*NOINO INFORMATION*

07.07.2017     

 

*NOINO submitted a letter to LIC management today &  pointed out  discrepancies in Promotion postings leading to cancellation. Suggestions for improvements were also submitted.*

*KINDLY CIRCULATE IT WIDELY*

 

7.7.2017

The Executive Director (Personnel),

L.I.C. of India.

 

Dear Sir,

 

Re: *Analysis of cancellation of promotions*

 

              Recently, the CO issued orders for cancellation of promotions in all cadres of Class 1 who have refused promotions. We have analysed the cancellations in the cadre of AAO to AO in some measure over the last two years. We have attached the excel sheet with this letter. Following are our observations on this analysis:-

 

1. There has been an overall *reduction of 1052 in number of vacancies*over the last year. 

2. Percentage wise, this *reduction comes to 44.8%.*

3. The percentage reduction in vacancies is the highest in the Central office. In the Zones the reduction is *highest in SCZ(53.4%),* closely followed by *CZ(53.3%).*

4. The overall percentage of cancellation has almost *doubled from 9.8% to 17.3%.*

5. The percentage of cancellation is the *highest in WZ(33.7%)*while it is the *lowest in SZ(5.1%)*

6. The only Zone where the percentage of cancellation has reduced is CZ. In all other Zones it has increased.

 

    What are the reasons for this grim situation?:-

 

1.    The number of vacancies has been drastically reduced. On the other hand, the batch of 2010 was not considered. This double whammy may have led to the situation where the overall average age of the promotees  went up considerably as compared to the last year. Consequently, as compared to the last year, the relatively senior officer who was expecting a posting in & around his division was posted farther. 

 

2.    It is obvious that since the span in the promotion from AO to ADM is increasing every year, the vacancies have been reduced on paper. Precious little has been done to overcome this problem.

 

3.    This year, inexplicably, the CO decided to post AO’s on promotion to other Zones & even CO. Some of them didnt accept promotion.

 

4.    *It is clear that promotion has become unattractive & demotivating*. Little is being done to repair the situation. There is neither a substantial financial benefit (in most of the cases, a financial loss) nor a real elevation in status. 

 

5.    In many cases, the promotee officers are deprived of staff quarters & sometimes, they have to fend for themselves as the office cares little for them.

 

6.   *Some Zones & divisions, in turn have also not helped the cause by taking a very rigid strategy in posting.*

 

7.    *The fact that the average of the officers is pushing over 50 should also be taken into account while posting on promotion.*

 

8.    Another point in this whole promotion exercise was the span taken to complete it. In 2015 & 2016, the span was 12 days, whereas this year it was 17 days. This year the exercise started late. Both in 2015 & 2016, the exercise started on 11th April & ended on 22nd April whereas this year it started as late as 20th April & ended on 6th May. 

 

All in all, the overall posting strategy seems to be failing & hence urgent, long term measures are needed to improve the situation. We have been harping since long for certain measures. At the cost of repetition, we reproduce some of our oft-repeated suggestions & hope that wisdom will prevail:-

 

1.   *Assured career progression:* - Logically, a codified promotion policy should have been in place before the Transfer policy. Instead, we went for a transfer & mobility policy first. This promotion policy should be framed without any further delay in consultation with the unions/associations representing Class I & a consensus should be arrived at.

 

2.    *Promotion on application* must be implemented which will reduce the case of reversion/refusal on promotion.

 

3.    *Identifying difficult/hard areas of postings:* - Such areas where the level of difficulty/inconvenience is more should be first identified. E.g. Audit/Inspection, naxalite infested areas; communally sensitive areas etc. The transfer norms for the officers posted in such areas should be relaxed. E.g. if an officer posted outside his home division is brought back after say three years, an officer posted in such hard areas should be transferred back after say two years. The officers posted in such hard areas should also be paid some inconvenience allowance.

  

4.    *Distance from home division to be considered instead of change of Zone*: - Distance from home division should be the criterion while posting on promotion instead of change of Zone. E.g. Transfer/posting from Belgaum to Kolhapur or Hyderabad to Nanded may change the Zone but the distance may not be too much. On the other hand, e.g. posting from Mumbai to Nagpur may not change the Zone but the distance will be much more.

 

5.    *Declaring area of posting* :- As in the case of promotion within Class III, if the tentative areas of posting are declared along with the number of division-wise vacancies for the promotion from Class III to Class I, then the aspirants can give specific choices of posting, which would not only make the task of posting easier for the Personnel department, but also increase the incidence of accepting promotion & decrease the number of request transfer applications as most of the selected employees would be already happy with their posting.

 

6.    *All Satellite branches should be converted to full-fledged branches.* The number of main branches can also be increased. This will help in increasing the vacancies.

 

7.    *HGA to AAO & AAO to AO should be retained in their respective home division on promotion. AO to ADM & ADM to DM should be posted in their home Zone on promotion.*

 

8.    *Running scales for all cadres to avoid frustration on stagnation.*

 

9.    *Pending cases of granting scales, stagnation increment to be released automatically as deferred NGI.*

 

10. If for want of vacancies, deserving & eligible officers cannot be promoted, they should be given the next grade say after 10 years in the cadre. As it is, the differentiation between the duties of AAO & AO as well as ADM & DM has thinned. There is no definition of the specific duties of each cadre.

 

11. While applying the staff strength formula, a practical approach has to be followed. On paper, we may feel that there is an excess of officers in some places. However, due to the shortage of Class III & Class IV staff, the officers, particularly in branches, have to perform duties of their subordinates as well as their own supervisory duties. 

 

Hence, there is a scope to increase number of vacancies everywhere, keeping this aspect in mind. *On the other hand, there should be a massive recruitment drive in Class III & Class IV to relieve the huge pressure on the Class I Officers.*

 

These are some of our oft-repeated suggestions which we request the management to implement at the earliest. *We also reiterate our demand of conducting a two day workshop on the issue of promotion, posting on promotion & transfer policy with all unions/associations representing Class I officers.* A consensus emerging out of such an exercise would naturally be binding on both the parties.

 

Thanking You,

*Dattaraj Prabhukhanolkar*

GS, NOINO