United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation comprising bank employees? unions, has suggested a ceiling on compassionate appointments by the banks in a year to be fixed at 2% of total number of employees in a particular year.
As per the existing system, no appointment is being made by the banks on compassionate grounds since the year 2004 and hence there lies no room for any kind of existing ceiling.
A rough estimate indicates that nearly 1,000 cases of appointments of compassionate grounds are created every year in the banking system. CH Venkatachalam, convenor of UFBU, told FE that instead of incurring losses, the banks will rather be saving their revenues by reviving the compassionate appointments as the appointees will be fresher ones and hence their perks can?t match to the deceased employees against whom they will be given the jobs.
The suggestions of UFBU comes in the wake of the MoU signed by it with IBA on February 25 .On the instructions of the finance ministry, IBA began talks with UFBU on April 3. The IBA will forward our suggestions to the government for their consideration. The UFBU has said that housing loan and other staff loans availed by the deceased employee may be waived up to a ceiling amount and provision for continuation of staff quarters for 2 years as in the case of RBI.
There are many more demands that have been made by the UFBU in its suggestions submitted before the IBA recently. The demands for compassionate appointments in banks is based on the fact that compassionate appointment schemes are already available in central / state governments, public sector, RBI, LIC and railways.
Supreme Court has not banned or prohibited such compassionate appointments.
Terming the existing ban on such appointments as unjustified, the UFBU has demanded that job must be provided to the spouse or dependent son/daughter in case of death of an employee on duty. The death can be caused by several ways like resisting robbery, dacoity, terrorist attacks, attack by borrowers/other while on recovery and other duties, fatal accidents, death during office hours.