Received with thanks from Er. Naveen Gupta

Dear brother Engineers I draw your attention to the fact that a gross injustice has been done to the Sr. Xens and AEEs of PSEB in the revised Pay Scales notified by PSEB vide Office Order No. 478/PRC-302/2006 dated 15.10.2009. PSEB has always maintained an edge in providing remuneration to its employees and engineers in order to attract and retain best talent. The revised pay scales of Sr. Xens and AEEs are not only disproportionately lower in the overall salary structure but also much lower than the scales being offered by other electricity utilities of the Region such as HVPNL, UHBVNL, DHBVNL and HPGCL. Whereas the complete salary structure of PSEB as per the revised pay scales is better than these utilities, in line with the tradition of PSEB to provide a leading edge to its employees and engineers, gross injustice has been done to Sr. Xens and AEE/AEs whose scales are much less and disproportionate by any means and dimension.
In the revised pay scales, while PSEB has given the pay scale of Rs.16650-39100 (with grade pay of Rs. 8500) to Sr. Xens, the corresponding scale of Sr. Xen. given by HSEB (i.e. HVPNL, UHBVNL, DHBVNL and HPGCL) is Rs.37400-67000 (with grade pay of Rs.8800). It implies that initial basic pay of Sr. Xen in PSEB is Rs. 33240 against Rs. 46200 in case of HSEB. While Sr. Xen of HSEB with about 15 years service after induction, is drawing a basic pay of about Rs.53000/-, a PSEB Sr. Xen with equivalent length of service shall draw a basic pay of only Rs.39000/-. A live example of engineers from PSEB and HVPNL, working in BBMB with nearly same length of service (DOJ January 1994) and almost similar date of promotion as Sr. Xen, is given in the table below:

As is evident, the PSEB incumbent shall draw about Rs 13000 less basic pay during the period of 12 to 16 years of service. Further, even if the proposed pay scale of Rs 41300 with Grade Pay of 9600 is allowed by PSEB after 16 years of service, there shall be a disparity of over Rs 4300/- P.M. in the basic pay of PSEB engineer, which shall keep on increasing as the career progresses as the rate of increment is same (@3%) and is dependent on previous basic pay, which is lower for PSEB incumbent.
Further, HSEB has allowed the above mentioned scale of Sr. Xen (i.e. Rs.37400-67000 with grade pay of Rs.8700) to their AEs with 12 years of service. It implies that while an AEE of HSEB with 12 years service shall draw a basic pay of Rs. 46100/- whereas an AEE or even Sr. Xen of PSEB with 12 years of service shall draw only about Rs 33000/-. It is ironical that in organizations like BBMB, a senior employee of PSEB shall be getting lower salary vis-a-vis his immediate junior from HSEB. This shall have an adverse effect not only on the discipline of reporting relationships, but shall also affect the basic premise of seniority.
The above disparity is also evident from the perusal of the revised salary structure of PSEB. Whereas the scales of Sr. Xens and AEEs in the revised structure are much lower, there is a disproportionate jump after completion of 16 years of service, which eats out the benefit of any promotional increments, when the incumbent is placed in the scale of Superintending Engineer (15800-21100 Pre-revised and 41300-67000 revised). The disparity is evident from the comparison of how a Sr. Xen after 16 years of service shall be fixed in the pay scale of Superintending Engineer in the pre-revised and revised scales as under.

FIXATION OF PAY AS S.E. IN REVISED PAY SCALES AFTER 16 YRS

As is evident from the above, a Sr. Xen after completion of 16 years of service in the old pay scales draws only two increments, whereas in the new scales he gets a jump of over Rs 10,000/- in basic. It is further evident that even after getting a jump of Rs 10,000/- he continues to draw much less salary than his senior colleague, just because he has completed his 16 years of service in the new pay scales.
It is amply clear that AEEs and Sr. Xens, who have not completed 16 years of service as on 01.01.2006 have been given raw deal in the pay revision. Not only that they have been placed much lower in the overall salary structure but have also lost a leading edge over other regional organizations that PSEB still provides to all other categories of employees in order to attract and retain best talent.
It is also pertinent to mention here that AEEs and Sr. Xens are the basic building blocks of engineering cadre in PSEB as they are the people who actually undertake Execution works in the field. The above disparity shall not only jeopardize their morals but would also cause heartburning and could turn into a source of conflict within the engineering cadre itself.
It is further ironical that while the revised pay structure of PSEB for all other categories of engineers is still better than Haryana and other regional utilities and the employees of all other categories specially Superintending Engineers, Chief Engineers etc., of other States/SEBs including Haryana are opting for PSEB scales, this grave injustice has been done only to Sr. XENs and AEE/AEs of PSEB.