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Ref.: Com /EC/ 42 / 2009-12 30th July, 2010
All Office Bearers & E.C. Members Re.: Officers kept under Suspension pending Departmental Enquiry payment of We reproduce hereunder the full text of AIBOC Circular No.105 dated 24th July, 2010 on the above subject for information of all concerned. Sd/- “We have addressed a letter to IBA to release the subsistence allowance to officers on the same pattern as in case of workmen and also extend the benefit of salary revision or increase in salary etc., during the period of suspension. 2. We enclose a copy of our communication for your information. We shall advise the outcome in due course. With greetings, Sd/- No. /1452/220/10 22nd July, 2010 To, Dear Sir, The Management may suspend an officer employee against whom disciplinary action is contemplated or enquiry is pending. The employer has to exercise this power when grave charges of misconduct such as serious act of omission or commission are alleged against the officer employee. Under such circumstances the Management resorts to such steps to keep the officer employee out of mischief’s range or to deny the officer employee to have access to materials, records, evidence which have a bearing on the gamut of charges leveled against the officers. 2. But, of late we have been observing that the Managements are not exercising this power with due caution and care and application of mind. Officers are suspended without making a fair and proper assessment of the matter in the given circumstances, without carefully scrutinizing that prima facie there exist grave and compelling circumstances which in the light of material available and collected during the preliminary investigation, lead to likely removal of the employee from service of the bank. In most of the cases the officer employees are suspended from the service of the bank as a punitive action; though it is not penalty technically, causing great hardship, harassment, mental agony to the concerned. 3. The suspended officers are eligible for payment of subsistence allowance during the period of suspension. But, no uniform policy is followed as regards rate of the subsistence allowance. In case of workmen the managements have been considering the following:-
4. In respect of officer employees the subsistence allowance is restricted to 50% of the salary, allowances etc., at the time of imposing the suspension. The suspended officers are denied the other benefits available to the workmen, thus causing him hardship and harassment. 5. Moreover, the officer employees are not given the benefits of salary revision or increase in pay scales during the period of suspension. This we feel is against the principles of natural justice and putting the officers in a totally disadvantageous position vis-à-vis the workmen. This amounts to punitive action, which in effect will be punishment to the suspended officer-employee. 6. In this background, we have a strong feeling that the rules for keeping the officer employees under suspension need a review and we request you to take note of our following suggestions and consider the same positively.
We, therefore request you to arrange for a meeting to deliberate on the above vexatious issue and enable us to present our views on the issue. Thanking you, Yours faithfully, |
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Ref.: Com /EC/26/ 2009-12 March 9, 2010
All Office Bearers & E.C. Members
Sub : GRATUITY CEILING We reproduce hereunder the full text of AIBOC Circular No.28 dated 8th March, 2010 on the above subject for information of all concerned.
Sd/- S Roy Choudhury General Secretary Quote “Consequent upon enhancement of gratuity ceiling from Rs.3.5/- lacs to Rs.10/- lacs (maximum) with effect from 01.01.2006 to Central Govt. employees as a part of 6th Pay Commission recommendations, by an administrative order, we took up the matter with the then Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Finance Shri. Pavan Kumar Bansal and the then Hon’ble Union Labour Minister Shri. Oscar Fernandes for enhancement of the Ceiling of Gratuity to Rs.10/- lacs through an amendment to Payment of Gratuity Act 1972 with effect from 01.01.2006. The undersigned along with Com.T.N.Goel, Jt.General Secretary, AIBOC met both the Ministers at Delhi and presented our case. Both of them assured us to do the needful in the matter. On account of declaration of Lok Sabha elections, the matter remained unresolved.
2. After installation of the 15th Lok Sabha, once again we took up the matter with the ministry. The undersigned met Hon’ble Union Labour and Employment Minister Shri. Mallilkarjuna Kharge at Bangalore and also the Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Shri. Harish Rawat at Delhi along with Com.T.N.Goel and submitted our memorandum on the issue. We also wrote a letter to the Hon’ble Finance Minister, Government of India. We continued our vigorous followup with the ministries to impress upon them to move the bill in the winter session of the Parliament. We came to know that, there was a stiff opposition from the Private Sector employers and Corporates for enhancement of the gratuity ceiling. Therefore, though Central Govt. was inclined to move the bill in the Parliament, it could not materialize.
3. We are glad to understand that, the Central Govt. Cabinet has cleared the proposal of enhancement in gratuity ceiling to Rs.10/- lacs. The bill after clearance from the law ministry will be placed before the Parliament by the Hon’ble Union Labour Minister for amendment to the Payment of Gratuity Act 1972. The amendment will cover Private Sector employees and all those coming under Payment of Statutory Gratuity. The maximum ceiling is proposed at Rs.10/- lacs. The date of effect may be decided by the Parliament.
4. Comrades, we have reached the present state of getting approval of the Cabinet through our continued and persistent followup with the concerned authorities. We hope that, the bill will be moved in the current budget session of the Parliament. We are following up the matter with the Govt. We shall advise the members of further developments later.
With greetings, Sd/- (G.D.NADAF) GENERAL SECRETARY” Unquote
Ref.: Com /EC/ 21 / 2009-12 February 26, 2010
All Office Bearers & E.C. Members
Re.: TALKS WITH IBA UNFRUITFUL
We reproduce hereunder the full text of AIBOC Circular No.16 dated 26th February, 2010 on the above subject for information of all concerned.
Sd/- S Roy Choudhury General Secretary Quote “One more round of discussions with IBA was held on 25/02/2010 at Mumbai to decide on distribution of wage load of 17.5% and other related factors. Four Officers’ Organizations went in a delegation to Shri K. Ramakrishnan CEO of IBA and submitted a common proposal on distribution of wage cost on various components of salary and allowances to the IBA, and requested for an early settlement. We also requested the IBA to draw the final settlement on pension and residual issues simultaneously, within the time frame fixed. He too expressed his concern on undue delay in arriving at final settlement and assured to expedite the matter.
2. Therefore the discussions with the core committee of the IBA commenced in a cordial atmosphere. The IBA core committee was represented by Shri. Jagadish Pai, B.B. Das, Rajeev Rishi, Unnikrishnan and Venugopalan. After opening remarks from the Chairman of the Core Committee, we presented our response on the IBA’s proposal of 23/01/2010 and briefed on the basis of our proposal in distribution of the cost.
3. In our proposal, we have taken care to distribute the wage load in an equitable manner to all scales from JMGs-I to Scale VII. The HRA percentage retained as comparable to workman staff. Additional cost on pension, House Rent Allowance etc., are calculated on a scientific basis. The date of effect of pension to CPF optees is assumed as from retrospective date. As more number of officers are stagnated at lower level of scales, a provision for additional two stagnation increments for officers in Scale-I to Scale IV was also suggested by us. We ensured to avoid anomalous situation in pay scales, and incremental pattern as compared to the workmen scales etc.
4. Unfortunately, on none of our proposals, there was a positive response form the IBA and they stuck to their method of calculation of additional cost on HRA, pension and distribution of wage load of 17.5% on various scales. It appeared that, we have reached a dead end. The discussions concluded without any fruitful result.
5. Thereafter, we shared the information with our small committee and other leaders and decided to seek appointment with the Chairman of IBA to present our views. We also felt that, as avoidable delay is causing much frustration among the rank and file, we should keep them advised of factual position and be in readiness to take the issue to its logical end without loss of further time. Accordingly, we communicated to our members the outcome of the discussions through SMS. We have also communicated to the Chairman of the IBA our concern on the stalemate, and requested for his intervention and an appointment with him to explain our stand, at the earliest. We propose to meet him in the next week.
6. Comrades, it appears that, IBA feels that it is their prerogative to decide on the pay scales and method of calculation of additional cost required for various components of salary and allowances out of 17.5% wage hike. We can not accept their proposals as it has to be done through bilateral discussions to avoid heartburn and anomalous situation within officers’ cadre and also in comparison with workmen staff. We have to take care of the aspirations of large number of our membership who have stagnated in their respective scales and their career progression. We are confident of convincing IBA on the line of the distribution of wage cost, but things can not be taken for granted. The time at our disposal is very short. Hence, we request our membership, to be in readiness for organizational action, if the situation demands. We shall advise further developments, after meeting the Chairman IBA. We also request our membership to bear with the situation as it is our intention to ensure justice to all category of officers in distribution of wage cost equitably, among all components of salary and allowances.
With greetings. Sd/- (G.D. NADAF) GENERAL SECRETARY” Unquote
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