MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF JOINT SECRETARY (IC) WITH NODAL OFFICERS HELD ON 2ND FEBRUARY, 2016
A meeting of all the Nodal Officers of various Ministries/Departments, who have been appointed to interact with the Implementation Cell in connection with the processing of the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission, was held on 02.02.2016. Joint Secretary (IC), Department of Expenditure, presided over the meeting.
2. While explaining the background and the context in which the meeting of Nodal Officers was held, it was brought out in the meeting that after the receipt of the report of the 7th Central Pay Commission on 19.11.2015, Ministry of Finance initiated a proposal to setup an appropriate mechanism to process the recommendations of the Commission. With the approval of the Cabinet, an Empowered Committee of Secretaries (E-CoS) headed by the Cabinet Secretary has been set up on 27.1.2016 to screen the recommendations and to firm up the conclusions for approval of the Cabinet. An Implementation Cell (IC), as a dedicated and focused wing in the Department of Expenditure (DoE) has been created to work as the Secretariat for the E-CoS.
3. As the recommendations of the Commission relate to various Ministries/ Departments, their views/comments would be essential to process the matter for submitting the same before the E-CoS. JS(Pers), D/o Expenditure wrote a d.o. letter to the Secretaries of various Departments on 21.11.2015, wherein all the Departments were requested to formulate their views/comments on the recommendations of the Commission pertaining to them after taking into account the representations of the Staff Associations and also to nominate a Joint Secretary level Nodal Officer for interaction with the Implementation Cell. While a number of Ministries/Departments have sent their comments and nominated their Nodal Officers, the comments received from some Ministries are simply in the nature of forwarding the representations of the Staff Associations without their comments.
4. In the above background, JS(IC) explained that there was a need for all the Ministries/Departments to furnish their comments in a structured format so that their collation and analysis could be placed before E-CoS in a systemic manner. Accordingly, JS(IC) impressed upon the following action points to be acted upon by the Nodal Officers to enable an expeditious processing of the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission:
Departments who have not yet nominated a Nodal Officer, should do it within the next 2 days.
(ii) To be ensured that Nodal Officers are not changed midway, unless extremely unavoidable.
(iii) Nodal Officers may get acquainted with the recommendations of the Commission as specifically applicable to their Departments. Nodal Officers to find out which Wing/Office (attached or subordinate or UT) is concerned with the recommendations of the Commission. The mechanism of Nodal Officers should also be put in place in attached/subordinate/UTs so that the comments of such offices could be properly coordinated at the level of the Department concerned without any further delay.
(iv) The comments of the attached/subordinate offices/UTs should be compiled by Nodal Officers at the Department level itself.
(v) Nodal Officers to take note of any representation or demand of the Staff Association under the administrative purview of their Department. Nodal Officers to ascertain the views/comments of the concerned office on the recommendation of the Commission in the light of the representation /demands raised by the Staff Association.
(vi) In case, there is any need for consultation with the Staff Association at the level of the Department, the same may be done as per the assessment of the Department.
(vii) Thereafter, the formal views/comments of the Department should be sent to the Implementation Cell (IC) on the recommendations of the Commission, which are specifically and directly related to that Department.
(viii) In case, the Department is of the view that any recommendation which are specifically related to their Department, need any modification, adequate justification in clear-cut terms should be brought out while sending the comments to the Implementation Cell (IC).
(ix) In case of any modification, the extra financial implications (per annum) over the recommendation of the Commission should be clearly indicated.
(x) If no modification of the recommendations of the Commission is suggested, approval of the Secretary of the Department should be obtained before sending the recommendations to the Implementation Cell (IC). if, however, any modification is suggested, approval of the Minister should be obtained.
(xi) While the views/comments of the Departments on the recommendations of the Commission directly and specifically applicable to that Department are mandatory, a Department is free to offer views/comments on the recommendations which are of general nature or concerning other Departments.
(xii) Besides sending the comments/views of the Department in the running format, the same should also be sent to the Implementation Cell (IC)in the `prescribed proforma’ within two weeks. The soft copies of the same should also be sent through email. The email id of JS(IC) is : jsic-cpc@nic. in
(xiii) Nodal Officers shoud regularly keep a watch on the website of the Finance Ministry at the link http://www.finmin.nic.in/the ministry/dept expenditure/ notification/7cpc/index.asp. E-mails should also be checked regularly for the purpose. The updates/further action to be taken shall be posted there to facilitate quick action.
5. Apart from the above action points, it was also felt that sub-groups may be formed after the receipt of comments from the Ministries/Departments to accord focused consideration to certain specific issues, if necessary.
6. Besides above, after detailed deliberations, the Nodal Officers also agreed to the following :
(i) Even if the Department has no comments, it should send a response, saying that it has `Nil Report’.
(ii) While certain Departments have already given their comments, these comments would be sent again in the ‘prescribed format’ and in accordance with the points brought out in para 4 above.
(iii) Nodal officers would ensure that the comments of their Departments on all the recommendations of the Commission and also on the representations received so far from the Staff Associations are forwarded to Implementation Cell (IC) in the prescribed format in a consolidated fashion and not in piece-meal within next two weeks.
(iv) If a representation was made by a Staff Association before the 7th Central Pay Commission and the Commission after due diligence has not accepted the demand made therein, the same matter should normally not be considered at this stage. However, if Departments consider that the issues are of such nature that they require consideration at this stage also, then they may give their comments with full justifications to the Implementation Cell (IC).
7. With the above discussions, the meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.
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