CBEC, CBDT Members (to get Special Secretary Status): Chairman
Finally the Government has accepted the VI Pay Commission's recommendation to give the status and pay of Special secretary to the Members of the CBEC and CBDT. Now they don't need to worry about some forest conservator in Haryana (with hardly any forest) getting more pay than the CBDT/CBEC Member.
Babudom is all about rank and status. I once committed the blunder of writing to the Registrar General of a High Court and I addressed him as Registrar (General). He was furious. He explained to me that he was Registrar General as in Director General and not a Registrar with ‘General' in brackets.
Coming back to our Special Secretaries, there is no real cadre called Special Secretaries – either you are a Secretary or you are not; there is nothing special about it. But somewhere down the history of Babudom, the IAS did not like lesser cadres like IRS getting a full Secretary job – so came the ‘Special Secretary' – the only thing special about him was that the IAS did not treat him as a full Secretary. The whole idea seems to be to convey the message that – he is a Secretary alright, but he is not from the IAS and so we call him a Special Secretary.
The Railway Board Chairman is said to be an ex-officio Principal Secretary to the Government. Now what is this “Principal Secretary”? In Central Government, there is no post of Principal Secretary – except one for the PMO. Now the PMO's Principal Secretary draws pay equal to the Cabinet Secretary, the other so called ex-officio Principal Secretary and Chairman of the Railway Board gets only the pay of the Secretary.
So the situation is like this – The Special Secretary is almost a Secretary and gets the salary of the Secretary, the Principal secretary is almost a Cabinet Secretary, but will get the pay of the Cabinet Secretary if he is in the PMO and that of a Secretary if he is the Chairman of the Railway Board.
Confusing?
This is what the VI Pay Commission recommended,
The post of Chairman shall continue to exist in this pay band and the status of Chairman as well as Members, Central Board of Direct Taxes will be that of Special Secretary to the Government of India with the Chairman, CBDT occupying the position of first amongst equals. Since no post in the Board is encadred, the Government should encadre some of the post(s) in the revised apex scale of Rs.80000 in CBDT in IRS which will ensure that this service, that has largest number of officers amongst the entire organized Group A services, also has some post(s) in the apex scale.
And of course this applies to CBEC also. The Government has now accepted this recommendation and now both the Revenue Boards will have Members and Chairmen of equal rank and pay! But this is not what the service had demanded.
As per the Pay Commission report, “ The service has demanded functional and financial autonomy on par with that available in Railway Board for CBEC. Status of Principal Secretary along with pay of Cabinet Secretary has been demanded for the post of Chairperson, CBEC with the status of Secretary to Government of India being demanded for Members, CBEC.”
The Pay Commission was not impressed and observed, “Work entrusted to CBEC is revenue collection which is one of the sovereign functions. The Board cannot, therefore, be equated to the Railway Board which primarily discharges functions of a commercial nature. As such, complete functional and financial autonomy to CBEC is not justified.”
So, no Railway Status for CBDT and CBEC, but pay – YES.
Now are the Railways happy?
Look at the Pay Commission report,
Presently, the pay scale of Chairman as well as other Members of Railway Board is Rs.26000 (fixed). Traditionally, the status of Chairman has been that of Principal Secretary to the Government of India. Railway Ministry has proposed that the pay scale of Chairman, Railway Board should be brought on par with that of the Cabinet Secretary viz. Rs.30, 000 (fixed).
It is observed that a similar demand was made before the Fifth Central Pay Commission who however recommended that the Chairman should be considered as first amongst equals. The Fifth CPC had, accordingly, recommended that pay scale of all Members of the Railway Board including the Chairman should continue to be Rs.26000 (fixed). This recommendation of the Fifth Central pay Commission is justified. The Commission, accordingly, recommends no change in the status or pay scale attached to the post of Chairman, Railway Board.
Finally this is what emerges:-
The Railway Board Chairman is a Principal Secretary, but does not get the salary of the Cabinet Secretary, but gets only that of a Secretary.
Members of the Railway Board are equal to secretaries and get the same salary as Secretaries and their Chairman.
Chairmen, CBDT/CBEC are of the rank of Special secretary – gets the salary of secretary.
With so much confusion, can there be any work?