BSNL CO issued letter for grant of special casual leave to the office bearers/delegates of AIGETOA for attending the CHQ meeting on 22nd June 2022 at New Delhi.
Meeting of all the three associations i.e. AIGETOA, SNEA and SEWA was held with CMD BSNL in his chamber at 18:40 Hrs on the issue of Promotions in all wings and grades/cadres and lasted for about 45 minutes.
The Association side was represented by Shri Ravi Shil Verma , Shri Veerabhadra Rao, Shri Wasi Ahmad & Shri Badri Mehta from AIGETOA, Shri M. S. Adasul, Shri Vimal Raghunath & Shri Padmanabha Rao from SNEA and Shri R. A. Meena and Shri Mukesh Ahlawat from SEWA.
All associations apprised CMD BSNL about the necessacity to include all eligible SDEs for promotion to AGM so as to avoid any future litigations on the same but CMD didn’t agreed on the proposal citing the legal complexities. Associations also apprised CMD BSNL about the ways to increase the vacancies to maximise the promotions to include maximum eligible executives in Telecom and other streams and wings also.
It was informed that all associations are agreeable about the methodology going to be adopted by management on reservations but the issue is of signature.
CMD responded positively about three association came together on issue of reservations in promotions and appreciated the approach but categorically told that he may not be able to move forward without signature of the agreement by the associations considering the pending legality.
CMD BSNL also informed that number of vacancies for which SDE to AGM promotions has been decided is strictly on the basis of available vacancies by deducting 1500 working AGM/ DGM Adhoc from the DPC Quota of 3600 vacancies i.e. about 2100 vacancies. CMD BSNL stated that as of now, he can’t agree to the proposal for increasing of vacancies for accommodating all eligible SDEs by way of diversion or other mechanism considering the legal complexities. He will move in step wise only in this promotion. He said, first he will go for promotion to this many vacancies and after 2-3 months, he can review it as suggested by associations. If things goes on smoothly, he is not averse to making more promotion in due course of time same year.
CMD BSNL categorically stated that he will go ahead with SDE to AGM Promotions only if all three associations are agreeing to the proposal and methodology adopted by management regarding reservations in promotions by signing the undertaking by all three associations to move forward. As BSNL SLP is still pending and legal finality has not reached finality. In case of non agreement with signature, he will wait for the Hon’ble Supreme Court Judgement on BSNL SLP.
He told that he is not compelling associations to sign and accept methodology of promotions in BSNL, but firmly shared that promotions are not possible without written consent by all three Associations as he doesn’t want litigations and complexities in future. Discussion on promotions in other streams were also held but CMD said that these things can be discussed later once SDE to AGM discussion concluded positively.
Promotion regardimg AO to CAO was also discussed and CMD has been once again requested to extend relaxation of 15/16 days to end the stalemate and promote most of the AO to CAO to motivate all of them as well as it will be in the interest of BSNL. It was apprised that it will also give way for clearance of legal hurdles. CMD assured to look into this aspect.
The three associations had meeting before meeting CMD BSNL and after the meeting also and decided to discuss these issues further before reverting to CMD BSNL and taking a final call on the matter.
Finally, we apprised CMD about growing resentment and once again requested to reconsider our submission.
Thus as on today there is no change in status of AGM promotions and visible progress in SDE to AGM. The only appreciable progress lies in the fact that matter has been explained and discussed in detail with CMD BSNL. We will revert back in next 2-3 days once a decision is taken in this regard.s
As per provisions in the constitution of AIGETOA and subsequent discussion/decisions, the Central Executive Committee (CEC) Meet cum CWC of AIGETOA Central Governing Body is hereby notified to be hold as per the given schedule.
The schedule is as follows:
Date & Time : 22nd June’2022 (Wed) from 10:00 to 20:00 hrs
Venue : New Delhi (Detail venue will be informed subsequently)
Chairman Shri Ravi Shil Verma, JS AIGETOA Shri Amit Roy and AGS Shri Vivek Kumar Singh met PGM SR and conveyed in non ambiguous terms that now with a broad consensus reached between all stake holders, management should not delay the promotions anymore. We said any delay and deviation from the earlier agreed assurances is not at all acceptable now. Association will have to resort to hard organization actions if management doesn’t realizes the seriousness of the prevailing resentment amongst the Executives.
The three Associations had earlier decided to meet CMD BSNL, however due to non availability of GS SNEA at Delhi for today and tomorrow, we have scheduled the meeting with CMD BSNL on Monday.
We can’t wait endlessly and we will take a final call on the issue of Promotions after meeting CMD on Monday. This will be our last attempt to resolve the issue in an amicable manner and thereafter we will change the approach to end this unnecessarily delay tactics.
Team AIGETOA comprising of Chairman Shri RaviShil Verma, Shri Vivek Kumar Singh AGS-2, Shri Sunil Gautam AGS -5 and Joint Secretary Shri Amit Roy held meeting with Sr GM Estt as follow up meeting on the Pay Scale issue.
AIGETOA has taken up again the matter of standard scale with PGM Estt and apprised about the discussions held with Dir HR on dated 03-06-2022 wherein Team AIGETOA has apprised Dir HR that we had a discussion on standard scale with Joint Secretary Admin at DoT, with DDG PM and Deputy Secretary. In the discussions, we appraised the DoT, that BSNL official are very disappointed on the letter issued by DoT on the matter and categorically pointed out that DoT had issued wrong letter as it is not in line with the DPE guidelines and BSNL proposal. With our strong arguments, the soft change in stand of DoT was quite visible. The same development has been shared with Dir HR and we requested his office for sending the BSNL stand on the letter of DoT dated 29-04-2022. we demanded that BSNL must reiterate its earlier stand which was conveyed by CMD BSNL vide their letter dated 01-05-2017.
Today was the follow up meeting with PGM Estt regarding the Dir HR meeting. We requested PGM Estt to take up the issue once again with DoT as per our discussion held with Director HR. PGM Estt assured that he will discuss with Director HR for the same.
We shall be following up the matter again with PGM Estt after discussion with Dir HR. Thereafter, discussion was also held on pending rule 8 cases specially with regard to HP and J&K Circles. Sr GM Estt assured to intervene with circles to ensure the clearance of pending Rule 8 cases.
Meeting of all the three associations i.e. AIGETOA, SNEA and SEWA was held with Director HR in presence of PGM Pers, PGM SR and CLO on the issue of Promotions in all wings and grades/cadres. The Association side was represented by Shri Ravi Shil Verma and Shri Amit Roy from AIGETOA, Shri M S Adasul and Shri Vimal Raghunath from SNEA and Shri N D Ram and Shri R A Meena from SEWA.
Director HR shared the view of management on the proposed methodology and stated that they are committed on Promotions of all wings and all cadres. Discussion was held in a positive direction to go ahead with the promotions. Management agreed for extending the percentage of representation in accordance with the roster prepared as per DoP&T guidelines.
Next round of meeting will be held very shortly. We are hopeful of positive outcome very soon.
GS AIGETOA has once again taken up the matter of AGM/CAO Equivalent Promotion with CMD BSNL today. In a conversation, he requested CMD BSNL for his kind intervention to expedite the process in view of the delay in execution of the promotion despite of the clearance by the DoPT Executive Instruction. He was apprised about the growing resentment in the fields due to inordinate delay happening to issue the order. GS apprised about the detailed meeting of the association with the Director HR on the matter. GS also apprised about the discussions held with various other stake holders on the matter of Reservation in Promotion by the association. CMD BSNL gave a patience hearing and assured to take needful action in this regard. We are hopeful that the process will further speed up with the intervention of the CMD BSNL.
Team AIGETOA comprising of Shri Ravi Shil Verma Chairman, Shri Wasi Ahmad GS, Shri Vivek Kumar Singh AGs, Shri Sunil Gautam AGS and Shri Yogendra Singh AGS held detailed meeting Director HR Shri Arvind Vadnerkar ji on dated 03-06-2022. The meeting lasted for more than two and half hours with elaborate discussion on HR Issues including following points:
AGM and CAO Promotions:
Team AIGETOA conveyed the Director HR that there is a huge resentment among the Executives as despite clarification from DoPT, there is no development in the AGM and CAO Promotion despite of the Hon’ble Supreme Court Judgment dated 28.01.2022 and DoPT Executive Instruction dated 12.04.2022. We said that there is no confusion as such on reservation in promotion issue and DoPT OM of 1997 combinedly read with the DoPT OM dated 12.04.2022 amply clarifies on how to move ahead with promotions. The need is to have a proactive mindset with clear focus on executing the promotions instead of dilly-dallying on the matter on one pretext or other. We can’t expect any more clarity on the matter and hence the BSNL has to move forward for promotion with this executive instruction only instead of trying to shred the responsibility in the name of non-existing complexities. We further apprised that resentment is running very high and delay is only adding fuel to fire. If management doesn’t move forward on the Promotion in AGM and CAO grades immediately, it will have to face serious unrest in the organisation. Director HR apprised that management is very much keen to in the promotion and taking all steps to realize it by sorting out obstacles.
Thereafter, he called the DGM(Pers) in the meeting itself and sought the progress on all aspects. Point wise status was briefed by the DGM (Pers) and the required formalities to be carried out. The Director HR gave certain directions to him to expedite the process in a time bound manner. We also raised the issue of vacancies to be filled up and prospective methodology to be adopted in calculating the vacancies. On this Director HR replied that these discussions can be done once there is finality on the path to move forward and management is not averse to any of the genuine suggestion from association in this regard.
In the meantime the AIGETOA Team is working in close coordination with all stake holders including our sister association SEWA and their leadership and having day to day discussions on the developments and outcome of these meetings.
Friends, we are giving enough time and room for discussion to the management to issue the much awaited promotions but at the same time reminding about serious repercussion in the event of any further delay. We have categorically told Director HR that the issuance of promotion in the current month is a must else the association will seek organizational recourse.
We will watch the movement of the management till next one week and thereafter take a decision according to the situation on the matter. All are requested to be prepared for any short notice Call to Delhi Chalo in case of any dilly-dallying tactics by the management.
E2-E3 Issue and DoT communication:
We lodged our strong protest on the recent communication of the DoT and its disagreement on account of Cascading, which is in complete contravention of the proposal of BSNL. The statement of DoT that the earlier PO of DoT dated 28.03.2017 for standard Scale has endorsement of DPE does not hold any merit as DPE has not commented anything on the previous scales of BSNL and Intermediary scales used by DoT.
We apprised about our multiple meetings in recent times with the senior officers of DoT including JS (Admin) on the matter and the concerns raised by the association. Team AIGETOA informed Director HR about the discussion of our meeting on 01.06.2022 with Joint Secretary Admin Shri Sushil Kumar Verma, DDG PM Shri Premjit Lal and Deputy Secretary DoT Shri Raiti Madhava Rao on the recent order issued by DoT on approval of standard scale E2-E3. We informed him about our assertion that the order issued by DoT has created a serious ruckus among the Executives fraternity of BSNL and it may disturb the peace of the organization if not rolled back immediately as DPE has never given concurrence on the intermediate scale proposal of DoT. We demanded Deputy Secretary, if any letter had been issued by DPE regarding the intermediate scale, it must be shared to the Association and if it is not issued, DoT must role back its order issued on 29/04/2022.
Director HR was in full agreement with the view point that final proposal of BSNL only asked for replacement of two Scale i.e. E1A by E2 and E2A by E3 and no cascading to other scales. We requested Director HR for immediate intervention and take up the matter with DoT and inform them that the proposal of BSNL is not having any cascading effect and replacing initial two scales will not have any impact on EPP. The Director HR said, he shall be taking corrective action soon in this regard.
MS RR Discussion and its Draft: The Chairman and GS AIGETOA informed Director HR that Pers cell has not initiated discussion on MS RR so far with the Recognised Association despite passage of the month of May’2022, whereas it was supposed to be initiated and draft of MS RR to be shared latest by April’2022. We apprised that it was to be initiated with stagnation criteria in SDE grade for promotion beyond vacancies as well as fast track mode of promotion to achieve the desired goal to give younger officers chance to reach highest echelon in their career as assured by Director HR & CMD on various occasions to the association.
The Director HR agreed with our concern and apprised that it got delayed due to multiple views of various stake holders but now the same is back in focus and is very much in the agenda of the management and assured to look into it.
Notification of SDE/AO RR:
We demanded Director HR to issue notification of new SDE RR as approved by the BSNL Board so that the left out JTOs of 2008 can be promoted immediately and LDCE for SDE and AO can be notified. Further the preparatory for DPC Promotion of subsequent batches of JTOs from SRD onwards and JAOs can be initiated. Once the AGM and CAO promotion is affected, we will be having sufficient vacancies for SDE and AO Promotions.
Director HR informed that the notification is pending due to some technical clearance from the DoT and once the clearance is received, the same will be notified without any delay. The association will further pursue with the DOT for early clearance by proper compliance on points raised.
SDE Reversal Issue Settlement:
We shown our strong displeasure for non settlement of this issue despite the passage of long time and agreeing of the Director HR to resolve it as One Time measure considering the genuineness of the issue. The matter has been discussed on several occasions and only a decision has to be taken in this regard and a direction was also given to Pers Cell on the matter by the Director HR himself. The inordinate delay is raising serious concern among the suffering executives and hence we reminded him about his assurance once again.
Director HR stated that he is well aware about it and his commitment and he will ensure the same as assured earlier. He agreed with the views of the association that it has got delayed enormously but assured to resolve.
SAB Deposit and Enhancement of Quantum:
The matter was raised strongly with the Director HR and recent demises of BSNL Recruited Employees were once again brought to his notice and endless suffering of such families in absence of any proper support. We apprised how the families post demise of their bread winner come on road owing to the meager support of Rs 3500 to Rs 4500 a month by including both SAB Fund and EPS Scheme. It is happening basically due to delayed start of the SAB Pension Fund by BSNL w.e.f. 2016 which should have been extended from day one and that too in totality. The delayed start and giving full 30% SAB has accumulated insufficient fund in the SAB Pension maintained by LIC and any eventuality coming as a serious financial blow to the families.
We demanded that this must be seen by rising above to the financial position of the organization as it relates with the survival of a family in event of any untimed demise of an employee recruited by BSNL. There is still a shortfall of 8.2% in the defined contribution under SAB and it should be used to increase the existing quantum from 5%. We also demanded to start PRMB Fund and deposit in the fund.
We apprised him that the association has also given a call to hold various programs including Pad Yatra from Chandigarh to New Delhi to pay tribute the recent demise of Late Vijay Bansal Ji and highlight the cause due to families of BSNL Recruited Employees are at stake.
Director HR agreed with our concern on the matter and suffering of the families due to less contribution under SAB Pension Fund and agreed to take up the matter with CMD BSNL.
Gross disparity in Transfer & Positing of QA & Inspection Circle:
This was raised to the Director and informed that the policy decided to send the executives out of the QA & Inspection Circle is faulty, biased and illogical. One side the executives are being shifted on the name of sensitive posting in the Circle and executives with a working of 10-12 years is shifted from the circle whereas people with 18-22 years are retained in the Circle. On raising the issue, lame reasons are put forward which is totally unacceptable and we demanded his intervention. Further, claims under association immunity and various medical grounds are also not looked properly. We categorically told that if department wants to keep a rotating place in view of sensitivity, a uniform policy on the basis of working period in the Circle should be framed and association will support any such transparent policy.
Director HR assured to look into it and take necessary decision. The cases were apprised to him in detail also.
SDE Seniority List modification:
We lodged our strong protest on the inconsistent behavior of the department on the SDE seniority List, which pertains to the directly recruited Employees. Once again the current SDE Seniority list number 12 and previous list 9 has been revised. The inconsistency in the decision reflects that section dealing the matter is not clear about framing of the seniority list. This has got various revisions with every passing day. This started with July 2020 when the first provisional list was prepared on the basis of year of vacancy by giving Quota within the VY and DoJ in the VY to decide seniority in LDCE and DPC Mode of SDEs promoted against 2006-07. Thereafter the list has gone several ups and down and again a new revision raises serious question on the finality of the list. Such type of inconsistent behavior is not expected from HR Section and we demanded to fix up the responsibility, if there is any lapse in process either earlier or today. We simply cannot remain mute to everyday changing stand of HR section on such important matters which define the future career progression of executives.
The meeting ended with the final arguments from the association side that the management should come forward with concrete results else the peace and tranquility of the organization will be comprised, and association shall be forced to resort to strong organizational action programs to settle the long pending HR issues of Pay, Promotion and Pension.
Team AIGETOA comprising of Shri Wasi Ahmad GS, Shri Vivek Kumar Singh AGS, Shri Sunil Gautam AGS visited DoT office, New Delhi on 01.06.2022 and held meeting with Shri Sunil Kumar Verma Joint Secretary, Shri Premjit Lal DDG PM and Shri Madhav Rao DDG PSU-I on the matter of E2-E3 and lodged our resentment on the letter issued by the DoT regarding disagreeing on E2-E3 Scale citing cascading as reason. We categorically emphasized that the order is in contrary to the proposal submitted by BSNL and hence it must be rolled back by the DoT to prevail peace and tranquility in the organization.
Firstly, we met the DDG PM for the subject matter of E2-E3, who was in the chain of the issue. But he apprised that the issue is now being handled through Joint Secretary and he is looking after only revival part of BSNL. A brief discussion was held on the ongoing revival package and other matter associated with Executives. We highlighted issues of the E2-E3, Promotional Prospects and Recruitment Rules being taken up in the BSNL Board considering the fact that he is currently holding the responsibility of BSNL Board of Director. He appreciated our concern and assured to extend all help as per merit of the issues, whenever taken up by the association.
Later the Team met with Shri S K Verma Joint Secretary DoT specifically on the issue of E2-E3. We explained him about the issue since beginning and our arguments behind incorrectness of the order and requested for roll back of the recent order of DoT. He apprised that he has taken the charge very recently and not updated about the issue. Thereafter, we submitted our letter in this regard and all supporting documents and apprised that it is affecting about 14500 Executives of BSNL (about 45%) and the recent order of DoT has created serious unrest in the rank and files of the company. We firmly told that any thought of denial will create serious repercussion in the organization as the youngest lot of the company is directly affected with the issue, which is lingering since 2007. We apprised him that BSNL has clearly asked for replacement of only two Scales i.e. E1A by E2 meant for JTO/JAO Equivalent and E2A by E3 meant for SDE/AO Equivalent w.e.f. 01.01.2007 without cascading effects to any other scales. The DO Letter of CMD BSNL dated 01.05.2017 is self explanatory on the matter and hence any deviation can’t be accepted by us. He took all documentations to study the issue and assured to look into the issue and sought some time to go through it and discuss with the section. We requested him to assess the matter with fresh thought and without any preconceived notion to impart justice to the employees of BSNL.
Thereafter, we met DDG PSU-I and apprised about our meeting with Joint Secretary and held discussion with him for half an hour convincing him that the letter issued by the DoT is in violation of the BSNL Management Proposal must be rolled back. He agreed to re-look the matter once again and brought the concern of the association in the knowledge of higher up along with supported documents. He also assured to revert back further on the matter.
In the meantime our AIGETOA Team also met with the Secretary Telecom, Shri K. Rajaraman during his trip to Pune on 01.06.2022 and apprised the issue in detail and submitted memorandum. We hope that our consistent efforts will definitely bring positive result on this long pending issue of E2-E3. We assure one and all that AIGETOA is committed on the matter and it will make all out efforts to resolve the issue affecting majority of the Executives.
FOLLOW UP ON E2-E3 CONTINUES………
Team AIGETOA comprising of Shri Ravi Shil Verma Chairman, Shri Wasi Ahmad GS and Shri Vivek Kumar Singh AGS held meeting with CMD BSNL on 31.05.2022. The meeting lasted for an hour and detailed discussion took place on various issues including AGM(T)/CAO , DGM Promotions and E2-E3 Scale.
The Association expressed its strong displeasure on the unnecessary delay in execution of the Promotions in the grades of AGM(T) despite of the orders by Hon’ble Supreme Court and Executive Instructions thereafter by DoPT. CMD BSNL explained the position of management and said that he is not averse to the promotion and willing more than anyone to move ahead and that was the main reason to direct HR Team to hold discussion with major stakeholders on 12-May 2022. We said on 12th May, all associations have already expressed their concurrence in writing to management which was signed also by PGM SR as well as CLO BSNL both. When a way forward is already decided, citing same issue again and again to stop the process is totally uncalled for and management should show some confidence on its own actions instead of finding excuses out of these to avoid promotions. We said, management should move forward in line with the directions of DoPT which are very clear on the matter and there is no ambiguity at all in these instructions.
CMD BSNL informed that there is some issue in implementation of the DoPT Order in the promotion order due to divergent views of the department and welfare association on the topic of On Merit and Own Merit. The management is still working on it and is in continuous touch with the DoPT for its correct interpretation. He apprised that the management is also waiting for the execution of the order by DoPT, after which BSNL will be following the footsteps for methodology adopted for promotion. We categorically and unambiguously stated that now there is no scope for BSNL to stop the process citing these confusions, Confusions if any needs to be cleared and moved forward. We gave them our inputs on how to move forward and explained the roadmap which has potential to cover all the aspirants for the promotions and which is acceptable to other stake holders like SEWA also because we have already discussed with them on this issue. We also requested to ensure that DGM Vacancies needs to be taken into account and provisions to create more posts to put an end to all disputes. CMD BSNL told that he is open to all suggestions to end the stalemate. He said priority is to finalise the methodology first and thereafter discussion can be done on the topics like number of people to be promoted, more vacancies to be created and also on promotions from AGM to DGM grade.
We categorically and unambiguously intimated CMD BSNL that already enough delay has been made and as majority recognised association, we are answerable to executives and hence cannot accept the delay any more. Executives are in a state of maximum unrest due to unnecessary delay being created now by management. Whatever, that is right in line with the provisions of DoPT should be followed and promotion should be issued else association will have no option but to comeback with the available tools of the organisational program.
Thereafter, a workable solution was discussed in the meeting which we will be discussing with SEWA leadership to find a possible breakthrough in the promotion. Before the meeting also, we had a detailed discussion with their leadership on the possible course of actions and we shall continue with the discussion with them so that an amicable solution acceptable to all can be reached without any delay. However, at the same time we wish to reiterate that while we are not averse to this consensus building exercise but we have categorically alerted management that they now need to show the will to execute the things in the form of actions and results instead of delaying the process any further.
The issue of Pay Scale was discussed thereafter and we demanded immediate intervention by the CMD BSNL at highest level in the DoT. CMD BSNL apprised that currently DoT is completely negative on the issue despite of his consistent pursual on the matter and advised us to wait a little more for an appropriate time. He firmly assured that he wants positive resolution of the issue and that is reason, he is advising to wait a little more so that issue can be firmly resolved in the favour of young executives. We persisted with our demand and said that this is again an already delayed issue and requested him to ensure the resolution at the earliest in the best interest of the youngsters as company is now on a path to recovery and DoT will also not object on this being a motivational tool to perform better. We also requested for the implementation of E1 plus 5 increments as interim measure to all the executives provisionally recruited in E1 scale and demanded that this pending proposal in BSNL Board must now be cleared for all the new recruits.
MS RR Modification Exercise was also discussed on which CMD BSNL said that his team is working on the same and output will be visible soon. We again highlighted the delay and expressed that it seems management has lost confidence on their own actions which is in fact a very serious and worrisome trend. Association can’t allow situation to continue as such. If HR is not at all in priority list, then association will also forget the amicable path and shall come back on streets to set the things right and make HR a priority subject. If results are not achieved, then words and assurances, even from the apex doesn’t hold any value.
Friends, though CMD BSNL has expressed his firm intent on both the pay and promotion issue but seeing the slow movement and inaction on part of his team and various HR Sections, we need to remain vigilant. If within next few days, some concrete output is not reached on these issues, then association will not have any other path than to follow course of organisational actions. We request all executives, office bearers and members to remain prepared for the next struggle.
Together We Will Achieve Everything