ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF
CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
President: Address for
communication: Secretary General:
R. Chandramouli 240, Razapur,
Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.) Ravi Malik
Mob. 08939955463 mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com,
Site: cengoindia.blogspot.in Mob. 09868816290
Vice Presidents: P. Parwani, L. L. Singhvi (Central); Anurag Chaudhary, Ravi Joshi
(North); N. Raman, G. Srinath (South); B. K. Sinha, Ashwini Majhi (East);
Rajesh Chaher, J. D. Patil (West) Joint Secretaries: Anand Kishore, J.
S. Iyer (Central); R. K. Solanki, Ashish Vajpeyi (North); M. Nagaraju,
Ajithkumar P. C. (South); P. K. Sen, S. Bhattachariya (East); Jasram Meena, M.
K. Mishra (West) Office Secretary: C. S. SharmaTreasurer: N. R.
Manda Liaison Secretary: A. S. Kundu
Coordinator on Telangana: P. Shravan
Kumar
(Recognised
by G.O.I., Min. of Fin. vide letter F.No. B. 12017/10/2006-Ad.IV A Dt.21.01.08)
Ref. No. 25/P/17
Dt. 22.02.17
To,
Sh. Arun Jaitley,
The Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
Govt. of India, North Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Initial pay
scale to Central Excise Superintendent at par with DSP of CBI alongwith other
perks & allowances etc.-request regarding.
Sir
Kindly
refer to the submissions made to your goodself in person during the meeting of
10.02.17 vide the representation of JAC regarding the point of parity in pay matters with
counterparts.
2. It is submitted with due regards
that the feeder cadre of Inspector was
already placed at par in matter of pay scale in CBEC and CBI on 21.04.04 but
the promotional cadre of Central Excise Superintendent is still awaited to be
placed at par with the DSP of CBI (promotional cadre for Inspector in CBI)
despite of the admittance by the govt. It is further submitted that
new
higher responsibilities of judicial nature
were conferred upon Central Excise
Superintendents vide Circular No. 922/12/
2010-CX issued vide F. No. 208/2/2009-CX-6 Dt. 18.05.10 and
130/12/2010–ST issued vide F. No. 137/68/2010-CX. 4 Dt. 20.05.10. Very recently,
their responsibilities have again been increased 10 times by enhancing the
adjudication limit to Rs. 10 lac vide circular No. 1049/37/2016-CX issued vide
F. No. 267/40/2016-CX.8 Dt. 29.09.16 of CBEC. No need to say that
increased/higher responsibilities are always directly linked with the
increased/higher pay scales. But very unfortunately, the responsibilities of
these officers are on regular increase without any increase in their pay scale.
They have also been conferred with new higher technical/scientific
responsibilities of ACES since 2010. The claim of Superintendents becomes even stronger
on account of recording statements like a Magistrate under Section 14 of Central Excise Act & Section
108 of Customs Act having validity even before Supreme Court. Not only it,
Adjudication Orders are also being prepared by them for Commissioner level
officers. No such responsibilities have been conferred upon any counterpart of them
including CBI or IB. They are also being conferred with the new
additional responsibilities every year in the Finance Bill (Budget). They will
again be conferred new and very important responsibilities under GST.
3.
Despite of the admission by Expenditure
Department Under RTI vide OM No. 1148/Dir(A)/2008 Dt. 08.12.08 that the pay
scale of Central Excise Superintendent was enhanced to grant them parity with
DSP of CBI/DCIO of IB (analogous counterparts of Central Excise
Superintendent), Central Excise Superintendent was not given the said parity
and was granted merely a lower pay scale of Rs. 7500-12000/- instead of Rs.
8000-13500/- or equivalent (pay scale of DSP of CBI/DCIO of IB).
4. Govt. enhanced the pay scale of DSP of CBI without recommendations of CPC
considering them as Police Organisation. However, Hon’ble CAT of Jabalpur in
order of OA 45/2000 didn’t consider them as Police Organisation, whereas Special Police Establishment (Executive Staff)
Recruitment Rules and CBI Recruitment Rules, 1987 consider department of Central Excise as a
Police Organisation. Section 21 of Central Excise Act and Section 53 of NDPS Act confer powers of Officer-in-Charge of Police Station on Central Excise officers. The Central Excise personnel are
also deployed on International Airports, International Sea Ports and
International borders side by side with Army, BSF, CRPF and ITBP. These
personnel have suffered heavy casualties while dealing with trans-border criminals
and countering with dreaded smugglers.
Also as per the OM issued vide F.
No. 8/B/90/HRD (HRM)/2011 (Part-I)/4853 Dt. 21.10.14 and
No.C.30013/11/2011-Ad.IV.A Dt.02.08.13 of CBEC/the Govt. of India, the
Central Excise Superintendents perform their duties in the nature and style of
‘Military’ and ‘Navy’ being uniformed officers bearing “Ashoka Embelem”.
5. For a pay
increase of mere Rs. 200/-, Central Excise Inspector (GP 4600/-) has to
wait for 18 years on an average (even upto 25 years in stagnated zones) before
being promoted to the post of Superintendent with a Grade Pay of Rs. 4800/- in
PB2. Whereas in case of CBI/IB, analogous Inspectors are being promoted to the
post of DSP/DCIO with a Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB3.
6. The Inspectors (feeder posts) of
Central Excise and CBI/IB were already placed at par in a grade pay of Rs.
4600/- but promotional posts, i.e., Central Excise Superintendent (GP-Rs.
4800/-) and Deputy Superintendent (DSP) of CBI/DCIO of IB (GP-Rs. 5400/- in
PB3) are yet to be placed at par. Till 7.2.1996, the pay scale of
both promotional posts (Central Excise Superintendent and DSP of CBI) was same,
i.e., Rs. 2000-3500/-. Govt. of India vide OM No. 245/23/95 – AVD-II Dt.
08.02.96 of DOPT enhanced the pay scale of DSP of CBI to Rs. 2200-4000/-
retrospectively w.e.f. 01.01.86 without any increase in their responsibilities.
Thus, it is gross injustice not to bring the promotional posts (Central Excise
Superintendent and DSP of CBI) at par particularly when the govt. (department
of expenditure) also admitted that pay scale of Central Excise Superintendent
was enhanced to Rs. 7500-12000/- to grant them parity with the DSP of CBI/DCIO
of IB. It is also
worth to submit that the Expenditure Department had already agreed principally
to grant a grade pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB2 vide UO No. 6/37/98-IC Dt. 24.11.14 of Ministry of Finance (Exp.) to
Central Excise Superintendent in consonance of the para 7.15.24 of the report
of 6th CPC to grant parity with Chief Enforcement Officer but not implemented
on the pretext of the setting up of the 7th CPC. The pay scale of Chief Enforcement Officer,
analogous counterpart of Central Excise Superintendent, under the department of
Revenue itself was also enhanced without
recommendations of CPC and they are being paid 25% extra salary per month
also without the recommendations of CPC. DSP of CBI etc. are also being paid
25% per month extra salary and also 13 months salary in the year.
7. The
plea
by Central Excise Superintendents for grant of GP of Rs. 5400/- in PB3 has been
turned down stating that it is group ‘A’ entry scale. That being the case, the
feeder post of Assistant and promotional post of Section Officer were placed in
the same pay scale in CSS once upon a time. Likewise, feeder and promotional
posts were being placed in the same pay scale in Audit and Accounts services.
Also Group ‘B’
officers in Sates and Group ‘A’ All India Service Officers are recruited in the
same grade pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB3 and get next promotion to same post in
grade pay of Rs. 6600/-. It is also a
fact that pay of any Assistant
Commissioner (direct) will always be less than a Superintendent on account of
acute stagnation at Inspector and Superintendent levels. Accordingly, there should not be any problem to place Central
Excise Superintendent in the Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB3 (Level 10). This problem may, however, also be solved
by promoting the Superintendent directly to STS (Level 11) post like most of
the other counterparts or even making the group ‘A’ entry at Grade Pay of Rs.
6600/- (Level 11).
8. Grant of
the pay scale at par with the analogous counterparts of CBI, IB etc. to all
Group ‘B’ gazetted executive officers in CBEC including the Central Excise
Superintendents, Customs Superintendents and Customs Appraisers will involve a
negligible financial implication
merely to the tune of around Rs. 18 crore particularly when they are earning
the revenue always above the set targets regularly every year. They have earned
the revenue to the tune of Rs. 7,07,000 crore for the year 2015-16 which is
above the set target by Rs. 5000 crore too. It is also worth to submit that
only a negligible amount of around 80 paise is being incurred to earn Rs. 100/-
by these officers despite of being faced the worst pay packages and also the
worst career prospects. No need to say that the revenue collection and
efficiency in tax administration would increase many times, if these officers
are made job-satisfied regarding their pay matters and career prospects.
9. The CBEC has also recommended for the
grant of a Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB3 for Central Excise Superintendents to
Revenue Hqrs and also to give them next promotion in STS vide OM F.
No.A-26017/154//2015-Ad.IIA Dt. 22.02.16 after the issuance of the 7th
CPC report. But very unfortunately, the Department of Revenue paid no heed to
the recommendations of CBEC.
10. In view of the above, it is requested to place
Central Excise Superintendent at least under a grade pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB3
or equivalent scale w.e.f. the date since when the DSP of CBI has been placed
in the said scale.
Thanking
you,
Yours faithfully,
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
