Assured Career Progression – promotion problems for babus – Modified ACP – Pay Commission recommends
Other than the low pay, what causes concern among many government servants in the Group B, C and D cadres is the abject lack of promotions. In the Central Excise Department, one who joins as inspector retires as a Superintendent with just one promotion in life, while the one who joins as Assistant Commissioner will surely retire as Chief Commissioner with five promotions. This huge gap is not really palatable. The Fifth Pay Commission had recommended a scheme called ACP – Assured Career Progression Scheme, under which an officer gets the next higher grade of pay if he does not get a promotion after 12 years and 24 years of service.
The Sixth Pay Commission says, The pay structure has been so devised as to provide a decent entry grade and smooth career progression without any stagnation. The existing Assured Career Progression Scheme which provides two time-bound promotions in a span of 24 years has also been retained in a modified manner. Running pay bands and Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme will ensure smooth progression for 24 years. Even after 24 years, running pay bands will ensure that no one stagnates.
The Sixth Pay Commission has recommended that the existing scheme of Assured Career Progression may, in future, be continued with two financial upgradations being allowed as at present with the following modifications:-
i) The scheme will also be available to all posts belonging to Group A - whether isolated or not. Organised Group A services will, however, not be covered under the scheme.
ii) Benefit of pay fixation available at the time of normal promotion shall be allowed at the time of financial upgradations under the scheme. Thus, an increase of 2.5% of pay and grade pay shall be available as financial upgradation under the scheme.
iii) The grade pay shall change at the time of financial upgradation under this scheme. The grade pay given at the time of financial upgradation under ACPS will be the immediate next higher grade pay in the hierarchy of revised pay bands and grade pay being recommended. Thus, grade pay at the time of financial upgradation under ACPS can, in certain cases where regular promotion is not between two successive grades, be different than what is available at the time of regular promotion. In such cases, the higher grade pay attached to the next promotion post in the hierarchy of the concerned cadre/ organization will be given only at the time of regular promotion.
iv) Financial upgradation under the scheme will be available whenever a person has spent 12 years continuously in the same grade. However, not more than two financial upgradations shall be given in the entire career as was provided in the extant scheme.
The scheme with aforesaid modifications shall be called modified ACPS and will ensure suitable progression uniformly to all the employees in Central Government.