A pitch prepared by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for the Indian Railways suggests that the government now wants to virtually abolish cadre posts in the Railways’ system.
The union minister expressed his desire to open up all posts of the rank of Additional Secretary and upwards in Indian Railways to all eight railway services.
The announcement has been described as a “disruptive move” by the cadre-controlling officers as it would end seniority of many officers.
Member (Traffic) and Member (Traction) – cadre-controlling authorities of the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) and Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE), respectively objected to the proposal on the spot, a report published in The Indian Express said.
Railway department officials told Express that an officer from one ‘specialised’ service is neither trained nor mandated to do the job meant for an officer of another ‘specialised’ service.
“It is obvious that an accounts service officer cannot head a department meant for the mechanical engineering cadre and vice versa. This is a hare-brained idea,” said a senior officer.
The report mentions that: “Civil servants tend to join service at an older age bracket than their engineering counterparts, as the mode of intake for the two is different. That is why, if a common seniority is applied, engineers would tend to emerge higher, leaving the civil servants behind — traditionally a cause of discontent among civil servants in Railways.”
Various cadre-specific officers’ associations have said that those who would lose seniority would go to courts.
The pitch is based on a Bibek Debroy Committee report on Indian Railways which had advocated merger of cadres to address “departmentalism”, the government said. It is also deliberating turning the Member (Staff) post into a cadre post for Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS), the report said.
Understanding post distinctions in Indian Railways Bureaucratic System
The Additional Secretary-rank posts are the Principal Heads of Departments (PHoDs), who head each vertical in zones based on specialisation. The Principal Chief Engineer position is for officers of Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), who are inducted through the government engineering service exam. Officers such as General Managers in zones, a Higher Administrative Grade-Plus (HAG+) post is below the rank of Secretary but higher than Additional Secretary.
Principal Chief Operations Manager is manned by an Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) officer inducted through the UPSC civil services exam.
There are similar verticals for accounts manned by Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) officers and so on. There are similar Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) posts for each cadre in the ministry looking after specialised functions.
“The railways’ group A services include traffic, accounts, personnel in the civil services cadre; mechanical, electrical, civil, signalling, stores in the engineering services cadre; and the RPF, which is also a civil service cadre,” the report said.
Board Member posts, except Chairman and Member (Staff), are all ‘en-cadred’ posts. And also department heads are en-cadred posts based on specialisation.
The specialisation for running a department has been necessary for the Railways till now. If it goes the way it has been pitched many would lose their seniority, while many others would supersede their seniors in services to bag posts that they otherwise would not have got.
Cadre-post officers say the Bibek Debroy committee had advocated the creation of two services — managerial and technical — and did not recommend merging of in-service, mid-career top-posts into one seniority list.
The minister is learnt to have told them that they could communicate their views during internal deliberation.