below:

“I am alone LDC in my office (no other administrative staff) and DDO is technical person. This office has 17 staff; 25 lakh budgets of office expenditure, 4 lakh wage, 56 lakh Sal head, 85 lakh Minor works and 4 lakh M&E budget. Besides I have to engage court case, all service book maintenance, Store keeping, laboratory maintenance (12 sophisticated instrument including 27 lakh Hematology Analyzer).  Just imagine!!

Now I am getting (6310+1900). Anyone has justified answer in this respect??”

         The position as given above is not an isolated case of a particular office. This is the position of majority of Non CSCS offices as regards the responsibilities assigned to the LDC & UDCs are concerned. In this respect, out of hundreds of comments/appeal posted in various web sites, some selected comments are attached in Part III :(Page No.26 to 30) for your perusal.   

        

3.         In view of the fact that 6^th Pay Commission has raised the educational and technical qualification of LDC to get selected to the post, the pay for the post should also have been increased. But the same has not addressed and as such various State Governments that implemented 6^th Pay Commission have reviewed the case of LDC & UDC and granted higher pay structure. The statement containing a comparative study of pay structure of LDC & UDCs or equivalent posts in some State Government getting more pay than LDC & UDC of central Government is given in Part IV (page No.31 to 55) for perusal please.

          From the above it is evident that the LDCs & UDCs deserve higher grade pay than the present one, to commensurate with the qualifications and assignments attached to these posts. In this respect, we see a ray of hope as the DoPT has identified the LDC & UDC issue related to anomaly and asked us to take up the case with your office. It is our humble request that the anxiety, the prayer for a positive action at your level, by tens of thousands of LDC, UDC & their family members, may please be considered in its deserving spirit and a decision for revising the grade pay of LDC to Rs. 2400/ and that of UDC to Rs. 2800/ may please be taken.          

            A favourable decision in this regard is requested please.         

           

          

Yours faithfully

Encl:    As above

(T.K.R. Pillai)

General Secretary

Copy forwarded to:

1.   Shri Suresh Kumar, Under Secretary, CS II Section, DoP&T, New Delhi.

2.   The Deputy Secretary, JCA, DOP&T, New Delhi.

(T.K.R. Pillai)

General Secretary

PART II

A comparative study of Pay structure granted & duties assigned to the MTS, DEO & LDC

Government of India Offices especially the subordinate offices are functioning smoothly virtually due to the fact that LDCs & UDCs are shouldering heavy responsibilities. But the Pay Commission has not considered equal pay for the work done by them. This has been a demoralizing effect on the already   desperate young and talented cadre in the Government offices.  The disparity in the pay structure among the MTS, DEO & LDC are given below:

1.         Why the LDC & UDC case become anomaly?

Sixth Pay Commission has denied an appropriate pay structure to the LDC & UDC of Government of India Offices in the light of raising the academic and technical qualification and responsibilities assigned. The officials in these cadres are initiating the official work and made responsible for smooth functioning of the offices, have been granted a simple replacement grade pay. The Grade Pay granted to the post of LDC is only Rs.1900 which is just Rs.100 more than the grade pay of MTS, i.e. Rs.1800/-.  In the mean time the academic & technical qualifications to get selected to the post of LDC have been raised. On the other hand, the Pay Commission has recommended the merger of various group D posts and upgraded their grade pay from Rs. 1400 to Rs.1800 and also given them additional benefit of 3 MACPs to the merged posts. Moreover, all the pre-revised pay scales above UDC -from Accountant to Assistant Administrative Officer- have been merged and granted Rs. 4200 -4600 grade pay.

2.         Duties/responsibilities assigned to the LDCs in the Non CS office:

As per the Staff Selection Commission notification Lower Division Clerks are entrusted with routine nature of work, for example registration of Dak, maintenance of section diary, file register, file movement  register, indexing and recording of files, typing, comparing, dispatch, preparation of arrears and other statements etc.

Whereas in practice,  most of the Non CS office (where total staff strength is not more than 100) has been allocated with average one Administrative Officer, 1-2 Assistants, two UDC and 3 to 4 LDC.

(A)       And in a normal Non CS office, it has 5-6 major sections which could only be allocated to UDC & above as per the DoPT guide lines, viz.

(i)   Accounts Section-I (where, various payments are processed and released, Income Tax, Budget, NPS, monthly Expenditure Statement, reconciliation are done),

(ii) Store & purchase Section,

(iii) Establishment Section (where service records, leave and other personal matters are processed),

(iv) Bill Section, where various kind Bills have been scrutinized for passing etc.

(v)  RTI, Court Cases, handling of Audit Para etc.

(B)      In addition there are other sections viz.

(i)Accounts/Cash Section-II(to Assist the Accounts Section I in discharging their day to day duties, disbursement of cash and maintenance of related registers, cheque books, postage stamps etc), (ii)Dispatch & Diary, (iii)loans & Advance, (iv)typing, maintenance of library, file register, file movement  register, indexing and recording of files, comparing, preparation of arrears and other statements etc.

Since the number of UDCs sanctioned is much lesser than the actual requirement, LDCs are posted in the major section as given under ‘A’ above. Thus in contrary to the nature of duties of LDC as given in the DoPT manual as well as the Staff Selection notification the quality and quantity of work done by the LDC & UDCs are much higher in these offices. The officers are only taking decision on the file put up by the LDCs/UDC on all the matters.

3.         Position in Indian Railways:

In Railways also, the Junior Clerk & Senior Clerk are even used to allocate the duties identified for the post of OS-II/Head Clerk and made them responsible for the area of work assigned. Junior clerks are allocated route administrative matters/independent section wherein noting drafting, typing in computer etc are involved. The young, dynamic persons with reasonable academic and technical qualification join on the post of Junior Clerk are capable to take up any kind of assignment and the administration identifies the capabilities of these young chaps and allocates work with higher responsibilities accordingly. Some instances of work allocated to them are as follows –

(1) Preparation of staff muster roll and sending it for salary payment to staff. (2) Issue of Pass/PTO/MCTO etc. (3) Dealing with Railway Quarters & House Rent Allowance case. (4) Issue of Medical card/Identity card etc. (5) Keeping up date knowledge of Railway Establishment Serials/Rulings. (6) Matters related with training, Joining, Transfer, Promotion, Retirement etc. (7) Monitoring of Stock & Non-stock, Requisitions related to Store section and Rolling stock section. (8) Ensuring all the records related to Stores & Establishment Section. (9) Monitoring & processing of challans, Condemnation. (10) Dealing with cases related to PNM Items, D&A cases, Court cases, Inspection Notes, Theft Cases, IOD Cases, & Stock verification (11) Different works of technical data entry and computer related work

4.         Data Entry Operator (DEO) & LDC

In accordance with the recommendation of 6^th Pay Commission, Government India has raised the academic qualification from Matriculation to 12^th class pass or equivalent and technical qualification of typing from manual typewriter to sophisticated computer for getting selected to the post of LDC through Staff Selection Commission. It is to be noted that typing on computer is far different from the typing on typewriter because for typing on computer one should have the knowledge of the operation of computer for which one required to undergo a computer diploma programme. 

  

The academic qualifications required for both LDC & DEO are the same i.e. 12^th class pass or equivalent. As regards the technical qualification the candidate appearing for the post of LDC requires 10500 KDPH/9000 KDPH English and Hindi typing respectively on computer whereas the candidate appearing the DEO requires 8,000 KDPH on Computer. But the grade pay granted/fixed for the post of LDC is 1900 and the same for DEO is 2400. Moreover, the DEO has only to entry the readymade data given to them whereas the LDCs have to create data/draft letters and then to type on computer, putting up the matter through file note with justification with the support of rules and procedure.  Thus LDC does more work in qualitatively and quantitative terms with less grade pay than that of the DEO.

5.         LDC & MTS

Even though the raising of academic qualification of MTS from 8^th Standard to Matriculation, duties prescribed for the earlier Group D and the present MTS are the same.

Whereas the academic & technical qualification of the LDC have been upgraded and assigned heavy responsibilities on them by the office concerned. Majority of the persons selected for the post are graduates and even post graduates and qualified to handle any kind of assignment. The job profile of the post has undergone significant changes after introduction of modernization in Government offices. Now, computers have taken the place of typewriters.

During the 5th Pay Commission, pay scale S-1 to S-4 were granted to the group D posts and pay scale S-5 was granted to LDC i.e. one step above than the pay scale of the Group D posts which never crossed over the pay scale of LDC. In the 6th Pay Commission the pay band of MTS (formerly group D), LDC & UDC are same and Grade pay of LDC is 1900/ and that of MTS through MACP is 2400/.

                                                                       PART IIi

Not Posted

PART IV

Comparative Statement of the pay of a newly appointed LDC in Central and some State Governments

          As per the documents received to us, several State Governments, majority of them have implemented the 6^th Pay Commission; have revised the Pay Structure of the LDC & UDC.  The comparative statement of the pay structure of the Central Government and 8 State Governments as on date is given below:

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
S.No.	Name of Post	Pay Band	Grade Pay	Remarks
1	LDC	5200-20200	1900
2	UDC	5200-20200	2400

RAJASTHAN STATE GOVERNMENT(Order – Page 33-35enclosed)
S.No.	Name of Post	Pay Band	Grade Pay	Remarks
1	LDC	5200-20200	2400
2	UDC	5200-20200	2800

HIMACHAL PRADESH(Order – Page 36-38 enclosed)
S.No.	Name of Post	Pay Band	Grade Pay	Remarks
1	Clerk	5910-20200	1900
	After 2 year regular service on the post	10300-34800	3200

Punjab(Copy of the order – Page 39-40 enclosed)
S.No.	Name of Post	Pay Band	Grade Pay	Remarks
1	Clerk	5910-20200	2400
	After 2 year regular service on the post	10300-34800	3200

UTTRAKHAND(Order – Page 41 enclosed)
S.No.	Name of Post	Pay Band	Grade Pay	Remarks
1	LDC	5200-20200	2000
2	UDC	5200-20200	2800

KERALA(Order – Page 42-44 enclosed)
S.No.	Name of Post	Pay	Grade Pay	Remarks
1	LDC	9940-16580	Nil	In Kerala the pay scale revises every 5 years. Thus a revision of the present scale will be done in the year 2014.
2	UDC	13210-22360	Nil

Implementation of 9th Pay Commission Andra Pradesh( Order-Page 45-48 enclosed)
S.No.	Name of Post	Pay Band	Grade Pay	Remarks
1	Typist	8440-24950	Nil	In AP also pay scale revises every 5 years. Thus 10th Pay Commission is due from 1.7.2013
2	Typist-cum Asstt.	9460-27700	Nil

Assam(Order-Page 49-53 enclosed)
S.No.	Name of Post	Pay Band	Grade Pay	Remarks
1	Lower Div Asstt	5200-20200	2100
2	Upper Div Asstt	5200-20200	2600

Uttar Pradesh (Order-Page 54-55 enclosed)
S.No.	Name of Post	Pay Band	Grade Pay	Remarks
1	Lower Div Asstt	5200-20200	2000
2	Upper Div Asstt	5200-20200	2800