Saturday 27 September 2014

CONTEMPT OF COURT BY NDGBGOA/OFT BRANCH ON CADRE REVIEW OF JWM

 CONTEMPT OF COURT BY NDGBGOA/OFTRICHY BRANCH


IN THE CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL AT CHENNAI
C.A. No.                       of 2014
In
O.A.No.   871      of 2013

1.  National Defence Group “B” Gazetted Officers Association,
     Ordnance Factory Trichy Branch
     Tiruchirappalli, TamilNadu - 620016
     Represented by its Secretary
     K.K. Velayudhan (Per.No.891402)
     Junior Works Manager/ Ordnance Factory,
     Tiruchirappalli, TamilNadu – 620016
2.  J.Gowrishankar (Per No. 891362)
      Junior Works Manager, Ordnance Factory ,
      Tiruchirappalli, TamilNadu – 620016                                                                   ...  Applicants                                                      
- Vs -
     
1.    Mr. R K Mathur, (Additional Charge)
       THE SECRETARY
       Ministry of Defence,
       Deptt. Of Defence Prodn. & Supplies,
       South Block, New Delhi.

2.    Mr. Ratan P Watal
       THE SECRETARY
       Ministry of Finance, Deptt. of Expenditure,
       New Delhi.

3.    Mr. MC Bansal
       THE CHAIRMAN
       Ordnance Factory Board
       10-A, Shahid Khudiram Bose Road
        Kolkata – 700 001.
                                                                                               
4.    Mr. B P Babu
       THE GENERAL MANAGER
       Ordnance Factory, Tiruchi,
       Tiruchirappalli
       TamilNadu – 620016                                            ... Respondents



PETITION FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT – CIVIL
The above named Applicants begs to state as follows: -
1.Particulars of the Applicants: -
i.      Name of the Applicants:
1.  National Defence Group “B” Gazetted      
     Officers Association,  Ordnance Factory
     Trichy Branch, Tiruchirappalli,
     TamilNadu - 620016
      Represented by its Secretary
      K.K. Velayudhan (Per.No.891402)
      Junior Works Manager/ Ordnance  
      Factory,  Tiruchirappalli,
      TamilNadu – 620016

2.   J.Gowrishankar (Per No. 891362)
      Junior Works Manager,
      Ordnance Factory , Tiruchirappalli,
      TamilNadu – 620016
ii.     Name of Father / Husband:
iii.    Age of the Applicants:
iv.  Office in which employed and
       Designation:
2.     Particulars of the Respondents: -
i.     Name of the Respondents:
ii.    Father’s name:
iii.   Age
iv. Office in which employed and
     designation   



1.    Mr. R K Mathur, (Additional Charge)
       THE SECRETARY
       Ministry of Defence,
       Deptt. Of Defence Prodn. & Supplies,
       South Block, New Delhi.

2.    Mr. Ratan P Watal
       THE SECRETARY
       Ministry of Finance, Deptt. of Expenditure,
       New Delhi.
                                                                   
                                                                  Contd.....3
Page-3

3.    Mr.MC Bansal
       THE CHAIRMAN
       Ordnance Factory Board
       10-A, Shahid Khudiram Bose Road
        Kolkata – 700 001.

4.    Mr. B P Babu
       THE GENERAL MANAGER
       Ordnance Factory,
       Tiruchirappalli
       Tamil Nadu – 620016.             


1.            The Applicants submit that they are the Applicants herein as well as in the main Original Application and as such they are well aware of the facts of the case stated below.
2.            The Applicants filed the above OA for issuing suitable orders directing the 3rd respondent to pass orders on merits on the representation of the applicants dated 09-06-2012 and 24-11-2012 on the grievances of their members regarding the Cadre Review of Junior Works Managers in the 3rd respondent Ordnance Factory Board, if necessary, by providing the 1st Applicants an opportunity of hearing on their grievances. The 1st Applicant is the Secretary of National Defence Group “B” Gazetted Officers Association, Ordnance Factory Tiruchirappalli Branch, and to pass such other or further order or orders in the interest of justice.  The applicants also filed an M.A.No.356/2013 to join together and file the above O.A. by them.
3.            The 1st Applicant is the Secretary, National Defence Group “B” Gazetted Officers Association,  Ordnance Factory Tiruchirappalli Branch the 2nd Applicants is its member representing all the other members of the association as the members of the association is having  common grievances as ventilated in the above O.A.     The respondents failed to look into the genuine background of the.

applicants on the basis of their representation dated 09.06.2012 and 24.11.2012 as it affected the working condition and monetary benefits and future prospects of the cadre.  The respondents having re-designated the cadre in 1994 from Non-Gazetted to Gazetted status but reducing their pay-scale status that was prevailing till that period above the group “A” entrants pay-scale became highly arbitrary and not sustainable. 
4.            The respondents have maintained an erroneous SRO for JWMs in which the status of JWMs has been shown as “ministerial” which means clerical staffs, while the cadre is originally discharging “managerial” duties.  The Direct recruitment to the cadre of JWM is made through UPSC with an essential qualification Degree in Engineering/ technology but the respondents maintaining this “inferior” status for JWM caused to implement lower pay status for the cadre by the recent 5th & 6th CPCs. Misguided by the above position, the 6th CPC also recommended merging of this “Managerial” Gazetted cadre along with supervisory cadre of Non-Gazetted group. The respondents  In their report dated 27.08.2014 submitted to 7th CPC  vide No.02/7th CPC/Q/PCC wherein vide para 5.15.2 agrees that “the post of JWM was wrongly treated as one of the supervisory levels.  But The fact is that JWM do perform the managerial role at the shop floor and offices in OFs”. The 6th CPC was implemented with effect from 01.01.2006 now the respondents come forward and revealing the truth that the merging was wrongly done. The applicants are morally affected and also put to financial loss from 01.01.2006 onwards, the effect date of 6th CPC, and thus the applicants approach this court of law for justice. The respondent in their report submitted to 6th CPC as mentioned above vide para 5.15.3 also agrees that “ Further ,the merger of 5010 numbers of Asst.Foreman with JWM has adversely affected the promotional prospects of JWMS” and vide para 5.15.4  of the report the respondent proposes to create two posts in between JWM and AWM  such as Section Manager and Sr.Section Manager. The applicant  submit that the above creation of posts (2746 in PBII with GP 5400/- and 1000posts in PBIII with GP5400) is a unilateral decision by OFB, neither they have           

considered to increase the AWM posts as  warranted as per DOPT norms and as per the recommendation of Cadre Review Committee, nor they have considered the suggestions in the proposal submitted by  the applicants Association.
5.            The applicants further submit that their organization has 41 Ordnance Factories spread all over India which is controlled by Ordnance Factory Board, functioning under Ministry of Defence, comprising of the various category of employees as elaborately stated in the above OA. The applicants submit that there has been no change ever happened in respect of the structure of other   cadres, other than that of applicants in the past, as any change / cadre review is decided after ample discussions in various JCM forums for those cadres.  Similarly the carrier prospects of Group “A” officers are being taken care by submitting timely proposals directly to DOPT/MOD as desired by them time to time being of organizational executive capacities rested upon themselves.  Whereas the applicants are having no such platforms of JCM forums and their proposals are framed unilaterally by the respondents without considering the suggestions of the affected cadre’s Associations and forwarded directly to DOPT/MOD and not being dealt with proper attention or discussed with the affected cadre and often the proposals are designed as per their whims and fancy for whom the applicants cadre is the feeder category and the same attitude is still continued by the 3rd respondent i.e OFB.  As per Recruitment Rule and SRO 227 of AWM (Asst. Works Manager, which is an entry post to Group “A” cadre), 50% posts are filled through promotions from the applicants cadre of JWM and 50% through Direct Recruitment through UPSC, being the case, the present strength of IOFS consists of  only 326 promotes out of the total strength of 1717.   Also the Respondents, consider JWM cadre as “Managerial Cadre” as far as the duties and functioning are concerned in order to share their responsibilities, but maintains an SRO/RR as “Ministerial” on record, which is different from actual, there by misguiding the MOD the 1st Respondent, so that the carrier prospects are decided by MOD or CPC based on the above erroneous status.
                                                                                                                                                                            The UPSC vide their advertisement no 08/2013 dated  8-14 June 2013 through Employment News has mentioned Duties of JWM as follows:
“DUTIES:  A Senior Group ‘B’ (Gazetted) post having duties of managerial nature.  A JWM is required to work as a Head of Section/Workshop/Office or a Group in the Workshop/Section/Office and be fully responsible for proper working of the Group allotted to him.  For this duties and responsibilities, he is to report to Divisional Officer who is a Group ‘A’ Officer”.  From the above, it is evident  that  the  Respondent  treated  the  JWM cadre as “Managerial” cadre.
6.            The applicants, without having any platform for constitutional representation, their grievances were never heard by the respondents and their STATUTORY RULES AND ORDERS (SRO) and RECRUITMENT RULES (RR) were framed by the respondents without considering to the merits of the cadre in respect of duties & responsibilities  and their status were maintained as “Ministerial” and “Supervisory” while the duties of JUNIOR WORKS MANAGER’s are of “Managerial” nature with essential Qualification as Engineering Degree as UPSC selection criteria for DR to the post.  The applicants further submit that the 6th CPC, referring to the above erroneous SRO/RR, recommended for Merging of JWM (Group ‘B’ Gazetted) with supervisory cadre of Asst. Foreman (Non-Gazetted) which is now realized by the respondent as “wrongly done”.
7.  The merging of the Gazetted post of JWM with the Non-Gazetted post of Assistant Foreman(AF) which was implemented by order dated 04-02-2011, but till date the SRO provisions to that effect has not been formulated leading to adverse impact on the career prospects of the JWMs.  After merging the total strength of JWM is 7694 Nos against the pre-merged strength of 2764. This abnormal ratio warrants the increase in the number of posts in the immediate promotional avenue available for JWM i.e. AWM.                                                                                 
8. The existing ratio between JWM & AWM promotional quota is 7694 : 185 (40 : 1) This is phenomenally abnormal. The steepness causes frustration and adversely affects the effectiveness of

the organisation at a critical level.  Legally it is violation of Article 14 & Article 16 of the Constitution as adequate promotional opportunities do not exist. Viewed from any angle the ratio between the  JWM and AWM(PROMOTEES) is required to be changed. As per DOPT norms it is 3-5 times of higher grade in case of selection method of promotion and by that norm the required number of AWM posts is  to be increased to 1200 at a minimum for promotion quota alone.  In spite of the above  position, the respondents while accepting merging as a mistake, never showed any interest  to increase the strength of AWM.
9.            The applicants further state that the Govt. Has ordered to conduct cadre review to all departments in the year 2011 vide DOPT order No.35034/9/2010 (D) Dated 10th February 2011 but till date the Cadre Review has not been finalised by the respondents. This is because the applicants have not been provisioned with any representation in JCM and there is no need for the respondents to answer the applicants with responsibility as such the applicants carrier prospects  are at the mercy and whims of the Group “A” IOFS Cadre, who is the cadre controlling authority and every proposal for cadre review/SRO amendment etc are proposed unilaterally without considering the suggestions put forth by the affected cadre of JWM. The applicants therefore made their first representation to the respondents on 09-06-2012 followed by a detailed representation on 24.11.2012 and various memorandum by their Associations from all over India  with legitimate back grounds explaining how they are entitled to the cadre review as pleaded by them with facts and figures as elaborately stated therein.  The injustice borne to the applicants cadre was in 1994 (During 4th CPC) was elaborately stated in paras 4.8 to 4.13 of the Original Application filed by the applicants, which they crave leave of this Hon’ble Tribunal to read it as part and parcel of this contempt application in the interest of justice.
10.          The applicants submit  that the present position of their cadre’s degradation imposed on   them gradually over a period of years by the respondents, who were empowered to formulate and


Propose  Recruitment Rules/SRO, without having any reference with respect to duties, functions,
   
responsibilities and various criteria like promotional avenues, the proposals of the affected cadre of applicants and also by maintaining erroneous SRO, RR etc., were intentionally creating adversities to this cadre for the last 20 years since 1994 and brought this cadre to a most deteriorated condition in respect of pay and status, while other lower cadres in other departments have upgraded lower posts to higher status through proper cadre reviews ie even from NGO status to Group ‘A’ gazetted status, (Hindi Officer, Asst. Nursing Superintendent in CGHS). The applicants Association NDGBGOA have submitted various memorandums requesting the respondents to consider the suggestions while formulating  the cadre review, and to take into consideration  the Govt. Scheme of ACP/MACPs  as a minimum benchmark. But the respondent has made a unilateral proposal which if implemented will have further adverse effect on the cadre.  Hence the applicants crave to pray  the honourable Tribunal for the followings:
i)                    To intervene and direct the respondents to complete the cadre review by considering the suggestions of the affected cadre such as, to take the Govt. scheme of ACP/MACP as bench mark for the cadre review, and to fix the JWMs pay Band/Grade pay above AWM similar to the position prevailed 20 years before i.e. in the year 1994 and to effect the Historical hierarchy. The carrier prospects of the applicants had been kept stagnated intentionally for long period due to the “merging” of JWM Gazetted cadre with Asst.Foreman NGO cadre which the respondent realises now as “wrongly done”. Due to this merger, the pay of a JWM, a managerial cadre has come down than that of an industrial employee who was 3 to 4 stage below JWM which position never existed till 5th CPC. It is pertinent to mention here that the Apex court has also observed that the pay of  supervisor cannot be lesser than that of a person being supervised. The Applicants submit that the  injustice due to merging is borne  by the cadre from 01.01.2006 and hence  the relief also is  to be allowed to them from 01.01.2006.

As is the case of cadre review of Industrial Employees which was implemented already in the year 2012 with retrospective effect from 01.01.2006 by the respondents.
ii)                   To rectify the erroneous entries in the existing SRO/RR of JWM and implement the present cadre review with respect to functional requirement of the organisation. The respondents has          
“ merged”  the applicants’  cadre of “Managerial” nature with Supervisory cadre by maintaining an erroneous  SRO with “ministerial” status.Due to the  “merging” the number of JWM post have substantially increased to more than three  times  of  the  previous  strength  and  thus  the present  cadre  review  should  increase  the numbers of   promotional post of AWMs proportionately. The 3rd respondent have not yet increased the number of AWM post proportionately  as per the norms of DOPT and also as mentioned by the cadre review committee, hence the applicants pray this honourable court to direct the 3rd respondent to increase the promotional post proportionately and to implement the promotions as per SRO 227. 
iii)           To direct the respondent to ensure shop floor Training to all the Direct Recruit AWMs and to conduct written and practical test at the end of the probation period as stipulated in the SRO 227 of AWMs, as their practical exposure during their training period at NADP Ambajhari is nil and the stipulations in the SRO 227 is not being followed and hence the competency of the officer is not made accountable.
iv)           The present cadre review should consider the recommendation of “Residency period stipulated for each post by the 6th CPC as per the merit and duties and functions of the cadres, including the benefit of Non Functional up Gradation as done for Group “A” in case of non availability of vacancies for promotion .
11.          The respondents, inspite of the best efforts by the applicants, have not passed any orders on the merits of  their representations which greatly prejudiced them.    Under the above circumstances


the applicants have approached this Hon’ble Tribunal by filing O.A.No.871 of 2013 to get redress of their grievances in the interest of justice.  
12.          The Applicants submit  that this Hon’ble Tribunal was pleased to pass final orders in the above O.A.No.871 of 2013  on 18-06-2013 while deciding the M.A.No.356 of 2013 filed for joining  together to file a single OA and directing the 3rd respondent to consider and dispose of the representation of the applicants dated 09-06-2012 and 24-11-2012 after giving an opportunity of hearing to the 1st Applicants, in accordance with law, within a period of two months from the date of receipt of copy of the order.  On behalf of the respondents Mr. S. Muthuswamy, Senior Standing Counsel for Central Government took  notice at the time of disposal of the O.A.
13.             The Applicants submit that the copy of the order was made ready by the registry   on      03-07-2013 and delivered to their counsel thereafter.  The respondents Counsel also received the copy of the order subsequent to which in turn should have been communicated to the respondents. The Applicants sent to the 3rd respondent a representation dated 20-12-2013 along with the copy of the order of this Hon’ble Tribunal made in the above OA.  The Applicants also communicated the order to the 3rd respondent   along with their letter dated 20/22-12-2013 through proper channel, namely through the 4th respondent, which was received and acknowledged in his office on 23-12-2013.  The Applicants also approached the 3rd and 4th respondents in person on several occasions and requested them to consider their suggestions on cadre review (submitted memorandum vide dated 20-12-2013) and pass appropriate favourable orders on their grievances and to propose a meaningful cadre review.     The Applicants submit that even after the lapse of more than eleven months the respondents have not passed any orders on the representation of the Applicants dated 09-06-2012 and 24-11-2012 and they were not officially called for any hearing on their grievances.  The applicants are constantly put to great mental agony and their working psychology is badly

affected by the ill treatment received by them at the hands of the respondents in their work.  The Applicants submit that the act of the Respondents herein in not obeying the orders of this Hon’ble Tribunal amounts to flouting the same.  The Respondents are duty bound to obey the directions issued by this Hon’ble Tribunal and their contemptuous act of not implementing the same is actionable under section 17 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 and punishable under section 4 of the Contempt of Courts Act.
14.          The Applicants therefore pray that this Hon’ble Tribunal may be pleased to punish the Respondents for contempt of Court for not obeying the orders of this Hon’ble Tribunal made in M.A.No.356/2013 and O.A.No.871 of 2013 dated 18-06-2013 and direct the Respondents to pass orders on merit on the representations of the Applicants and pass such other or further order or orders in the circumstances of the case and in the interest of justice.
Dated at Chennai this the 28th day of August 2014.


Counsel for Applicants                                                                                                   Applicants