Senior bankers in the public sector are in the firing line: Bank employees union
A top leader of the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) said that the Indian government is interfering in the day-to-day affairs of public sector banks and threatening the job security of employees by retiring inefficient senior employees.
CH Venkatachalam, AIBEA Gen Secretary, also said the government should examine the performance of the various departments and make them efficient rather than getting into the daily routine of PSBs, which are board-run.
The Department of Financial Services under the Ministry of Finance has asked the Managing Directors of all the nationalized banks and the Chairman of the State Bank of India (SBI) to review the performance of senior employees monthly and retire those who are found inefficient. The Department of Financial Services has asked the banks to send a monthly report on this.
“The PSBs are run by the Board of Directors. The government can review the performance of the Managing Directors appointed by it. The latest move by the government will result in the misuse of power threatening the job safety net the bankers enjoy which is subject to the rules and regulations,” C.H. Venkatachalam, AIBEA General Secretary said.
Venkatachalam said under the existing retirement rules, a committee can review the performance of an officer in PSB who is 55 years of age or more or has put in 30 years of service (for officers in SBI 50 years of age or 25 years of completed service) and retire that employee in case of public interest.
In the case of a workman (clerks and peons) in PSBs, he/she can be retired on reaching 57 years of age (for workmen in SBI it is 58 years of age) and the efficiency was found to be impaired.
The Department of Financial Services has asked the PSBs to conduct a periodic review under the existing rules and decide whether their senior employees are to be retained or retired and send a monthly report.
“The government should not ask for the monthly report. PSBs are Board-run. The performance of the employees is reviewed regularly,” Venkatachalam said.
Venkatachalam said nearly 60 board seats have remained vacant for the past ten years in PSBs.
“Does it not show the inefficiency of the appointing authority? Why not retire those who are responsible for this,” Venkatachalam said.
There are various provisions in the Bipartite Settlements/Awards/Officers Service Regulations to take action against any employee or officer wherever warranted. But the above directions from the Government are provocative and intimidatory.
Already employees in the PSB branches are working under undue pressure due to an acute shortage of staff and non-recruitment of adequate staff in sub-staff and clerical cadres, Venkatachalam said.
Similarly, officers are also working under stress. Work life-balance, five days of banking, and others are the cry of the day. Branch Managers also suffer from targeting by the higher management in the name of non-achievement of targets and non-performance.
The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) in Maharashtra has given the call for strike on 16-11-2024 against the increasing instances of attacks on managers/officers/staff by customers, borrowers, public and political elements, Venkatachalam added.
According to him, PSBs have a total staff strength of eight lakh divided equally between Officers and Workmen cadres.
“About one lakh vacancies in the Workman cadre need to be filled. Currently, the banks are top heavy having a poor span of control,” Venkatachalam said.
(Venkatachari Jagannathan can be reached at venkatacharijagannathan@gmail.com)
