Exempt Dearness Allowance from the taxable income of Non Gazetted Employees

Dear Members!

The Resolution passed by the Annual General Body Meeting  held on 22nd June 2010 on "exemption of DA from taxable income" and forwarded to the CAG of India is posted here for the information of members please.

Yours Rahul.

Exempt Dearness Allowance from the taxable income
of Non Gazetted Employees

The Annual General Body Meeting of the Civil Audit Association of Offices of the Principal Accountant General (CA) and the Accountant General (C&RA) held at Hyderabad on 22^nd June 2010 expresses its deep concern and anguish over the steep price rise of consumer goods.

The average benefit given by the 6^th Central Pay Commission to non gazetted employees is about 22% to 28% and to Group A Officers is about 44% to 72%.

The low paid employees have lost all the benefits given to them by the 6^th Central Pay Commission due to the steep price rise of consumer goods.

We, therefore, appeal the Government of India to control the price rice and exempt Dearness Allowance from the taxable income of non gazetted employees.

This meeting urges upon the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to convey our demand to the Government of India.

This meeting also urges upon the Principal Accountant General (CA) to forward this resolution to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

Sd/-

P.RAHUL

GENERAL SECRETARY

Earmark 20% of Assistant Audit Officer Cadre for Supervisors

Dear Members!

The Resolution passed by the Annual General Body Meeting  held on 22nd June 2010 on "Supervisors" and forwarded to the CAG of India is posted here for the information of members please.

Yours Rahul.

Earmark 20% of Assistant Audit Officer Cadre for Supervisors

The Annual General Body Meeting of the Civil Audit Association of Offices of the Principal Accountant General (CA) and the Accountant General (C&RA) held at Hyderabad on 22^nd June 2010 firmly demands the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to earmark 20% of Assistant Audit Officer Cadre for Supervisors. 

This meeting also further demands that the Supervisor should be
re-designated as Section Officer and grant further promotion up to Senior Audit Officer.

This meeting urges upon the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to intervene personally and consider our demands positively at the earliest.

This meeting also urges upon the Principal Accountant General (CA) to forward this resolution to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for his favourable consideration.

 Sd/ 

P.RAHUL

GENERAL SECRETARY

Under the MACP the placement in the Grade Pay should be the Grade Pay of the next promotional post

Dear Members!

The Resolution passed by the Annual General Body Meeting  held on 22nd June 2010 on "MACP" and forwarded to the CAG of India is posted here for the information of members please.

Yours Rahul.

Under the MACP the placement in the Grade Pay
should be the Grade Pay of the next promotional post

The Annual General Body Meeting of the Civil Audit Association of Offices of the Principal Accountant General (CA) and the Accountant General (C&RA) held at Hyderabad on 22^nd June 2010 firmly demands the Government of India that under the Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS) the placement in the Grade Pay should be the Grade Pay of the next promotional post instead of the next higher Grade Pay in the hierarchy of revised Pay Band and Grade Pay.  The career progression only means the promotion in the hierarchy and not to a Grade Pay which is not present in the hierarchy of the respective department.

This meeting urges upon the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to intervene personally and convey our demand to the Government of India to resolve this gross anomaly at the earliest.

This meeting also urges upon the Principal Accountant General (CA) to forward this resolution to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India for his favourable consideration.

Sd/-

P.RAHUL

GENERAL SECRETARY

Uncivilised and intolerable Caretaker – Request for immediate action – Regarding

Dear Members!

The letter addressed to The Principal Accountant General (A&E) on "Caretaker " is posted here for the information of members please.

Yours Rahul.

21-06-2010

To

The Principal Accountant General (A&E),

Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad.

Sub: Uncivilised and intolerable Caretaker – Request for immediate action – Regarding.

Sir,

On behalf of the Civil Audit Association, I am directed to extend our sincere thanks and appreciate you for your efforts to improve the security measures in our Office.

But, sir, mere deployment of outsourced security guards and installation of modern equipment do not yield the desired results without an efficient and civilised Caretaker.  Implementing security instructions does not mean humiliation and embarrassment to staff and visitors.  Shri Markandeya Sarma, Caretaker has been harassing the employees in the guise of security instructions.

I am sure you remember our discussion on the high-handed behaviour of Shri K.Markandeya Sarma, Caretaker a couple of months ago.  At that time, you agreed with our opinion that Shri K.Markandeya Sarma is taking undue advantage of your instructions / orders and promised us to look into the matter.

Since, then his harassment, humiliation and ill treatment of staff particularly in respect of Audit staff and SC/ST employees has increased.  There are many oral and written complaints against him by staff of our Office and visitors.  You might have known the recent incident of misbehaving of Caretaker with Shri M.Abhishek, Assistant Audit Officer.  I am enclosing a photocopy of the complaint dated 31-05-2010 submitted by Shri M.Abhishek addressed to the Principal Accountant General (CA), wherein the rank arrogance of Shri K.Markandeya Sarma was brought to the notice of higher Authorities.

Demanding an identity of an employee inside the Office premises, whom he recognizes very well, shows the blatant arrogance and intolerable behaviour of Shri K.Markandeya Sarma at the cost of the self-respect of Audit employees.

Here, it is not out of context to mention that the Office is rife with rumors that Shri K.Markandeya Sarma, Caretaker has been accepting bribes from marketing people and beggars and allowing them to enter the office.  Presence of unauthorized persons inside the Office premises, in spite of so-called tight security measures, lends credence to the rumors.

Sir, I am very much pained to state that you are doing a great disservice to staff of our Office by continuing Shri K.Markandeya Sarma as Caretaker in spite of serious allegations of misconduct against him.

In view of the facts represented above, I request you to consider drafting a suitable and polite person as Caretaker and relieve staff from uncivilised and intolerable Caretaker at the earliest.

Thank you,

Yours faithfully,

Sd/- 

P.RAHUL

(General Secretary)

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)

Posting of newly recruited Auditors

Dear Members!

The letter addressed to The CAG of India on "Posting of newly recruited Auditors" is posted here for the information of members please.

Yours Rahul.

24-03-2010

To

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India,

New Delhi.

Sub: – Posting of newly recruited Auditors – Regarding.

Sir,

I am directed to bring the following few lines for your kind consideration and early favourable orders.

It is reliably learnt that nearly thirty newly recruited Auditors are being allotted to the Office of the Principal Accountant General (Civil Audit), Andhra Pradesh.  It is also learnt that the majority of the candidates do not belong this State.

You are aware of the fact that the cadre of Auditors in IA&AD Department is in the lower steps of the hierarchical ladder.  This means, the Auditors in IA&AD department have to communicate very frequently with the natives either in the duty of field or headquarters.  Though, the official communication and work is done in either English or Hindi, the verbal communication between peers and staff of auditee organisations would be definitely in the native language.  Further, as most of the basic records maintained by the local bodies and state government departments are in native language, the knowledge of native language becomes all the more important when the Auditors are in field duty.

In view of these facts, the officials without the knowledge of the native language will face difficulty in communicating with the native officials and vice versa.  This hampers the efficiency of their performance, which would not be beneficial either to the department or the official.

The problem can be brushed aside by arguing that the newly recruited non-local officials can be trained in the native languages.  However, the past experience indicates that the trainings provided are never enough for free and smooth communication between a native and non-native person and it takes years to cope up with this problem.

There is also another aspect in this issue.  The first few years of the service of the newly recruited non-local officials are consumed in getting a deputation or a mutual transfer to their native or a near by State.  A few officials may also be putting in efforts to get a suitable job in their native or near by State through other competitive examinations.  Thus, a situation arises, where in, it can be said that the cadre strength has increased but without much improvement to the working of the department.

There is also much bigger social and political angle involved in this issue.  The recent trends across the country are indicating that there is decrease in the levels of tolerance with increase in the percentage of population of non-locals leading to several agitations and movements.  Though, as an organization the Comptroller and Auditor General of India may not have critical role in this aspect, but every drop of water adds to the mounting tension in the reservoir after full reservoir level.

Therefore, we 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 / nearby states) within the Department just before recruitments.

Hoping to receive a favourable communication, we assure to extend our whole hearted cooperation with the Administration as before.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

P.RAHUL
(General Secretary)

Poor sanitation conditions - Request for redressal.

Dear Members!

The letter addressed to The Prl.AG(CA) on "Poor sanitation conditions" is posted here for the information of members please.

Yours Rahul.

24-03-2010

To

The Principal Accountant General (Civil Audit),

Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad.

Sub: – Poor sanitation conditions - Request for redressal – Regarding.

Sir,

The Civil Audit Association is really pained to bring the following problem to your notice.

The staff working in this Office have no access to hygienic toilets/urinals which we feel a violation to our basic human rights. It is extremely sad that there is a constant fear about ‘answering the call of nature’ in the office.

The toilets in our office lack basic amenities,  such as water for flushing toilets/urinals; water for washing hands after using toilets/urinals; working flushes in toilets/urinals; mugs in toilets; liquid soap dispensers for washing hands; litterbins for proper garbage disposal; bathroom fresheners, etc.  Storing of water in open drums has become haven for mosquitoes and other insects which are prime cause for all infections.

Apart from this, most of the toilets in our office always emanate unbearable stench and making it hard to use them.  Many of the officials try to avoid using such poorly maintained toilets and contracting many stomach related dieses.

  

The staff working near the toilets is finding it hard to concentrate on their work because of the unbearable stench emanating from the toilets.  They either use incense sticks or shielding their noses to counter the offensive smell but all to no avail and they are only prone to Malaria, Chikungunya, etc.  They feel very much embarrassed and humiliated working in these disgusting conditions.  The Branch Officers, majority of whose rooms are neighbouring to toilets, in fact are the worst hit by such a condition.

The toilets are being regularly cleaned by the Safaiwalas but they are providing only brief respite.  Mere usage of disinfectants does not address the problem permanently.

This issue was brought to your notice several times in the past also.  However, the pathetic and unhygienic conditions continue.  The fact is that only a healthy person can contributes to the betterment of society and to the organisation.

Sir, we want nothing more than common toilets with basic amenities and hygienic conditions, just because, ‘answering the call of nature’ is common to every human being irrespective his/her hierarchical status.  Sir, here our intention is only to bring the fact to your kind notice but not to annoy you.

In view of this, I am directed to request you to take necessary arrangements to provide all basic amenities in the toilets without any delay and address the problem in a comprehensive manner through resolute action.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

P.RAHUL

(General Secretary)

Copy to

The Accountant General (C&RA),
Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad.