Memorandum on bonus-payment to G.D.S employees - Ceiling of Rs.3500/-

Dear Comrades,

Tele-Fax: 23697701

ALL INDIA POSTAL EXTRA DEPARTMENTAL EMPLOYEES UNION

(Central Head Quarter)

First Floor, Post Office Building, Padamnagar, Delhi 110007

President:                       D.N. Giri

General Secretary           S.S. Mahadevaiah

GDS/CHQ/10/4/2008                                                                 Dated: 11.01.2013

To

 Shri Alok Saxena Ji,

Chairman,

Committee on Ceiling for payment of Bonus to GDS

Dak Bhawan,

New Delhi-110001

Sub:-  Memorandum on the Ceiling on emoluments for payment of bonus to GDS.

Sir,

            We are submitting a short memorandum on the subject for applying the same Ceiling on emoluments of GDS employees also as to other employees.

The committee may kindly taken in consideration our views on  the subject.

            With regards.

                                                                                                                        Yours faithfully,

                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                        Sd/-

                                                                                                                        (S.S. Mahadevaiah)

General Secretary

Memorandum on bonus-payment to G.D.S employees - Ceiling of Rs.3500/-

1.    The concept of bonus is based on the theme of deferred payment. The amount of bonus to be paid is quantified in terms of emoluments for the Justified days-in the department of Posts-on the basis of productivity for the particular year.

2.    The Government, however, have put a ceiling on the amount of  emoluments without any discrimination between the lower pay or the higher pay drawn by different class of employees, who are engaged in the productivity. The same ceiling applies to the employees drawing the lowest wages as to the employees who draws the hightest wage among the eligible employees.

3.    The concept of G.D.S service, especially after the Supreme Court Judgement in Rajamma’s case, has undergone basic appreciative change and improvement. The concept of consolidated allowance has yielded place to the concept of Pay-Scales and increments. This is a rights step in the right direction. Similarly the ceiling on wages for payment of bonus has seen marked improvement to correctly correspond to the payment of Bonus theory.

4.    The Ceiling on emoluments for Computation of bonus is a different matter from the formula for measuring productivity. The ceiling on emoluments for payment of bonus is neither based on the thesis of amount of  emoluments drawn by any employee nor on the thesis of productivity element. This is altogether a different factor from formula for bonus for measuring productivity and emoluments of the employee.

5.    Based, correctly, on this theme the same ceiling applied to all shades of employees till 2007 when the ceiling was Rs.2500/- Even when the ceiling was raised to Rs. 3500/-. in 2008t he same ceiling was applied for all including G.D.S for one year. Thereafter, for reasons not very apparent the ceiling for the G.D.S employee was reduced from Rs. 3500/- to Rs.2500/- unilaterally and without any opportunity to this union place its point of view in the matter.

6.    The Nataraja Murti Committee has tried to confuse the matter, relating it to, sometime casual labourers and sometime, to bonus formula which is out of Context. The Supreme Court, in the Rajamma case, have categorical ruled that the E.D. employees as he was then called is neither a casual worker nor an agent and is a holder of Civil Post under the state. Hence relating the G.D.S employees to casual workers is neither proper nor Justified. It is further improper and unjustified as also irrelevant to relate the issue of Ceiling to the productivity formula as the two are different elements.

7.    Several Benches of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) as Patna, Chandigarh, Madras and Ernakulum have recognized the Justification of the same Ceiling on emoluments being applied to all classes of employees including the GDS employees and have handed down Judgements to that effect.

 

Conclusion

It thus follows that there is every Justification for the same ceiling on emoluments for the sake of payment of bonus being applied to the GDS employees as to other employees. This is because the emoluments of the GDS employees are higher than the ceiling of Rs.3500/-. Hence there is every Justification for applying the ceiling of Rs.3500/- to the emoluments of G.D.S employees also at present as is applied to other employees.

  Sd/

(S.S. Mahadevaiah)

General Secretary