Port Blair, Apr 07: Mr. TS Sreekumar, General Secretary of Non-Gazetted Government officers’ Association of Andaman and Nicobar Islands demanded to add Head of Office/ Head of Institution also the competent Authority to sanction leave including casual leave and station leaving permission to Group B (Non-Gazetted) employees in Administration.
In a letter addressed to the Lt. Governor, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the General Secretary of NGGOA said that a majority of employees drawing the grade pay of Rs 4200/- to Rs 5400/- in the Pre-revised pay structure are Group B (Non Gazetted) and around 30-35% of the total employees under A & N Administration are Group B (Non Gazetted) employees. So sanctioning of leave including causal leave and station leaving permission, in a time bound manner/ emergency, to such a large number of employees by the HOD is a herculean task and may affect the other normal activities.
The General Secretary of the Association also pointed out that these Group B (Non Gazetted) employees are posted in every nook and corner of the islands including remotest islands/ places including Chipoh, Ganesh Nagar, Budhanallah, Macarthy Valley, Afra Bay, Dering, Gopal Nagar, Garjantikri, Pulopanja, Kuitasuk, Cutbert Bay, Borong, Hanspuri, East Bay Katachal, Sagar Dweep, Strait Island, Narcondum, etc.
“As you are well aware, even simple mobile communication facility is unavailable in all these places. The difficulty in getting leave and station leaving permission from the Head of the Department is that their Heads of Department are either Director or the Secretary or even Chief Engineer concerned who are stationed at Port Blair. In case where an employee posted at outstation i.e. North & Middle Andaman or Nicobar Group of Islands, it would be most impractical for them to avail leave and station leaving permission from the concerned Head of the Department stationed at Port Blair, especially in case of any exigency,” he added.
Association’s General Secretary also said treating casual leave along with other kinds of leave is improper as normally employees are availing it in some exigencies like sudden health problems of self/family members or to attend some urgent personnel issues. Casual leave can be taken for half day also. As per instant order all Group B (Non Gazetted) employees posted in the length and breadth of the islands from Campbell Bay to Diglipur are supposed to approach their HOD at Port Blair even for a half day CL in an exigency.
“It is pertinent to say that CL is not subject to any leave rules made by Government of India, it is meant for exigencies as such an officer on causal leave is not treated as absent from duty and pay is not intermitted” he added.