Document Fragment View

Matching Fragments

11.37. Some of the official witnesses have also emphasised the need for parity in pay scales between IA&AD and other departments. The Controller General of Defence Accounts has stated that the nature of duties and responsibilities assigned to the auditors and section officers of the defence accounts department is an integrated on combining audit, payment, accounting, financial advice and allied functions. He has therefore suggested that, having regard to the complexity and arduous nature of the jobs, they should be given the highest scale of pay given to the corresponding staff in IA&AD. The Controller General of Accounts has stated that the statutory audit functions performed by the staff of IA&AD are in no way unique as the Internal audit functions of the civil accounts staff under his organisation include most of the audit functions performed by the statutory audit staff. Railway have pointed out that their accounts cadre had a traditional parity with audit which should be maintained considering the diversity, nature and quality of their work. The Departments of P&T have suggested that whatever pay scales are given to the accounts staff in other departments, should be given to the accounts staff in these departments also.

In 1984, the work organisation in the CAG's office was restructured and the functioning of Audit and Accounts were separated. 80% of the posts of Section Officers (Audit) were upgraded to the pre-revised scale of RS. 640-1040/- and given the Group B gazetted status. The staff who were manning the accounting functions work, however, continued in the scales of pay for the account staff. This disturbance in the parity in pay scales between the Audit and Accounts staff was not only resented in the establishment of CAG but also led to protest from the Accounts staff of the Railways. This gave rise to the demand from the Railway Account staff for re-establishing the parity in the pay scales etc. with the Audit staff in the CAG's office. The parity in the pay scale was, however, restored on the recommendations of the Commission and in pursuance thereof the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, issued instructions, among others, to the Finance Commissioner, Railways for reconstructing the Accounts staff, as per instructions extracted below:

organisations. Compared to C&AG, the Railways are `exclusive' organisation, being a multi disciplined one. Besides to our mind, there has never been complete parity between the Railway staff and the Audit/other Accounts staff in the other departments and as observed earlier, nor any such case has been made out. For instance, the Railway employees have traditionally enjoyed and zealously protected certain benefits exclusively available to them which are denied not only to other Accounts establishments but also to the generally of Central Government employees. The traditional parity has been only in the pay scale and this has been re-established w.e.f. 1.4.1987. Even the parity in the pay scale is a later development consequent to broad banding of the scale of pay by respective Pay Commissions.

Thus, the simplistic solution to classification merely based on the scales of pay might lead into various complications and might lead to administrative hierarchial imbalances in any particular organisation. Selection procedure for appointment to a particular group post and requirements of a department for classification of posts are valid considerations and any disturbance thereof would certainly lead to compounding of problems. We, therefore, cannot subscribe to the view that the scale of pay alone can be the criteria for classification of posts. Respondents have given valid and justifiable reasons as to why the Account staff in the scale of Rs. 2000-3200/- cannot be put at par with their counterparts in CAG of CGDA in respect of putting the Account staff in Group `B' posts merely on the basis of parity of pay scales.