Chapter 15 - Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) | A Bouquet of Services by IPS Lohit Matani and IPS Vishal - UPSC PDF Download

Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS)

Contributor: :  Mr. Rituraj Mishra, IRPS 2011 Batch

15.1 Cadre Structure and Overview

15.2 Roles and Responsibilities

The normal job profile of an IRPS officer consists on running the huge railway establishment, in accordance with Government order, rules and regulations. It includes the following:

I.    Establishment and Personnel Management

IRPS Officers perform the following tasks of personnel management in Indian Railways:

1. Manpower planning
2. Recruitment of lower staff
3. Administering promotions of lower staff and playing an advisory role in case of officers.
4. Ensuring social justice in human resource by implementing reservation policy.
5. Administering transfer and postings in Indian Railways.
6. Ensuring timely payments, salary and wages to different levels of personnel.

II.  Industrial Relations

1. IRPS Officers ensure maintenance of cordial industrial relations with workers and their unions.
2. They ensure worker’s participation in the management of Indian Railways.
3. They are responsible for implementing all welfare activities of Indian Railways like developing railway colonies, railway hospitals, and so on.
4. They play a pivotal role in the grievance redressal of lower staff, and also in dealing with the demands of railway unions.

III. Administration of Labor Laws

IRPS Officers have been entrusted, particularly, with the responsibility of administration of Laws, Rules, Regulations, Procedures and Railway Board Orders. The gamut of these rules governs every facet of the conditions of service of the Railway Servants. These statutory rules comprise, inter alia, of rules, such as:- (i) Indian Railway Establishment Codes Vol I & II, (ii) Railway Services(Liberalized Leave) Rules, 1949,(iii) State Railway Provident Fund Rules, (iv) Railway Services(Conduct) Rules 1966, (v) Railway Servants(Discipline & Appeal) Rules, 1968, (vi) Railway Servants(Pass) Rules, 1986,(vii) Railway Services(Pension) Rules,1993, (viii)Railway Services(Commutation of Pension) Rules, 1993, and (ix) Railway Services(Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 1993. Moreover, rules framed under Railways Act, 1989 (e.g. under Chapter XIV) such as 'Railway Servants (Hours of Work & Period of Rest) Rules, 2005' also govern the Railway Servants.

IV. Legal and Court Matters

IRPS officers attend various legal proceeding on behalf of Indian Railways and participate in various legal and court cases while administering the laws mentioned above. They are also instrumental in implementation of Hours of Employment Regulations (HOER).

V.  Human Resource Development

IRPS Officers lead the training departments responsible for training, skill development and leadership development of the lower staff as well as the officers of the Indian Railways.

15.3 Normal Growth Profile

We will be discussing about the various career opportunities an IRPS Officer has in a separate topic. However, this topic only deals with various positions an IRPS Officer holds during his professional life. These positions are held when he/ she is working in his/ her main line departments.

15.4 Recruitment

The recruitment into IRPS happens through two channels:

1. People are inducted into IRPS after qualifying in the Civil Services Exam conducted by UPSC.
2. The Group B Personnel Officers, working on Zonal Railways, are promoted to the IRPS grade after 8-10 years of service. Ratio 50:50

* RRB: Railway Recruitment Board

**RCIL: RailTel Corporation of India Limited

***IPRCL: Indian Port Rail Corporation Limited

15.6 Perks, Privileges and Advantages for IRPS Officers

IRPS Officers enjoy the following advantages:

1. IRPS is a unique service in the sense that it has the highest and most diverse public interaction. At the lowest level, an IRPS officer manages personnel strength of 6,500. Being in a Central service, IRPS officer is transferred in different parts of the country. This gives him/ her an opportunity to interact with many different kinds of person and know the diversity of Indian society from very close corners.
2. Being in the only specialized service of Human Resource Management in Government of India, IRPS officers enjoy unique skills which very few others in the country may possess.
3. Officers get a rich experience of engaging with trade unions. This enhances their skills of man management and handling work place politics.
4. Officers also specialize in labour laws.
5. As the cadre of IRPS officer is very small, the promotion and deputation opportunities in IRPS are much higher than any other service.
6. Due to the above reason, the after service opportunities for IRPS officers are much higher. They are in much demand in PSUs, HR department of big private companies and also in international organizations like International Labours Organization (ILO) and WTO.
7. The unity and camaraderie present among the IRPS officers is a rare phenomenon in this time of competition. This has happened due a small and specialized cadre having ample opportunities.
8. IRPS officers enjoy the services of high class and colossal railway infrastructure not present in other services.
9. On a less serious note, as the IRPS officers manage a large strength of personnel, they get a large number of human followers from the very beginning.

15.7 Occupational Hazards

The job of an IRPS Officer presents the following occupational hazards:

1.   IRPS officer has to deal with many legal and court matters concerned with the railway personnel and the implementation of railway rules, regulations and orders. These legal matters take a large amount of time of the officers and impact the smooth functioning of officers. They create a lot of stress and tensions for the officers.

2.   Apart from few international exposures, this service does not provide ample international work opportunities.

3.   As IRPS officers have to deal with the matters of a large number of personnel, their work involves a lot of stress. The work timings are also not rigid and the officers have to spend extra time in offices to deal with these matters.

4.   Officers generally get entangled in the political fight between 2 unions. This may sometimes also create a life threat to them.

5.   As the officers are under constant public watch, they do not get a chance to think and work freely. They are always surrounded by public even in their offices. They barely get a time to sit alone and reflect on their day’s work.

6.   The work sometimes become monotonous as it is restricted to the railway department only.

15.8 Case Studies indicating the work life and challenges of an IRPS Officer

15.8.1 Managing Union Demands versus Operational Efficiency

Indian Railways have two unions- All India Railwaymen Federation (AIRF) and National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR). A substantial part of the work of an IRPS officer involves in dealing with these two unions. They keep a constant watch on the functioning of the officers and put pressure on them for various demands- legal as well as illegal.

Mr. Ramesh is posted as a Divisional Personnel Officer in the Rajkot Division, Gujarat. In his zone, there is a clerk named Santosh working under an operating officer Mr. Raja Banthia. As Mr. Santosh has a rich experience of the operations department of 10 years, he has a good control over transfer and postings of lower staff. His gregarious and helping nature has bought him a good network with officers of senior and junior ranks. Moreover, he has specialized in the operations field and is one of the few clerks the officers in the department look up to.

However, Santosh is originally a station master who is being utilized by the operations department from the last 10 years. This has made him a specialist in this field. However, one of the unions got antagonized by his influential nature and decided to look for some reason to put him in a problem. They realized that he was originally appointed as a station master and was being used as a clerk in operations department from the last 10 years.

The union members came to Mr. Ramesh and complaint him about this and exert pressure on him to remove Santosh from his position. The pressure exerted by unions is generally immense which may even extend to the threat of life. Mr. Ramesh realized that Santosh is an asset to the operations department. He has not worked as a station master from a long time. If sent back, he will suffer from great difficulty in adjusting there. Moreover, he was kept in the operations department because of the necessity of the department. Thus, it became moral responsibility of Mr. Ramesh to support him but union was not willing to go back on its demand.

Q. What should Mr. Ramesh do in this situation? How can he deal with the union in this matter while serving the interest of Santosh? Is it ethical to use a person of one department in some another department? Should Mr. Ramesh take a strict legal stand against Santosh or support him on humanitarian grounds?

15.8.2 Corruption in Welfare Work of Indian Railways

IRPS officers are responsible for implementing welfare work in Indian Railways. Mr. Ramaswami, DPO of Varanasi division was given a responsibility to maintain the railway colony in his zone. A new project was sanctioned to build new quarters and roads in the colony. The work involved a great amount of discretion.

Ramaswami got a call from a union leader to give the building contract to a known contractor. The union leader was a good friend of Ramaswami. In the past he has helped Ramaswami in solving various inter-union issues. The leader also had contacts with higher officials and politicians. He tried to influence Ramaswami by giving him greed of money and favorable posting. As well as he made Ramaswami morally obligated to help him this time as a return of favor for help extended by him to Ramaswami earlier. When Ramaswami did not agree, he also threatened to kill Ramaswami.

Q.   How should Ramaswami react in this situation? What are the ethical issues faced by him? Should he succumb to the demands of the union leader?

15.8.3 A Question of Integrity

IRPS officers are responsible for recruitment in Indian Railways right from the position of ‘safai karamchari’ to that of a Junior Engineer. The recruitment process at the lower level involves a certain amount of discretion. Mr. Chauhan is the DPO of Hyderabad division. In his division, a hard working employee Mutturaja died due to railway operations. The whole department was shocked by his death.

He was a member of a railway union. That union devastated railway property on the demise of Mutturaja and wanted a decent job for his son. They wanted his son to be appointed as a Junior Engineer in Hyderabad Division, for which they approached Chauhan. Chauhan wanted to help the son of Mutturaja. But Mutturaja’s son was not qualified to be appointed as a Junior Engineer. Therefore, Chauhan offered a lower position for Mutturaja’s son. This offer enraged union members and they started exerting pressure on Chauhan.

Q. How should Chauhan react in this situation? Is it ethical to appoint a non-qualified person on compassionate grounds only? What is the dilemma faced by Mr. Chauhan? What are the ways in which he can help Mutturaja’s son and manage this situation?