New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) The Railway Board has urged all its zones to adhere to the proper criteria in determining seniority of loco running staff and stationary staff while preparing integrated lists for promotion from Group ‘C’ to ‘B’.
The Board’s directive follows reports that different zonal railways have adopted varying practices in determining the relative seniority between the two categories, leading to inconsistencies across zones in integrated seniority lists and court cases.
“It has recently come to the Board’s notice that Zonal Railways are following different practices in determining the relative seniority of loco running staff (i.e. loco pilots) vis-à-vis stationary staff (e.g. SSEs, JEs and CLIs) while preparing integrated seniority lists of Group ‘C’ employees for 70 per cent selection to Group ‘B’ posts,” the directive addressed to general managers of all railway zones said.
Notably, 70 per cent of the Group C employees are moved to Group B posts on the basis of established criteria by the Railway Board.
The directive added that clarification has been sought in a court case from the Board regarding why the guidelines and policies are not being followed uniformly across all railway zones.
Officials said the issue arose when different zones started following different criteria such as date of entry into service, length of service and date of appointment in the current grade while preparing a common seniority list of loco running and stationary staff for the 70 per cent selection quota to Group B posts.
“Employees with similar service length are being treated differently across zones, leading to unfair advantages or disadvantages in promotion,” a senior railway official said.
He added, “According to the criteria established by the Railway Board, the seniority of loco pilots (express driver, sr. passenger driver, passenger driver, etc.) is based on the date of entry into Level 6 (pay grade of Rs 5,500–9,000). Accordingly, those entering this scale earlier are treated as senior to those who join later.” Similarly, the seniority of stationary staff such as senior section engineers (SSEs), chief loco inspectors (CLIs), etc., is based on the date of entry into Level 7 (pay grade of Rs 4,600).
“So, while preparing the integrated seniority list, loco running staff are first arranged based on their Level 6 entry dates, and stationary staff are then interpolated into the same list based on their Level 7 entry dates,” the official said.
“For instance, if three loco pilots entered Level 6 in 2010, 2011 and 2012, they would be arranged in seniority order based on their dates of entry, followed by stationary staff based on their respective dates of entry into Level 7,” he added.
“The Zonal Railways/PUs(Production Units) are advised to ensure uniformity while preparing integrated seniority lists of Group ‘C’ employees for promotion to Group ‘B’ posts in all selections to be notified henceforth. However, past cases where selections have already been finalised or notified need not be reopened,” the Board’s letter added. PTI JP PRK
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