Pay on Promotion

A promotion in any Department generally leads to the assumption of higher responsibility by the promotee and as such he is entitled to a reasonable increase in his emoluments consistent with the higher challenges that he undertakes on being promoted. Now as per the Revised Pay Rules 2008 the benefits on promotion is an additional increment and higher grade pay (as laid out in rule 13 of the Revised Pay Rules). But is this enough and is this consistent with the higher responsibilities that a promotee is being given.

Now a promotion in a Government department does not entail a mere change in the seat or cabin but may also entail other 'benefits' such as a transfer from one office to another or a transfer to an altogether new city/town. And if you are lucky enough you may land up in a B class city from Mumbai or Delhi. All this just so that you get an additional increment and grade pay which you were anyway going to get after some years through ACP. So why would a perfectly sane person go through all this pain for so little gain.

There is a need to address this issue. Let me hear from you on what changes should be brought to improve the benefits on promotion. Please post you comments with clear examples and justification.

Upgradation of Scales

The Central Civil Services Revised Pay Rules (2008) have been notified. The pay structure has been modified totally bringing in new concepts of Pay Bands and Grade Pay.

For the organized accounts set-up the most significant development in the revised pay rules is the merger of certain scales and the up-gradation of pay scales of certain posts. I have already touched upon the topic of merger of scales in my previous blog. Here I will discuss the topic of up-gradation of pay scales.

The pay scales of SOs/JAOs has been upgraded from pre-revised scales of 6500-200-10500 to the pre-revised scale of 7500-250-12500, that of the AAOs has been upgraded from 7450-225-11500 to 7500-250-12500 and the pay scale of AOs has been upgraded from 7500-250-12500 to 8000-275-13500. What does this up-gradation mean in real terms to these officials ? How does it benefit them during fixation and promotion ? Let me answer these questions.

A reading of the notification and the clarification issued by the government clearly indicates that the up-gradation does not mean that these officials will get placed in the higher pay scale on 01-01-2006 and that their fixation under revised pay bands will be with reference to their pay in the up-graded scale. The up-gradation only means that these officials will draw the grade pay of the up-graded scales. Thus a SO/JAO and a AAO will draw grade pay of 4800 (which is the grade pay for the scale 7500-12500) and an AO will draw grade pay of 5400(which is the grade pay of the scale 8000-13500). Let me illustrate this with some examples

Pay fixation of a JAO drawing 7100 on 01-01-06 in the scale of 6500-200-10500.
His fixation on 01-01-2006 as JAO will be:

1. Existing Pay Scale: 6500-200-10500
2. Pay Band Applicable: 9300-34800
3. Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 7100
4. Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 13210
5. Pay in the Pay Band: 13210
6. Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 13210
7. Grade Pay attached to the scale: 4800
8. Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 18010
9. Minimum of the pay in this grade: 18150
10. Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 18150

Note that the above fixation WILL NOT BE DONE as follows:

1. Existing Pay Scale: 6500-200-10500
2. Up-graded Pay Scale: 7500-250-12500
3. Pay Band Applicable: 9300-34800
4. Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 7100
5. Basic Pay after Up-gradation: 7500
6. Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 13950
7. Pay in the Pay Band: 13950
8. Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 13950
9. Grade Pay attached to the scale: 4800
10. Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 18750
11. Minimum of the pay in this grade: 18150
12. Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 18750

Pay fixation of a AAO drawing 8575 on 01-01-06 in the scale of 7450-225-11500.
His fixation on 01-01-2006 will be:

1. Existing Pay Scale: 7450-225-11500
2. Pay Band Applicable: 9300-34800
3. Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 8575
4. Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 15950
5. Pay in the Pay Band: 15950
6. Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 15950
7. Grade Pay attached to the scale: 4800
8. Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 20750
9. Minimum of the pay in this grade: 18150
10. Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 20750

Note that the above fixation WILL NOT BE DONE as follows:

1. Existing Pay Scale: 7450-225-11500
2. Up-graded Pay Scale: 7500-250-12500
3. Pay Band Applicable: 9300-34800
4. Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 8575
5. Basic Pay after Up-gradation: 8750
6. Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 16280
7. Pay in the Pay Band: 16280
8. Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 16280
9. Grade Pay attached to the scale: 4800
10. Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 21080
11. Minimum of the pay in this grade: 18150
12. Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 18750

Similarly will be the pay fixation of AOs and SAOs. Please note that in all cases the up-gradation of pre-revised scales means these officials will be getting only the grade pay of the up-graded scales. If not for the up-gradation they would have got the grade pay of their respective scales i.e., 4200, 4600 and 4800.

I hope the above clears any doubts you may have about up-gradation. For further queries and specific examples post your comments to this blog.

Sixth Pay Commission - Fixation of Pay Examples

A lot of confusion has arisen in the ranks of Civil Accounts Employees after the notification of the Sixth Pay Panels recommendation. Most of the doubts are because of the merger of scales of 5000-150-8000, 5500-175-9000 and 6500-200-10500 and because up-gradation of the posts of Section Officers (SO)/Junior Accounts Officer (JAO), Assistant Accounts Officers (AAO), Accounts Officers (AO/PAO) and Senior Accounts Officers (PAO) as also doubts in the minds of those Senior Accountants (SA) who have been given ACP or are on the verge of getting ACP in the near future. I hope the following examples and explanations therein will help clear any doubts or confusion you may have.

1 Pay fixation of LDC appointed on or after 01-01-2006

Old scale: S-8, 3050-75-3950-80-4590

New Pay Band and Grade Pay: PB-1, 5200-20200, GP-1900

Basic Pay as on the date of appointment: 5830/-

Grade Pay as on the date of appointment: 1900/-

Total Pay as on the date of appointment: 5830 + 1900 = 7730/-

2 Pay fixation of Accountants appointed on or after 01-01-2006

Old scale: S-8, 4500-125-7000

New Pay Band and Grade Pay: PB-1, 5200-20200, GP-2800.

Basic Pay as on the date of appointment: 8560/-

Grade Pay as on the date of appointment: 2800/-

Total Pay as on the date of appointment: 8560 + 2800 = 11360/-

3 Pay fixation of LDC appointed before 01-01-2006 but promoted to Accountant on or after 01-01-06

An LDC drawing pay of 3425 in the scale of 3050-75-3950-80-4590as on 01-01-2006, but consequent to having passed the departmental exam was promoted to the post of Accountant on 01-04-2006 in the scale of 4500-125-7000.

His fixation on 01-01-2006 as LDC will be:

1 Existing Pay Scale: 3050-75-3950-80-4590

2 Pay Band Applicable: 5200-20200

3 Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 3425

4 Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 6370.5

5 Pay in the Pay Band: 6380

6 Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 6380

7 Grade Pay attached to the scale: 1900

8 Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 8280

His fixation on 01-04-2006 on promotion as Accountant will be:

1 Existing Pay Band: 5200-20200 and Existing Grade Pay: 1900

2 Pay Band applicable on promotion: 5200-20200 and Grade Pay: 2800

3 Existing Pay as on 01-04-2006: 6380

4 Existing Grade Pay: 1900

5 Total of existing pay and grade pay: 8280

6 Increment on promotion (@ 3%): 250

7 Pay after increment: 6380 + 250 = 6630

8 Grade Pay in promoted grade: 2800

9 Total of pay and grade pay: 9430

10 Minimum of pay in the promoted grade: 11360

11 Revised Pay on promotion = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 11360

Note in the above on promotion he is granted one increment and grade pay of promoted grade. However in above case his pay gets fixed at 9430, which is less than minimum of the pay in the promoted grade, which is 11360. Hence his pay will be fixed at the minimum of the pay in the promoted grade, which is 11360. So his pay on promotion is 11360.

4 Pay fixation of an Accountant promoted as Senior Accountant on or after 01-01-06

An Accountant was drawing pay of 5000 in the scale of 4500-125-7000 on 01-01-2006 but consequent to having completed more than three years as an Accountant he was promoted to the post of Senior Accountant after 01-04-2006.

His fixation on 01-01-2006 as Accountant will be:

1 Existing Pay Scale: 4500-175-7000

2 Pay Band Applicable: 5200-20200

3 Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 5000

4 Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 9300

5 Pay in the Pay Band: 9300

6 Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 9300

7 Grade Pay attached to the scale: 2800

8 Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 12100

His fixation on 01-04-2006 on promotion as Senior Accountant will be:

1 Existing Pay Band: 5200-20200 and Existing Grade Pay: 1900

2 Pay Band applicable on promotion: 9300-34800 and Grade Pay: 4200

3 Existing Pay as on 01-04-2006: 9300

4 Existing Grade Pay: 2800

5 Total of existing pay and grade pay: 12100

6 Increment on promotion (@ 3%): 370

7 Pay after increment: 9300 + 370 = 9670

8 Grade Pay in promoted grade: 4200

9 Total of pay and grade pay: 13870

10 Minimum of pay in the promoted grade: 13500

11 Revised Pay on promotion = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 13870

Note there is an anomaly in this case. If the accountant opts to continue in the old pay scale and have his fixation in the revised pay scale on the date of his promotion i.e., 01-04-2006 he stands to gain a lot. On his date of promotion he will be drawing minimum of 5500 in the old scale of 5500-175-9000 after promotion. Hence on fixation in the revised scale his pay will be fixed at 14430 in the pay band 9300-34800 plus grade pay of 4200. This anomaly is a direct consequence of the merger of the scales starting at 5000, 5500, and 6500. This anomaly will have to be addressed by the authorities.

5 Pay fixation of Senior Accountant granted ACP before 01-01-2006.

A Senior Accountant after having been granted ACP before 01-01-2006 is drawing pay of 8100 in the pre-revised scale of 6500-200-10500 as on 01-01-2006. His pay fixation as on 01-01-2006 will be as follows:

1 Existing Pay Scale: 6500-200-10500

2 Pay Band Applicable: 9300-34800

3 Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 8100

4 Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 15066

5 Pay in the Pay Band: 15070

6 Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 15070

7 Grade Pay attached to the scale: 4200

8 Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 19270

6 Pay fixation of Senior Accountant granted ACP after 01-01-2006.

A Senior Accountant is drawing 7775 in the scale of 5500-175-9000 as on 01-01-2006. He is granted ACP on 01-04-2006 in the scale of 6500-200-10500.

His pay fixation as on 01-01-2006 will be as follows:

1 Existing Pay Scale: 5500-175-9000

2 Pay Band Applicable: 9300-34800

3 Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 7775

4 Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 14470

5 Pay in the Pay Band: 14470

6 Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 14470

7 Grade Pay attached to the scale: 4200

8 Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 18670

His fixation on 01-04-2006 on grant of ACP will be:

1 Existing Pay Band: 9300-34800 and Existing Grade Pay: 4200

2 Pay Band applicable on grant of ACP: 9300-34800 and Grade Pay: 4600

3 Existing Pay as on 01-04-2006: 14470

4 Existing Grade Pay: 4200

5 Total of existing pay and grade pay: 18670

6 Increment on ACP (@ 3%): 570

7 Pay after increment: 14470 + 570 = 15040

8 Grade Pay in higher grade: 4600

9 Total of pay and grade pay: 19640

11 Revised Pay on ACP = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 19640

Points to be noted in this case.

1 If the SA opts to have his pay fixed in the old scale as on 01-01-2006 and opts to have his pay in the revised scale fixed on 01-04-2006 i.e., on the date of grant of ACP he will get slightly higher fixation at 19670 on 01-04-2006 instead of 19640 as shown above. But he will lose more on account of loss of arrears of the in-between period.

2 The grade pay of 4600 is no longer present in the hierarchy of grade pay for the organized accounts set-up. However the SA will get this grade pay on being granted ACP as per the revised terms of ACP.

3 The above point leads to some anomalies. One anomaly is that SAs getting ACP before 01-01-2006 are at loss compared to those getting ACP after 01-01-2006 as can be seen if we compare example 5 and 6. This is also a consequence of the merger of the three scales starting at 5000, 5500 and 6500. This anomaly will have to be addressed by the authorities.

4 Those granted ACP just before 01-01-2006 get placed in the grade pay of 4200 on 01-01-2006 but those granted ACP after 01-01-2006 get placed in the grade pay of 4600. This is a direct consequence of the merger of the three scales starting at 5000, 5500 and 6500.

7 Pay fixation of a Senior Accountant promoted as Junior Accounts Officer on or after 01-01-06

A Senior Accountant was drawing pay of 7075 as on 01-01-2006 in the scale of 5500-175-9000. Consequent on passing the JAO examination he was promoted as a JAO on 01-04-2006 in the scale of 6500-200-10500.

His fixation on 01-01-2006 as Senior Accountant will be:

1 Existing Pay Scale: 5500-175-9000

2 Pay Band Applicable: 9300-34800

3 Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 7075

4 Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 13159.5

5 Pay in the Pay Band: 13160

6 Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 13160

7 Grade Pay attached to the scale: 4200

8 Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 17360

His fixation on 01-04-2006 on promotion as JAO will be:

1 Existing Pay Band: 9300-34800 and Existing Grade Pay: 4200

2 Pay Band applicable on promotion: 9300-34800 and Grade Pay: 4800

3 Existing Pay as on 01-04-2006: 13160

4 Existing Grade Pay: 4200

5 Total of existing pay and grade pay: 17360

6 Increment on promotion (@ 3%): 530

7 Pay after increment: 13160 + 530 = 13690

8 Grade Pay in promoted grade: 4800

9 Total of pay and grade pay: 18490

10 Revised Pay on promotion = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 18490

8 Pay fixation of JAO promoted as Assistant Accounts Officer on or after 01-01-06

A JAO was drawing pay of 7500 as on 01-01-2006 in the scale of 6500-200-10500. He was promoted as an AAO on 01-04-2006 in the scale of 7450-225-11500.

His fixation on 01-01-2006 as JAO will be:

1 Existing Pay Scale: 6500-200-10500

2 Pay Band Applicable: 9300-34800

3 Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 7500

4 Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 13950

5 Pay in the Pay Band: 13950

6 Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 13950

7 Grade Pay attached to the scale: 4800

8 Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 18750

His fixation on 01-04-2006 on promotion as AAO will be:

1 Existing Pay Band: 9300-34800 and Existing Grade Pay: 4800

2 Pay Band applicable on promotion: 9300-34800 and Grade Pay: 4800

3 Existing Pay as on 01-04-2006: 13950

4 Existing Grade Pay: 4800

5 Total of existing pay and grade pay: 18750

6 Increment on promotion (@ 3%): 570

7 Pay after increment: 13950 + 570 = 14520

8 Grade Pay in promoted grade: 4800

9 Total of pay and grade pay: 19320

10 Minimum of pay in the promoted grade: 18150

11 Revised Pay on promotion = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 19320

9 Pay fixation of AO promoted as Senior Accounts Officer on or after 01-01-06

An AO was drawing pay of 11000 as on 01-01-2006 in the scale of 7500-250-12000. He was promoted as an SAO on 01-04-2006 in the scale of 8000-275-13500.

His fixation on 01-01-2006 as AO will be:

1 Existing Pay Scale: 7500-250-12000

2 Pay Band Applicable: 9300-34800

3 Existing Basic Pay as on 01-01-2006: 11000

4 Pay after multiplication factor of 1.86: 20460

5 Pay in the Pay Band: 20460

6 Pay in the pay band after including benefit of bunching if any: 20460

7 Grade Pay attached to the scale: 5400

8 Revised Pay = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 25860

His fixation on 01-04-2006 on promotion as SAO will be:

1 Existing Pay Band: 9300-34800 and Existing Grade Pay: 5400

2 Pay Band applicable on promotion: 15600-39100 and Grade Pay: 5400

3 Existing Pay as on 01-04-2006: 20460

4 Existing Grade Pay: 5400

5 Total of existing pay and grade pay: 25860

6 Increment on promotion (@ 3%): 780

7 Pay after increment: 20460 + 780 = 21240

8 Grade Pay in promoted grade: 5400

9 Total of pay and grade pay: 26640

10 Revised Pay on promotion = total of pay in the pay band and grade pay: 26640

Hopefully I have covered all the cases of fixation that may arise in a typical Pay and Accounts Office. Fixation in respect of Data Entry Operators, Stenos, group-D and other staff has not been covered but I would like to invite suitable examples in their respect.

I have in most cases not considered applicability of bunching. However in most cases question of bunching does not arise. Still I will appreciate if someone can point out cases where bunching needs to be applied.

Most of the anomalies arise due to the merger of the scales starting at 5000, 5500 and 6500. The merger of scale in case of the organized accounts setup is primarily to address the issue of parity of Senior Accountants with Assistants of Central Secretariat Service. However you may see my previous post to understand how the issue of parity remains unaddressed even after the merger of scales.

The merger of scales in fact leads to the degradation rather than the up-gradation of Senior Accountants as can be seen in the example no. 4 above. All of the anomalies arising in the example no. 6 can be solved if Senior Accountants granted ACP before 01-01-2006 and drawing pay in the scale of 6500-200-10500 are allowed to draw grade pay of 4600 of the pre-revised scale of 7450-225-11500 on 01-01-2006. This will be most appropriate since JAOs have been upgraded to the scale of 7500-250-12500 and grade pay of 4800 and the in-between scale of 7450-225-11500 remains vacant for the organized accounts setup.

Another important point is the up-gradation of the scales of JAOs, AAOs, AOs and SAOs. This up-gradation DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY WILL BE PLACED IN THE HIGHER UPGRADED PRE-REVISED SCALES AS ON 01-01-2006 AND THEN THEIR PAY WILL BE REVISED.

Also the up-gradation of scale of JAO in the pre-revised scales from 6500-200-10500 to the scale of 7450-225-11500 and grant of the grade pay of 4800 to the JAOs DOES NOT MEAN THAT SENIOR ACCOUNTANTS GRANTED ACP IN THE SCALE OF 6500-500-10500 ALSO GET AUTOMATICALLY UPGRADED AS THE JAOS AND WILL DRAW GRADE PAY OF 4800. In fact on ACP the Senior Accountant will draw grade pay of 4600 although this grade pay is no longer there in the revised hierarchy of grade pays for the organized accounts set-up.

All the above examples have been worked out on the basis of the notification issued by the government for the implementation of revised pay rules and other orders issued till date. As of now no anomalies have been addressed or clarifications have been issued with regards to the above notification..

If anyone has any queries and doubts regarding any of the above fixation or queries of their own fixation you may post comments and I will try to address these queries.

Sixth Pay Commission - Merger of Scales

As per the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission the pre-revised pay scales of 5500-175-9000 and 6500-200-10500 have been merged. While explaining the rationale behind this move the Commission makes the following statement in its report " The Commission does not consider it necessary to go into the merit of the demand of parity between Senior Accountants (SA) and Assistants of Central Secretariat Service (CSS) because it is recommending merger of the pre-revised pay scales of Rs.5500-9000 and Rs.6500-10500 which will automatically place Assistants in CSS and SAs in an identical revised pay band and grade pay."

It is obvious the pay commission has clearly not addressed the issue of parity of SAs with Assistant in CSS. And although it seems that with the merger of the pay scales both the SAs and the Assistants are in the same pay band and grade pay, there will inherently remain a difference in the pay drawn by them. This inspite of the fact that the Commission had been specifically requested by the Government to address the issue of parity and in fact the commission goes to great length to explain that there is no rationale for officials of Secretariat to seek higher scale vis-a-vis officials of other organisations which traditionally had a parity with them (see chapter 3.1 of the report).

As such Senior Accountant of our organisation have been denied the benefits of parity which we all know has been conceeded by the CAT on an earlier occasion and which even the Commission acknowledges in its report. The merger of scales is just an illusion without any real benefit to the SA's of our organisation. The real benifit will arise only when we are placed in the scale of 6500-200-10500 with the Assistants of CSS as on 1-1-1996.

We have to seek a closure on this issue with the government and I hope we will fight unitedly on this issue.

Welcome

Dear friends and colleagues of the Civil Accounts Organization. A warm and hearty welcome to all of you to this blog. This is a humble attempt by me to provide a forum for all the employees of the Civil Accounts Organization to present, ponder, discuss and share our views on matters and issues relating to our organisation. I invite everybody related to this organisation or otherwise to participate in this blog. I hope that with the involvement of everybody this blog will serve as an effectivew medium of dialogue and communication for all the constituents of this organisation. We seek your valued views and contributions as also your critique and suggestions on this blog.