The Deputy Director General (A), All India Radio, Akashwani Bhavan, Parliament Street, New Delhi. Sub: Proposal of Cadre review in r/o Subordinate Administrative Cadre

of All India Radio & Doordarshan. Sir, Enclosed please find herewith two sets of proposal suggested by the National Council of Akashvani Doordarshan administrative Staff Association pertaining to the cadre review of subordinate cadre of Administrative Staff for further necessary action at your end. With regards.

Yours faithfully, Encl.: As above

(SANGAM THAKUR) General Secretary

ADASA MEMORANDUM

SUBMITTED TO

CADRE REVIEW COMMITTEE

CONSTITUTED BY

PRASAR BHARATI

The cadre review of the Administrative employees in All India Radio and

Doordarshan was last done in the year 1991-92 which submitted certain proposals.

After that no further review was conducted even though there are instructions that

cadre review must be conducted every 5 years. In the meanwhile the organization

has undergone a change. In the light of the change in the structure of the

organization the following proposals are submitted in the interest of strengthening

the administration as also to improve the career prospects of Administrative

employees.

I. BACKGROUND

In All India Radio and Doordarshan, at the Apex level there are Directorates

of All India Radio and Doordarshan which function as attached offices of the

Ministry of I & B and at the field level there are All India Radio stations (around

200) and Doordarshan Kendras numbering around (60) and the related

administrative offices numbering around 275 spread all over the country. The total

number of employees working in All India Radio and Doordarshan numbering

around 45000 and there are more than a hundred cadres. The total budget of the

organization is in the range of 2000 crores. The annual revenue of AIR and

Doordarshan is around 1150 crores. The Administrative employees in All India

Radio and Doordarshan are working in the Stations / Kendras / Offices at the field

level and are performing the core functions in Personnel and Financial

Administration.

In personal administration from recruitment to retirement, all the aspects

covering the career of the employees are looked after by the administrative

employees. Maintenance of establishment, i.e keeping watch over the sanctioned

strength, creation or abolition of posts, cadre Management of over 100 different

cadres, giving promotion and other service matters of the employees, settling the

retirement benefits of the employees are all looked after by them.

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In financial Management entire accounting functions are done by the

administrative employees. The total budget of the Prasar Bharati is in the range of

Rs.2000 crores per annum. Keeping a watch over the payments to see whether the

expenditure and payments are made according to rules and Directorate

instructions, accounting them and sending periodical returns to PAO, Directorate

etc. are done by the administrative employees. Moreover after coming into being

of Prasar Bharati cash is transferred to all the field units instead of LOC system and

this has put more responsibility and burden on the administrative cadres in financial

Management.

II. NEED FOR CHANGE IN APPROACH

After the conversion of Akashvani and Doordarshan into Prasar Bharati,

increased emphasis is given to revenue generation. Presently the revenue

generation is in the range of around 1150 crores. However there is a big gap

between the revenue earned and revenue realized which shows that revenue

recovery mechanism is to be strengthened.

Moreover with the conversion of AIR and Doordarshan into autonomous body

the method of bookkeeping has undergone a change. Commercial accounting

system has been introduced in tune with the changing needs of accounting and this

calls for new skills among administrative employees and the work burden has also

increased. The management of funds at the apex level as well as at the Station /

Kendra / Offices shall be major task of Administration.

As far as the two Directorates are concerned they function as Headquarters

of Akashvani and Doordarshan respectively. As long as the media organizations

were Government departments both the Directorate functioned as attached offices

of the Ministry of I & B with a similar cadre structure. As a result there is no

organic link between the Directorate and field offices. However with the coming

into being of Prasar Bharati there is no need to maintain a division/distinction

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between the Directorates and the field offices in the matter of cadre structure and

posting of employees. Rather a unified cadre structure and interchanging of

employees between Directorate and field offices shall be beneficial for the

department with the employees working in field offices having first hand knowledge

and feel of the nature of work and problems can contribute to the efficiency of

overall administration. Already posting of administrative employees on

experimental basis both in the Directorate and the Prasar Bharati Secretariat have

yielded satisfactory results.

It is a known fact that in the last few years with the entry of many private

players in the Broadcasting functions, the Broadcasting scenario in the country has

radically changed. This aspect has changed the way these departments have been

functioning so far. With enhanced stress on revenue generation and financial

discipline, there has to be matching effort and support from the Administrative

employees as well. Thus the key to fulfilling the objectives of the organization lies

in creation of properly structured administrative cadres with attractive pay

packages that would motivate them to perform competitively.

III. NEED FOR CADRE REVIEW

Additionally it is also to be stated that in order to improve the career

progression of employees, which is a vital element in the cadre management it is

laid down that the departments have to order periodical Cadre Review. However,

the policy of cadre review has not been followed uniformly by all Ministries/

Departments.

Particularly in All India Radio & Doordarshan the cadre review for the

Administrative employees has not been conducted so far. This has created

distortion in Cadre structure in this department. Therefore in the light of the factual

positions and principles enunciated above the proposals for cadre restructuring are

submitted below.

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The present cadre structure of administrative employees in Prasar Bharati

was devised decades ago, common to all central Government departments. The

sanctioned strength in each cadre was also decided at a time when this media

organization had a nominal presence and was in the process of of growth. But even

after AIR and DD attained their peak growth in terms of infrastructure spread, area

coverage and resultant increase in functions the cadre structure and strength of

administrative employees have not been reviewed. Therefore there is an urgent

need to restructure the cadre to suit the current needs of the organisation.

IV. PROPOSALS FOR CADRE-RESTRUCTURING:

A. The LDC is the starting cadre in the administrative hierarchy. It may be

mentioned here that the cadre of LDC is proposed to be phased out in the proposed

cadre structure for the following reasons:

The cadre of LDC has outlived its utility in the modern day administration set

up. When the LDC cadre was introduced, only certain basic functions were

entrusted such as dispatch, typing, diarizing, maintaining certain registers etc.

which needed very minimum skill and capacity. However with the growth of

organization the need for more personnel competent enough to perform complex,

onerous and multifunctional work increased.

However with constraints in creations of posts the requirements was met

with entrusting such jobs to LDC also. The current thinking is that the LDC cadre

can be done away with and at the same time the strength of the immediate higher

cadre, i.e the level of UDC may be increased. This is the position even in major

Departments such as Postal, Income Tax etc. While even in Govt. Departments

which normally function on bureaucratic lines the situation is like this, it is needless

to say that in the Electronic Media organisations like AIR and Doordarshan which

has to function on commercial principles in a highly competitive atmosphere, the

need to improve the quality of staff component is very high. It may be pertinent to

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mention here that a majority of the incumbents in the post of LDC are graduates

and above. In the light of the reasons mentioned above the following proposals

are placed.

a) that the post of UDC may be redesignated as Asst.Manager and

granted the revised pay scale corresponding to the scale 5000-8000 pre

revised. The educational qualification may be fixed as Degree with

computer skills.

b) that the cadre of LDC may be phased out and all the incumbents inducted

into the cadre of Asst. Manager by increasing the cadre strength in the

pay scale demanded above.

B. The UDCs/Store keepers in AIR & Doordarshan are attending almost the

same duties as being done by the Assistants in Central Secretariat. The most

important and complex type of works being entrusted to UDCs in Administration are

maintenance of communal rosters, court cases, appointments, promotion,

transfers, disciplinary and vigilance cases etc… and attending to correspondences

relating to them. In the Accounts Section, UDCs are attending preparation of

Budget & Revised Estimates etc… & attending to correspondences related to them.

In the Engineering side UDCs (Storekeeper) is in direct charges of stores & is

responsible for direct acquisition of stores, custody & direct disposal of stores etc…

The UDCs in AIR & Doordarshan are supposed to work in three units i.e. in

Administration, Accounts and Engineering Stores & therefore a single person is to

be well acquainted with all three trades as they are inter-changeable between

sections. In most of the HPT, DMCs, F.M. stations, it is the UDCs who shoulder the

responsibility of supervisory officer where the posts of Head Clerks is limited to one,

in some cases it is nil. The duties being performed by UDCs in in AIR and DD

cannot be compared with UDC in other Government departments due to the

peculiar nature of work entrusted to them. It is the UDCs / SKs who put up any

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proposals to his immediate supervisor after examining it in details in consultation

with the Government rules & regulation and therefore he should be well versed with

all the rules & regulations service conditions / instructions of the Government of

India from time to time.

Therefore the UDC may be redisgnated as Asst.Manager and placed in the

pay scale of Rs. 9300-34800 with Grade Pay of Rs.4200 and the cadre may be

made the entry cadre and made on direct recruitment basis. The educational

qualification to be prescribed as any Degree with computer skills.

C. The Head Clerk / Accountant / Senior Store Keeper, first level supervisory

officials, are the backbone of the entire administrative setup and the pivot on which

turns the wheel of administration. In fact, the post were created by the Ministry of

Finance (Deptt. Of Expenditure) under the category of Supervisory Staff. It is a

common cadre with the duties interchangeable among the incumbents. The Head

Clerk is in charge of personnel administration & vigilance unit. The Accountant is

responsible for financial management and financial advisor to the Head of Office.

He is the primary auditor and it is the Accountant who signs the Budget & submit it

directly to Head of Office where no post of AO is in existence.

He is a member of the DPC where AO posts are not created for recruitment

of Group C and Group D posts and also writes the CRs of LDCs/UDCs/Group-D staff

which fact shall illustrate the importance attached to this post in the administrative

hierarchy in AIR & DD. It is pertinent to mention here that in 80% of the

stations/offices it is the same person who double up as Head Clerk as well as

Accountant. Since in such stations / offices no Administrative Officers (Gr.B) has

been provided and the whole burden of personnel and financial management falls

on the HC/AC/SSK. Therefore a single person is to be well versed in both the

trades and in the era of enhanced stress on financial management the skills of the

Accountant (who also acts as HC) is tested to the maximum. There is no separate

Legal cell & Transport Units in any of the AIR / DD offices. Therefore handling the

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court cases & transport matters also falls on the shoulders of the HC/AC. There are

more than 1000 court cases pending in CAT, High Court & Supreme Court. In the

above mentioned stations / offices the post of Administrative Officer has not been

sanctioned and the job of AO including Drawing & Disbursement is entrusted to an

officer belonging to Programme or Engineering. Since these officers including the

Head of Offices are totally ignorant of rules, regulations, procedures and principles

governing personnel and financial administration, the responsibilities and burden

for correctness of the work done falls squarely on the shoulders of the

Headclerk/Accountant. It is proposed that this cadre may be redesignated as

Manager and placed in the pay scale of Rs. 9300-34800 with Grade Pay of Rs.5400.

D. The Administrative officers / Senior Administrative officers belong to the

Gr.B Gazetted and are the Drawing and Disbursing officers. Recognising the status,

functions and responsibilities of this cadre, the department has delegated certain

powers directly to them. They supervise the work of HC/AC/SSK and in the AIR

side the post of AO are provided in Zonal Headquarters (corresponding more or less

to the state capitals) and the post of Sr.A.O are provided in the Metro stations. On

the Doordarshan side the posts have been created in all the Kendras except HPTs &

DMCs. The AO/SAO manages the affairs of around 400 to 800 staff depending

upon the size of the establishment where he is posted. An idea of the responsibility

borne by the Administrative officers can be gauged from the fact that the total

budget of Metro AIR stations/capital stations range from 8 to 12 crores and in a

Doordarshan Kendra is in the range of 15 to 22 crores. It has been explicitly stated

in Doordarshan Manual that since there are practical difficulties in creation of the

post of Dy.Director (Administration) the post of Sr A.O has been created thereby

equating the post of Sr.A.O with that of DDA. The same can be said of AIR stations

too where over the years due to growth in Programme activities there has been

corresponding increase in administrative activities as well combined with these

things, the Heads of offices are drawn from programme or Engineering cadre who

have been vested with authority but without having the requisite knowledge /

experience of the functions they are carrying out.

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It is a fact there is no strong (managerial) set up in AIR & DD in real sense of

the term. So long as the media units functioned as Govt. Departments the

requirement was not felt so acutely. But with the conversion of Govt. Departments

into an autonomous Corporation and greater emphasis laid on revenue generation

and better financial and personnel management, the situation cannot be salvaged

without having a vibrant administrative set up occupied by competent personnel.

In Prasar Bharati, unlike in the Govt. set up, funds flow directly to field units and

the same are to be accounted for and the expenditure monitored. Like wise all the

stations / Kendras are urged upon to find out ways and means to generate

revenue. Therefore there has to be a proper revenue recovery mechanism put in

place. Even in the production of programmes there is need to have the services of

a finance manager for the same reasons.

To meet the requirements listed above, it is imperative to have personnel

with competence, well defined functional jurisdiction and authority in order to carry

out the functions expected of them effectively. With this intention it is proposed to

upgrade the post of AO and SAO to that of Assistant Director (Finance & Admn.) in

the scale of Rs. 8700-34800 with Grade Pay of Rs. 5400. Apart from restructuring

this cadre there is an immediate necessity to alignment the cadre strength also.

Therefore in view of what has been stated above there is a necessity to create

posts of Assistant Director (Finance & Admn.) in all the AIR Stations where they are

not provided now. At present out of around 200 AIR Stations AO/SAO posts are

sanctioned only less than 50% of the Stations and in all other stations the work is

looked after by officers belonging to other cadres which is not in the interest of the

administration. It severely affects the career prospects of Administrative Staff who

are stagnating as Head Clerk without promotion for 15 to 18 years.

Secondly in the capital stations only one post of AO/SAO has been sanctioned

to look after both Personnel administration including Establishment matters, office

Management and Financial administration. Capital stations are centres where

budget is large and revenue generation is also high. The volume of work in the

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establishment is also huge and complex in nature. Therefore in all capital stations

one additional post of Assistant Director (F&A) must be created i.e one post of

Assistant Director (F & A) for Personnel Management and one post for Financial

Management.

E. The Inspector of Accounts, as the designation itself suggests, are to conduct

inspection of field units to see whether the administrative procedures and

instructions are followed properly. But the cadre is a miniscule one, that it neither

does justice to the job created of it nor improves the career prospects of

administrative cadre. There has been a long felt need to upgrade the post to that

of DDA level and the same was accepted by the Department too. With the up

gradation of the posts of AO and SAO to that of Assistant Director (F&A) it is but

natural that the posts of IA should be upgraded and included in the strength of

DD(F&A) in the pay scale of Rs.10000-15200(pre – revised) as per

recommendation of the Fifth Central pay Commission vide para 46.21.

F. Deputy Director Administration is the apex level cadre in the administrative

hierarchy placed in the scale of Rs. 15600-39100 with Grade Pay of Rs. 6100. The

Deputy Directors have been delegated powers, under functional autonomy, of Head

of office(ordinary grade). At present DDAs are sanctioned in the Zonal Chief

Engineer’s offices, Metro DDKs, DDK,Lucknow, DDK, Jallandhar and DDK, Srinagar

and NSD, AIR, New Delhi and STI (P), New Delhi and with the objective of

strengthening the personnel Financial Management it is proposed to create

DD(F&A) in all the Capital DDKs, AIR Stations which are major revenue earning

centres and also having a huge budget. Moreover, there are around 300 to 500

staff are working in the office and the entire volume of Personnel management is to

be looked after by him.

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G. A new cadre of Joint Director (F&A) in the pay scale of Rs.15600-39100 with

Grade Pay of Rs. 6600 is proposed. This is in conformity with the basic principle of

strengthening the Financial and Personnel management. In AIR & DD the metro

centres are the major revenue generating centers and also the centers where the

quantum of expenditure is high. The Heads of these centers are borne on

Engineering and Programming cadres.

In view of the high magnitude of financial transactions and the complexity

which is inherent in the process of generating revenue in a commercially

competitive environment, the Heads of these centers need support in the form of

advice in financial matters from an officer who is experienced and who is of

sufficiently high rank and vested with authority to advise. Therefore, it is in the

interest of the department to create one post of Joint Director for each of the

centers. Incidentally, the Staff Inspection Unit of Ministry of Finance which

conducted the study of the staffing pattern and its impact on the efficiency

standards in Doordarshan has also recommended, that the post of Joint Director be

created keeping in view the functional requirements.

H. Internal Audit is an important function in any organization. In spite of

various levels of supervision and check there creep in several lapses both

intentional and unintentional. The internal audit alone brings out such lapses and

rectifies them which is vital in the successful conduct of the administration. But

with the conversion of AIR and DD into Prasar Bharati the internal audit which was

conducted until then by PAO (Internal audit) of Min. of I & B was terminated. No

alternative set up has been created in its place. This has been adversely

commented upon by AG Audit. Even when the PAO (Internal Audit) was there, due

to small size of the team, audit could not be conducted in an effective manner.

Therefore there is an urgent need to constitute an Internal Audit Organisation with

sufficient number of teams. So that 100% audit is conducted in all the AIR & DD

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units within a Zone. With objective it is proposed to constitute at least four teams,

two each for AIR & DD for each Zone. The country may be divided into five zones

viz. East, West, North, South and North-east. Each zone may be headed by one

Deputy Director (F&A). Each interval audit team may consist of one AD (F&A), two

Managers and two Assistant Managers. At the Apex level one post of JD (F&A) with

appropriate staff structure for support may be created to Head Internal Audit

Organisation who will prepare the repost and submit it to Prasar Bharati Board.

CONCLUSION

To sum up the cadre structure may be reconstituted in the following manner.

Sl. No

Existing cadre struture

Proposed cadre Structure

Existing pay Scales

Proposed Revised scale

1 Joint Director Rs. 15600-39100 Grade Pay Rs.6600

2 Dy.Director (Admn) Dy.Director (F & A) Rs.10000- 15200

Rs.15600-39100 Grade Pay Rs. 6100

3 Inspector of Accounts

Upgraded and Placed in the cadre Of DDA

Rs.7500- 12000

Rs. 15600-39100 Grade Pay Rs. 6100

4 Sr.Admn officer Asst.Director (F&A) Rs.7500- 12000

Rs.9300-34800 Grade Pay 5400

5 Admn. officer To be merged with the cadre of SAO & Redesig- nated as AD (F&A)

Rs.6500- 10500

Rs.9300-34800 Grade Pay 5400

6 Head Clerk/Acct/ SSK

Manager Rs.5500- 9000

Rs.9300-34800 Grade Pay 4800

7 Upper Division Clerk

Asst.Manager Rs.4000- 6000

Rs.9300-34800 Grade Pay 4200

8 Lower Division Clerk

To be merged & Redesig- nated as Asst. Manager

As far as cadre strength is concerned

a. The post of LDC may be phased out and the incumbents inducted into the cadre of UDC and redesignated as Asst.Manager.

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b. I) The post of AO/SAO may be redesignated as Asst.Director(F&A)

and one post of AD (F&A) may be created in all AIR Stations where they are not provided at present.

II) One additional post of AD(F&A) may be created in all AIR capital stations.

c. Post of DD(F&A) may be created in all capital DDKs and AIR

Stations.

d. Post of JD(F&A) may be created in Metro DDKs/AIR stations.

e. The distinction between the Directorate’s and field offices may be done away with and a unified cadre structure may be created.

f. Staff component as proposed for Internal Audit Organisation may be

created It is hoped that the above proposals shall receive utmost consideration by Prasar Bharrati and accepted in the interest of both the organization and employees.

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