Representation on various issues.

Dear Members!
The letter addressed to The Prl.AG(CA) on various issues is posted here for the information of members please.
Yours Rahul.


12-04-2010

To

The Principal Accountant General (Civil Audit),

Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad.

Sir,

The Executive Committee of the Civil Audit Association, in the presence of the Secretary General, National Audit Federation, would like to bring the following issues once again to your kind notice for consideration and necessary action.

1. Filling up of Vacancies:

In our Office there are large number of vacancies in all the cadres. However, the arrears in work are not being exhibited alarmingly.  The Administration is exerting undue pressure on the existing staff so as to keep the ball rolling.  The routine and redundant work has not been streamlined and is further increasing the workload.  This undue pressure is having a negative effect on the physical health and quality of performance of the staff.

Therefore, we demand the Principal Accountant General (CA) to take necessary arrangements to fill up all the vacancies and also streamline the redundant work at the earliest so as to improve the quality of work and morale of the staff.

  

2. Allotment of newly recruited Auditors:

In spite of large vacancies, only thirty newly recruited Auditors were allotted to this Office.  Most of them do not belong this State. As most of the basic records maintained by the local bodies and state government departments are in local language, the knowledge of local language becomes all the more important when the Auditors on in field duty.  Further, the officials without the knowledge of the local language will face difficulty in communicating with the local officials and vice versa.  This hampers the efficiency of their performance, which would not be beneficial either to the department or the official.  The recent social and political trends across the country on local vs non-local issue, particularly in Hyderabad, should also be kept in view before recruiting non-locals.

Therefore, we demand the Principal Accountant General (CA) to request the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to adapt a policy of allotting newly recruited candidates to their own / nearby states and also adapt a policy of allowing transfers (transfer of non-local employees to their own / near by states) within the Department just before recruitments.

3. Local Bodies:

Recently the policy of sending Auditors / Sr.Auditors independently to Gram Panchayat Audit had been modified and team audit was introduced in LBAA. The volume of transactions and expenditure incurred in Gram Panchayats are less / meager and does not justify deployment of a full fledged audit party.  Due to operation of full party for audit of Gram Panchayats, the strength of Auditors / Sr.Auditors got reduced from 36 in the last year to 16 in the current year.  This sudden revision of the policy diminished the opportunities of Auditors / Sr.Auditors in this Office, who already suffer from lack of opportunities in conducting field audits.

Therefore, we demand the Principal Accountant General (CA) to restore the previous system of independent audit by Auditors / Sr.Auditors as laid down in the C&AG’s guidelines and to operate the entire sanctioned strength i.e. 45 Auditors / Sr.Auditors in the Office of the Local Bodies Audit and Accounts at the earliest.

It is appreciated that the Deputation Policy was implemented by repatriating the Auditors / Sr.Auditors who completed their term of deputation.  We also demand the Principal Accountant General (CA) to adapt the same policy to all cadres in the LBAA without any bias (towards any cadre) at the earliest.

 4. Posting of Auditors / Sr.Auditors in all the field parties:

Most of the field parties in this Office are being operated without an Auditor / Sr.Auditor in it and the duties of Auditors / Sr.Auditors are being discharged by Assistant Audit Officers in the party. As per the system in vogue 80% of Audit personnel are supposed to be on field duty and 20% have to be in headquarters office.  Even the vacancies exist in the cadre of Assistant Audit Officers, this composition of 80:20 ratio is more or less being maintained with marginal variance.  But, in the case of Auditors / Sr.Auditors this principle is given a large-scale departure and only 4% of them are being sent on field duties.  This situation had led to lot of heartburn and gave rise to the feeling of discrimination among Auditors / Sr.Auditors.

Therefore, we demand the Principal Accountant General (CA) to arrange to post at least one Auditor / Sr.Auditor in all the field parties.

  

5. Implementation of transfer policy:

In our Office, many officers (SAOs/AOs/AAOs/Sr.Ars/Ars) are continuing in the same section or same seat for quite a long time and some persons are even continuing since their appointment.  Due to this long standing, the persons occupying these positions have developed prejudices against many and they are also not able to do things differently / innovatively.  How efficient a person may be, in a dynamic organization like ours, continuance of the same person in the same position for decades together works as antithesis to dynamism and any amount of administrative difficulties may not justify such stagnant positions.

Whenever this Association raises this issue only very few persons of lower cadres are being transferred. But, the true spirit of the policy can only be attained when the policy is implemented in all the cadres, particularly in higher cadres.

Therefore, we demand the Principal Accountant General (CA) to implement the transfer policy in its true spirit.

6. Basic amenities and working conditions:

The staff working in this Office have no access to potable drinking water and hygienic toilets which we feel a violation to our basic human rights.

A random visit to any of the water coolers would reveal that either they are out of condition or poorly maintained. The filters attached to the coolers are also not working all the times. The coolers provided are not having an option of normal and cool water and the water in the coolers is too chilled to drink.  The water cooler platforms are unhygienic and have become haven for mosquitoes and other insects. A pool of stagnating water around the water coolers is a regular unpleasant sight.

Because of many apprehensions about the quality of drinking water, maintenance of sumps, pipelines and over-head tanks, the staff of the office is forced to purchase packaged drinking water from private vendors at their own expenses. However, a few higher officers and their supporting staff are procuring the packaged drinking water at the office expenses.

The toilets in the office lack basic amenities and many of the officials try to avoid using such poorly maintained toilets and contracting many internal diseases.  The staff working near the toilets is finding it hard to concentrate on their work because of the unbearable stench emanating from the toilets.

The dusting in the sections is not being done periodically.  The walls and roof are covered in dust and cobwebs and causing dust allergies to the staff.  Old records and voucher bundles covered with dust are lying in the passage and making the passage one-way and some times no-way.  The staff of the Office feels very much embarrassed and humiliated working in these disgusting conditions.

Therefore, we demand the Principal Accountant General (CA) to take necessary arrangements to provide potable drinking water, hygienic toilets and dust free working environment without any delay.  As, these basic needs are common to every human being irrespective his/her hierarchical status.

The Executive Committee of the Civil Audit Association tried its best to bring the above and many other issues to the notice of the Administration many a times through letters and dialogues.  However, the Administration remained blind and deaf to the representations of this Association.  Even the Administration is unwilling / failed to reveal the status of our representations.  It seems this Association got only the technical recognition from the Administration but not the real recognition.  Such laid-back attitude of the Administration forcing us to choose the path of agitation in pursuance our legitimate demands.

Therefore, we demand the Principal Accountant General (CA) to address these problems in a comprehensive manner through resolute action.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

P.RAHUL
(General Secretary)