GIRGLANI COMMISSION REPORT

GIRGLANI COMMISSION REPORT on G.O Ms 610 See report at

http://www.aponline.gov.in/Quick%20Links/RTIA/OneManCommission/Final%20Report%20Vol-II/Final%20Report%20Volume%20II%20.doc



GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT

Letter No.06/86/OMC(A.1)2002-1, Dt : 01-11-2002
FROM :

J.M. GIRGLANI, IAS, (Retd.)

One Man Commission (SPF)

General Administration Department

‘K’ Block, 2nd Floor, Room No. 327A.P. Secretariat, Hyderabad


To

The Secretary to Government

General Administration (Services) Department

A.P. Secretariat Hyderabad


Sir,

Sub : SPF – Presidential Order (OMC) – Gazetting of posts after the issue of Presidential Order - Reg.

Ref : OMC (SPF) Preliminary Report submitted to the Government in October, 2001.

* * *

Kindly refer Commission’s Preliminary report, Preliminary Finding Nos. 12A to 12D with particular reference to sub-Para (ii) of Para 2.28.0 of the Preliminary Finding 12A (xerox copy of the finding is enclosed for ready reference). After this Report, the Commission has had occasion to hold meetings with the Officers of the Heads of the Departments to find out about the deviations if any from the Presidential Order. One of the most important issues that has come to the notice of the Commission is that in many departments the posts which were hitherto Non-gazetted before 18-10-1975, the date of the Presidential Order, have been made Gazetted either with the same designation or with some change of designation. As Non-Gazetted posts these were zonal posts with 70% preference for local candidates. On becoming Gazetted, the posts become State-wide posts and also lose the preference for the local candidates. Thus, through this process the Presidential Order is getting diluted in respect of many important posts at the zonal level and local candidates of all the zones are losing the advantage of localisation and preference. Apart from the posts that have come to the notice of this Commission, the Commission understands that there is a demand from many Service Associations for Gazetting some of their posts and that these demands have been referred to Anomalies Commission for examination. The Anomalies Commission will no doubt examine the administrative and other aspects of the demands for making the posts Gazetted. But the one aspect that needs to be safeguarded is that when a post is Gazetted or any change is made in a post, its original local character should be preserved so that the Presidential Order is not diluted and local candidates’ interests are not adversely affected. It is found that some of the posts which were gazetted after 18-10-1975 were got included by the Government in the Third Schedule of the Presidential Order in the category of Specified Gazetted Posts. One finds from the Third Schedule that even up to 1993 some posts were added to this category, but not all the posts that have been gazetted to-date have been added to this category.

Adding to the Third Schedule of Presidential Order under the category of Specified Gazetted Posts only preserves the zonal character of the post, but that brings no solace to the local candidates because the preference for local candidates does not apply to all the posts which are included in this category excepting for a few posts like Tahsildars and Assistant Engineers etc., in this Schedule which were originally given the preference of 60% for local candidates. Thus inclusion to this category also does not restore the local candidate preference of 70% which is lost when a Non-Gazetted post is Gazetted. In many of the cases that have come before the Commission, the posts have not even been brought to the Specified Gazetted Category after being gazetted so that even the zonal character is lost. In two cases: one of the Forest Range Officer in the Forest Department and another of Prohibition and Excise Inspectors, the proposal for inclusion in the Third Schedule as Specified Gazetted Category Posts was even rejected by the Government of India. On the latter case this Commission has written to you already.

This process of gazetting is resulting in consequences which are against the principle enunciated in the Preliminary Findings cited above. You may kindly recall that this particular finding had found favour with the Cabinet Sub-Committee in the presence of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, who had also agreed with it in principle. This was also presented before the Cabinet. It is therefore more or less an agreed principle. The reason for the recommendations in these findings cited above is that if we do not accept the principle of immutability of the local character of the posts as it stood at the time of the Presidential Order, then the Government would find it difficult to deny the demands for expanding the scope of the Presidential Order in so many other dimensions. This is one of the demands in the G.O.Ms.No.610. It will be found in G.O.Ms.No.610, one of the demand which the Government had agreed to look into was Para 5(5) and 5(9) which reads as under:

Para 5(5)The posts in Institutions/Establishment notified in G.S.R.No.526(E), dated 18-10-1975 shall be filled up by drawing persons on tenure basis from different local cadres on an equitable basis as per orders issued in the G.O. 3rd read above.

Para 5(9)The possibility of allotting persons from within the same zone/multi-zone against non-local vacancy in a particular cadre will be examined in consultation with the APPSC.

Thereafter, the Services Associations particularly of Telangana have also made demands for extending the Presidential Order to Corporations and other quasi-government organisations which are now outside the Presidential Order. To put finality to the scope of the Presidential Order this Commission had suggested that we should also accept to put a stop to the abridgement of the scope of the Presidential Order and give an assurance to the Employees Association to this effect, while not expanding its scope.

The abridgement of the Presidential Order and the leakage of localized posts through this process of gazetting is against the principle that the Presidential Order’s scope shall not be mutated i.e., neither expanded nor abridged. If it is allowed to be abridged then the counter demands for expansion of the scope cannot be easily ignored.

In pursuance of this principle of immutability of the local character of a post as it stood on the date of the Presidential Order the Government have taken care to ensure that the posts of the Secondary Grade Teachers were retained as district cadre posts and later on the Government took further action to ensure that the original 80% preference for local candidates was also restored even though the scale of the post had been raised by the 1994 Pay Revision Commission above the level of the LDC Scales, which would normally have made it a zonal post with 70% preference. Having accepted the principle of immutability and applied it in the case of the Secondary Grade Teachers it is but fair that the same principle be applied wherever there is any administrative action or change that mutates the original local character of a post. This will give finality and stability to the Presidential Order amidst the dynamics of a progressive and expanding administrative system.

In pursuance of this principle and in view of the dimensions mentioned above, it is suggested as under :-

1. That all the posts that were gazetted after 18-10-1975 should be got included in the Third Schedule to the Presidential Order as Specified Gazetted Categories. This will ensure the zonal character of the posts and retain the zone as “local area” for the posts.

2. To retain the 70% preference for the local candidates which applied to these posts before being Gazetted as they were Non-Gazetted zonal posts.

3. In respect of the posts which are pending consideration for being gazetted, if the Gazetted status is granted on administrative grounds then ‘ipso facto’ a reference to the Government of India may be made immediately on the lines mentioned above under (1) and (2) so that their local character is not mutated.

4. In cases which were referred to the Government of India and have been rejected for inclusion in the Third Schedule i.e., Specified Gazetted Category, the cases may be reopened and action taken as suggested at (1) and (2) above.

A list of the posts that have come to the notice of the Commission which have been Gazetted with or without changes in designation after the Presidential Order is enclosed. This list is not exhaustive but information may be collected from all the departments so that in one single reference Government of India’s orders may be obtained. (Please see Annexure-3 herein).

It is also suggested that the action on this matter may be taken expeditiously particularly in view of the pending demands for gazetting of some posts in some of the departments.

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-One Man Commission (SPF