" IRS OFFICERS PROMOTED FROM THE GRADE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF CENTRAL EXCISE ARE ALSO MEMBERS OF AIACEGEO. THIS IS THE ONLY ASSOCIATION FOR SUPERINTENDENTS OF CENTRAL EXCISE AND IRS OFFICERS PROMOTED FROM THE GRADE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF CENTRAL EXCISE THROUGH OUT THE COUNTRY . President Mr.T.Dass and SG Mr. Harpal Singh.

Monday 7 August 2017

Stagnation Committee Report

The Constitution of the Committee is as under:- 1. Sh. Balesh Kumar, ADG(HRM-I) Chairman 2. Sh. Sanjeev Kumar Singh, Additional Director, DGHRD Member 3. Sh. M.L. Meena, Deputy Secretary, Ad.II Member 4. Sh. Sanjai Kumar Srivastava, Asst. Commissioner , Ahmedabad GST- North (then Assistant Director ( HRM-II) Member 5. Sh. D.K Sharma, AAD(RR), HRM-I Member- Convener A preliminary meeting to discuss the issues was held on 25.07.16 by the Committee and following terms of reference were chalked out for consideration of the Committee:- i) To look into the possibilities and modalities for expediting the promotion of Superintendent (CE) Group-‘B’ to Group-‘A’ posts. ii) To examine the demand of Indian Revenue Service (Indirect Taxes) Officers Association for counting of their service rendered against Assistant Commissioner (Temporary) for further promotions. iii) To examine the removal of inter cadre disparities among the Cadre of Inspector(Central Excise) / Preventive Officer/ Inspector(Examiner) for promotion to I 4 Superintendent (Central Excise)/ Superintendent (Customs Preventive)/ Appraiser- as suggested by the Association. Subsequent meetings were held on 29.08.16, 15.09.16 & 16.11.16 wherein Representatives of the Associations were called for discussing their points in detail with all the Members of the Committee. During the course of meeting held on 29.08.16(M-1), the Chairman of the Committee raised following issues:- a) Whether the All India IRS(Indirect Taxes) Officers Association represents all the three streams i.e. Superintendent(Central Excise),Superintendent(Custom Preventive) and Appraiser from whom promotions to the 2118 posts of Assistant Commissioner (Temporary) were made; b) Whether the Association claims to be representing the interests of Superintendent(Central Excise),Superintendent (Custom Preventive) and Appraiser; c) Suggest solutions within the existing rules, regulations and procedures and; d) If such measures are not adequate, then what rules and regulations need to be changed and in what manner. Response of the representatives of the Association were as under: a) Association represents officers promoted from the feeder cadres of Superintendent (Central Excise) and Superintendent (Customs Preventive) and the Association does not represent Appraisers promoted to the post of Assistant Commissioner (Temporary). The Association believes that the cadre of Appraiser has not stagnated in the Department and hence they are not representing the Appraisers promoted as Assistant Commissioner (Temporary). b) While they do not directly represent the 3 feeder cadres which are promoted to the post of AC(Temporary), however, to the extent that improvement of prospects in promotion to the promotee Assistant Commissioner from feeder cadres of 5 Superintendent (Central Excise) and Superintendent (Customs Preventive) occur, the 2 feeder cadres will benefit, hence they indirectly represent Superintendent (Central Excise) and Superintendent (Customs Preventive). c) All out efforts will be made to explore the avenues for improving promotional prospects within the existing rules. It appears that due to historical reasons, the Committee may be required to look for solutions beyond the existing rules. d) Yes, the solution needs to be looked at by relaxing /changing the existing Rules particularly in view of past precedents within the CBEC.
The Association also submitted written submissions vide their letter dated 23.08.16 (R-2) and also on 29.08.16 (R-3) which were taken on record. Further, during the course of meeting held on 15.09.16 (M-2), the Representatives of the Association submitted further written submissions in continuation to their earlier submissions dated 23.08.16 (R-2) which are as under:- 1. Non review of Recruitment Rules S/Shri B.A Chakravarthi and S.K Patil submitted that the Recruitment Rules (RRs) of IRS Group-‘A’ were not reviewed every 5 years as per the DOPT instructions which has led to substantial injury to the career progression of Central Excise officers vis-à- vis the undue and unfair progression of the cadre of Examiner/Appraiser due to the ratio of sanctioned strength of the feeder cadres not getting applied for promotion from Group-B to Group- A. 2. Discriminatory Eligibility criteria for the Examiners/ Appraisers They submitted that it cannot be denied that the difference in eligibility criteria for Examiner for promotion as Appraiser has been a contributory factor for their quicker 6 promotion to Group-‘A’ which is evident from the fact of regularization in Junior Time Scale post. 3. Discrimination in reckoning of Retired Officers They submitted that while for regularization of Ad-hoc promotions for vacancy years 1997-1998 onwards, the Board correctly deleted the retired Appraisers but inexplicably did not delete the Retired Superintendent of Central Excise and Superintendent of Customs. Therefore, only serving and eligible officers as on the date of review DPC should have been considered from all three Group-B cadres. 4. On weightage of service rendered as Superintendent Central Excise while making promotion to the post of Assistant Commissioner(JTS) They submitted that weightage of service rendered in the feeder cadres needs to be reckoned withwhilepromoting as is done in the case of All India Services like IAS, IPS & IFS. Since three members of the Committee were not present so the meeting could not discuss the points raised by the Association. The concluding meeting with the Association in the presence of all Committee Members was conducted on 16.11.16 (M-3) wherein all the written submissions given during the course of meetings were elaborately discussed among the Members and the points raised by the Association as well as clarifications sought by the Committee are briefly mentioned as under:- The representatives of the Association narrated the historical background of stagnation of Superintendent, Central Excise in comparison to the cadre of Appraisers. They, inter-alia, emphasized the following suggestions for consideration by the Committee, so that stagnation in the grade of Superintendent, Central Excise can be reduced:- 7 a. Parity with the Examiners/ Appraisers in promotion to Group-A posts. b. Consideration of combined length of service in Group-‘B’ Gazetted and Non Gazetted grade as the criteria for promotions to Group-A posts. c. Introduction of the concept of weightage of service in the feeder Group ‘B’ Gazetted grade for seniority in Group A Grade on promotion. d. Total length of service in Group ‘B’ Non-gazetted and Gazetted grades should be taken into account for fixing seniority in Superintendent Grade. e. Superintendents of Central Excise, who are getting pre-revised PB-3 GP Rs. 6600 as part of MACP Scheme, should be directly promoted to Senior Time Scale grade posts. f. Seek ‘One-time Relaxation’ to promote only the stagnated Superintendents of Central Excise against the 2118 temporary posts until parity with Examiners/ Appraisers is obtained. g. Direct recruitment percentage should be reduced from existing 50% of annual vacancies in Junior Time Scale (JTS). It may be 66.33% by promotion and 33.33% by direct recruitment. 3.1 Elaborate discussions were made on all the above points by the Representatives of the Association as well as by other Members of the Committee. All the points relating to reduction in stagnation of promotion of Superintendent of Central Excise were discussed in detail by the Members. Certain clarifications were asked for from the representatives of the Association. 3.2 On being asked if the Association had any supporting DoP&T guidelines to consider combined length of service in Inspector + Superintendent Grade for fixing seniority in Superintendent Grade, the Association representatives informed that no such 8 guidelines are readily available with them. But, they will find out the same and provide to the Committee. 3.3 During the course of discussion, it was pointed out that prior to fixation of ratio of 3 feeder cadres i.e. Superintendents Central Excise (CE), Superintendents Customs Preventive, Appraiser (6:1:2) in the year 1996, the eligibility for promotion from Group-B Gazetted to JTS in Group ‘A’ was being made on the basis of length of service rendered in Group-B Gazetted grades. However, Association of Superintendents of Central Excise filed a case in 1988 for fixation of ratio, in place of the length of service for promotion from Group-B Gazetted to JTS in Group ‘A’, which finally resulted in the judgment by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the year 1996 fixing ratio of 6 (Supdt. Central Excise): 1 (Supdt. Custom Preventive) : 2 (Appraiser). 3.4 Association requested that the existing promotion quota of 13 (Supdt. Central Excise) : 2 (Supdt. Custom Preventive) : 1 (Appraiser) should be implemented with retrospective effect. The Committee stated that it might not be possible, as the Hon’ble Supreme Court had not given any such directions. It was also noted that the 1996 judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court was implemented w.e.f. 1980, because there was a clear direction of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Shri Ansari, US (Ad.II), a special invitee to the meeting, informed that in its order in a SLP, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has already stated that the ratio cannot be implemented with retrospective effect. 3.5 Chairman of the Committee also informed the Association that lowering of direct recruitment quota from existing 50% of annual vacancies in JTS may not be acceptable to DoP&T, as it will alter the attributes of IRS (C&CE), as an organised Central Group ‘A’ Service.
3.6 Sh. Ravi Malik, Secretary General of All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers also met the Committee members on 03-05-2017 and discussed certain issues relating to stagnation in promotion of Group-B Superintendent Central Excise. The Chairman of the Committee informed Sh. Ravi Malik to submit detailed 9 representation on all the issues along with supporting documents for further examination by the Committee. Subsequently, the All India Association of Central Excise Gazetted Executive Officers submitted representation dated 8.05.17 (R-4) wherein they pointed out the following issues:- (i) The acute stagnation and the financial losses being faced by Group-B officers in Central Excise and Customs compared to their counterparts in CBDT and CSS. Though they are recruited through a common competitive examination conducted by SSC, the promotional avenues of the aforesaid Departments differ vastly. However, 2118 temporary posts in Junior Time Scale were recommended in CR 2013 (in CBEC) but it could not provide a permanent solution to the problem of stagnation in Group-B as no real financial or pension benefit is provided to them after superannuation and hence, it has been suggested to introduce departmental examination for promotion to higher grade and undertaking periodic cadre reviews. (ii) The erstwhile ACP Scheme of 1999 and MACP of 2008 are also inadequate to meet the legitimate aspirations of Inspector grade officers in CBEC. As per ACP Scheme, the direct recruit Inspectors of CBEC get pay scale of the post of Assistant Commissioner (Grade Pay of Rs.5400 in PB-3) as second financial upgradation after 24 years of service whereas in MACP, these Inspectors reach this pay scale only after 30 years of service. Therefore, they have suggested replacing the MACP scheme with the NFU scheme so that Inspectors of CBEC may be granted batch wise non-functional pay scale parity with Assistants of CSS based on the precedent of the grant of non-functional upgradation to Group-‘A’ officers vide OM No. AB-14017/64/2008-Estt.(RR) dated 24- 04-2009 to remove the issue of stagnation in Group-A Services wherein it has been stated that: “Whenever an IAS officer is posted at the Centre to a particular grade carrying a specific grade pay in PB 3 or PB 4, the officers belonging to batches of Organized Group A Services that are senior by 2 years or more and have not been promoted to 10 that particular grade would be granted the same grade on non functional basis from the date of posting of the IAS Officer in that particular grade at the Centre”. Hence, a similar provision should be adopted in CBEC to solve the problem of acute stagnation in CBEC in the cadre of Inspectors and Superintendents.
4.0 The Chairman of the Committee after discussion made out following points relating to stagnation, which could be examined while preparing recommendation to the Board:- (i) It is an accepted fact that there is stagnation in the cadre of Superintendent, Central Excise. (ii) Suggestions to remove stagnation provided by the representatives of the Association will be examined in detail by the Committee. (iii) The Association was informed that it may not be possible to accede to all the points, but the points which are workable / viable can be examined as per the guidelines / instructions issued by the DOPT from time to time on the subject issue and the recommendations accordingly made in the report. (iv) Solutions suggested by the Committee and accepted by the competent Authority shall apply prospectively and not retrospectively. The Association vide their letter stated 18.12.16 (R-5) and 19.12.16 (R-6) submitted a copy of the judgement dated 18.2.14 of the Honourable Supreme Court in the case of State of Sikkim vs AdupTsheringBhutia and others (Civil Appeal No.2446/2014) in support of Para 3.2 of the minutes of the meeting held on 16.11.16 which has already been reproduced in Para 3.2 of the first section (Background) of this Report. The Association have submitted certain other points for consideration before finalisation of the recommendations of the Committee and they have also requested that they may also be invited while finalising the recommendations.

 11 OBSERVATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE: Reasons for Stagnation in promotion of Group B Executive Gazetted cadre and in particular in the cadre of Superintendent Central Excise has been looked into. It is observed that while there is stagnation in the Central Excise Group B Executive Gazetted Cadre, it is also noted that there is relative stagnation of Superintendent Central Excise and Superintendent Customs Preventive Cadre vis-à- vis the cadre of Appraisers in promotion to Group-A post. Recruitment to the posts of Inspector Central Excise, Preventive Officer & Examiner is made through a common Competitive Examination conducted by the Staff Selection Commission. However, there is disparity in promotion from the grades of Inspector to the next higher post i.e. Superintendent Central Excise, Superintendent Customs Preventive & Appraiser due to different provisions of RRs. The qualifying service required for promotion to the posts of Superintendent Central Excise& Superintendent Custom Preventive is 8 years whereas for Appraisers it is 3 years. This difference in qualifying service in turn caused disparity in promotion to the next higher grade of Assistant Commissioner (Gr-A) post. Following promotion orders issued in the grade of Assistant Commissioner clearly shows the relative stagnation of Superintendent Central Excise as compared to the post of Appraiser:- (a) Analysis of Promotion Order of Assistant Commissioner issued in October- 2014 from the cadre of Superintendent Central Excise and Superintendent Customs Preventive (Promotion order of June-2015 from the post of Appraiser) shows that they were recruited in the following year as Inspector (CE), Customs Preventive Officer & Examiner. Inspector ( CE) of Year (1977, 1978,1980,1982,1983 & 1984) Preventive Officer (PO) of Year (1980, 1986 & 1988) Examiner of Year (1995 & 1996) R 12 (b) Similar analysis from Promotion Order issued in March-2017 for promotion as Assistant Commissioner, reveals that the position is as under:- Inspector (CE) of Year (1983, 1984 & 1985) Preventive Officer of Year (1992 & 1993) Examiner of Year (1998 & 1999) It is obvious that the Superintendent of Central Excise are lagging behind in promotion as compared to the cadre of Appraisers, which has led to a situation whereby the Examiners of the same SSC exam become the reporting officers of the Inspectors and Preventive Officers (POs) selected from the same exam. While the Inspector of Central Excise gets only one promotion and at the most two promotions in their careers, Examiners get three to four promotions. The Association has submitted that while regularization of Ad-hoc promotions for the vacancy years 1997-98 onwards, Board rightly deleted the Retired Appraisers but inexplicably did not delete the Retired Superintendent of Central Excise and Superintendent of Customs. The matter has been examined in details and it is found that the contention of the Association on the above point is not correct. The Association failed to submit DoP&T guidelines in support of the contention made by them as quoted in Para 3.2 of the first section of this Report. However, it is submitted that judgement dated 18.02.2014 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of STATE OF SIKKIM AND OTHERS Vs ADUP TSHERING BHUTIA AND OTHERS relates to the validity of the action taken by the State for fixation of seniority and the integration of the Services. 13 REASONS FOR STAGNATION he major factors responsible for stagnation in the cadre of Group B Executive Gazetted & relative stagnation of Superintendent Central Excise and Superintendent Customs (Preventive) are as follows: 1. Discrimination in Recruitment Rules of Superintendent Central Excise (CE), Superintendent Customs Preventive (CP) and Customs Appraisers The main reason for relative stagnation in promotion of Superintendent (Central Excise) to Group-A post as compared to Appraisers is on account of differentiation in qualifying service for promotion to Group B Gazetted posts from Group ‘B’ Nongazetted posts.. The Recruitment Rules (RR) of Superintendent (CE) notified by GSR No.1111 dated 27.12.1986, and of Superintendent (CP) notified vide GSR No.468 dated 8.06.93 provide for promotion from the grade of Inspector/Preventive Officer to the grade of Superintendent(Central Excise)/Superintendent(Customs Preventive) on having 8 years of regular service in the grade of Inspector Central Excise/ Inspector (Preventive Officers) whereas for promotion to the grade of Appraisers Customs, the Examiners are required to have 3 years of regular service. 2. Zonal Cadre Controlling Authority disparity in promotion from the grade of Inspector (Central Excise) to the grade of Superintendent (Central Excise) There are 15 Cadre Controlling Authorities (CCAs) for Inspector in Central Excise, 5 for Preventive Officer and 3 for Examiners all over India to which direct recruit Inspectors CE/ Preventive Officer / Examiner are allocated on the basis of competitive examination conducted by the Staff Selection Commission. All CCAs have been allocated sanctioned strength based on the workload. Promotions to the post of Inspector (CE)/ Preventive Officer/ Examiner are also made by the concerned CCAs from the feeder cadres prescribed in the Recruitment Rules. The variation in the promotional prospects to the rank of the Superintendent Central Excise, Superintendent Customs Preventive and Customs Appraiser can be seen from T 14 the tables given below. The table clearly depicts that there is disparity in promotion among the Cadre Controlling Authorities. However, such Inter CCA disparities are maximum for the stream of Inspector Central Excise and minimum for the stream of Examiner. INSPECTOR CENTRAL EXCISE S.NO. NAME OF THE CCA SUPERINTENDENT (CE) SANCTIONED STRENGTH INSPECTOR SANCTIONED STRENGTH Last batch of Inspector promoted as Supdt. 1 LUCKNOW 936 1286 2001 2 RANCHI 490 604 2002 3 MUMBAI 2470 2901 2002 4 BANGALORE 1118 1380 2007 5 COCHIN 439 687 2002 6 DELHI 1815 2235 2006 7 CHANDIGARH 565 689 2007 8 CHENNAI 1474 2066 2005 9 JAIPUR 417 552 2002 10 BHOPAL 718 968 2002 11 HYDERABAD 1023 1352 2002 12 KOLKATA 1221 2124 2001 13 SHILLONG 372 658 1997 14 BHUBANESHWAR 338 337 2008 15 VADODARA 1722 2160 2009 15 PREVENTIVE OFFICER NAME OF THE CCA SUPDT. (P)SANCTION ED STRENGTH PO SANCTIONED STRENGTH LAST BATCH OF PO PROMOTED AS SUPDT.(P) CHENNAI 565 688 2009 VIZAG 72 112 2005 COCHIN 135 181 2008 Part MUMBAI 1410 1587 2008 Part KOLKATA 206 402 2006 Part TOTAL 2388 2970 EXAMINER NAME OF THE CCA APPRAISERSANCTIONED STRENGTH EXAMINER SANCTIONED STRENGTH LAST BATCH OF EXAMINER PROMOTED AS APPRAISER CHENNAI 383 434 2012 MUMBAI 622 951 2009 (PR 2012 Part) KOLKATA 189 210 2013 TOTAL 1194 1595 The following inferences can be drawn from the above tables: (a) There is difference in promotional prospects among the three Cadres of Inspector Central Excise, Preventive Officer and Examiner. (b) There is difference in promotional prospects of officers of the same stream viz. Inspector Central Excise, Preventive Officer and Examiner depending upon to which Cadre Control Authority he belongs. 16 (c) The Inter CCA difference in promotional prospects is the most among Inspector Central Excise followed by Customs Preventive Officers and the least among the Examiners. From these inferences, it is observed that promotion to the grade of Superintendent (Central Excise)/ Superintendent (Customs Preventive)/Appraiser in all the CCAs are not on uniform basis. The variation is more distinct in the case of Inspector to Superintendent Central Excise promotionin as much as in few of the CCAs, the Inspector CE of the Batch 2005 (Delhi) has been promoted to the post of Superintendent CE whereas in other CCAs, the Inspector CE of Batch 1994 (Shillong) is yet to get promoted to the grade of Superintendent CE. Further, the Inspector of Shillong CCA who will be promoted later on will be placed much below the officers of Delhi CCA in the integrated all India Seniority list of Superintendents. Such officers may not get further promotion to the grade of Assistant Commissioner. 3. Litigation Another important reason for stagnation of Superintendent Central Excise for promotion to Group-A post is related to litigation. An important milestone in this regard was the Judgement dated 22.11.1996 by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the year 1996 (All India Federation of Central Excise etc. Vs Union of India and Ors W.P. (Civil 306/1988 [1997(1)SCC 520]when the ratio for promotion of the three feeder Cadres i.e. Superintendent Central Excise: Superintendent Customs Preventive: Appraiser was fixed at 6:1:2 respectively. The IRS Recruitment Rules for the year 1987 were amended incorporating the above Court fixed ratio for the three feeder cadres. This ratio has further been amended in the year 2012 to 13:2:1 for Superintendent Central Excise: Superintendent Customs Preventive: Appraiser, after another judgment dated 03.08.2011 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court (SP Dudeja and Ors Vs Union of India and Ors C.A. No. 1198/2005). The Appraisers Association have also been involved in multiple litigations, which also led to slowing down of promotion from Group-B to Group-A. 17 3.1. Litigation on account of Reservation A large no. of cases have been filed by various Association/Individuals of SC/ST and General category persons relating to reservation in promotions. On the issue of reservation, the Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court issued judgement dated 19.10.06 in the matter of M. Nagaraj and others vs Union of India and others (AIR SC 71 W.P. [CIVIL] 61/2002). The Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the said judgement stated that the constitutional amendments Articles 16(4A) and 16(4B) do not alter the structure of Article 16(4) of the Constitution. These amended Articles 16(4A) and 16(4B) retain the controlling factors or the compelling reasons, namely, backwardness and inadequacy of representation which enables the States to provide for reservation keeping in mind the overall efficiency of the State Administration under Article 335 of the Constitution. A number of Applications have been filed before the Hon’ble Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). The OAs were filed by both the Associations viz. General Category Officers’ Associations as well as Reserved Category Officers’ Association for/against the implementation of the above judgement. While promoting Officers from Group B to Group-A in the Department for Vacancy year 2014-15 onwards further O.As were filed before various Benches of the Hon’ble Tribunal. The Department took a decision to request for transfer of 14 OAs filed before various Benches of CAT to the Principal Bench, CAT, New Delhi and tag 7 OAs filed in the Principal Bench, CAT, Delhi, for uniformity in decision.The order dated 03.06.16 of Principal Bench, CAT, New Delhi has laid down certain principles for promotions. 3.2. N.R. Parmar Case regarding fixation of seniority of direct recruit and promotee officers Another series of cases arising out of implementation of the judgement dated 27.11.2012 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in N.R. Parmar Vs. Union of India (C.A. No. 7514/15 of 2005) relates to dispute in fixation of seniority between Direct Recruited 18 and Promotee officers. These cases before the Hon’ble Tribunal/Courts have had impact in promotion from Group B to Group A. 19 RECOMMENDATIONS n view of the aforementioned issues the following suggestions are being given for ameliorating the stagnation in the Group B Executive Gazetted cadre.

1. Continuation of 2118 temporary posts of Assistant Commissioner: In the Cadre Restructuring (CR) of the CBEC done on 18.12.13 (O-1), 2118 temporary posts of Assistant Commissionerwere created with a view to mitigate the stagnation in the Group ‘B’ Gazetted Executive grades. Resultantly a number of Group ‘B’ Gazetted Executive Officers (Superintendent(C.E)/ Supdt. Cus. (P)/ Appraiser) have been promoted to the post of Assistant Commissioner in the years 2014, 2015, and 2017. This has resulted in mitigation of stagnation to some extent. However,these posts were created in December 2013 for a period of 5 years only from the date of creation and will cease to exist in December 2018. Since these posts were created to mitigate the stagnation of Group-B officers as well as for the purpose of realisation of additional revenue to the Government Exchequer, continuation of 2118 Assistant Commissioner (Temporary Posts) for further period of 5 years may be considered keeping in view the functional requirements of the Department, particularly due to the introduction of Goods and Services Tax with effect from 01.07.2017.

2. Removal of disparity in qualifying service from Inspector to Superintendent: The existing Recruitment Rules for the post of Supdt Central Excise and Supdt Customs (Preventive) provide 8 years of qualifying service in the grade of Inspector Central Excise/Preventive Officer, whereas for promotion to the post of Appraiser the qualifying service is 3 years in the grade of Examiner. To remove this disparity in qualifying service, while drafting RRs for the posts of Supdt CE, Supdt CP and Appraisers, the qualifying service for the feeder cadres i.e. Inspector CE, PO and Examiner has been proposedas the same for all the feeder cadres. I 20

3. Promotion prospects to the Group B Executive Gazetted cadre across the CCAs need to be equalized: While, on the one hand, Inspector(CE) of certain CCAs are becoming Superintendent (CE) in 8-9 years, on the other hand for other CCAs promotions are taking 15-20 years. This needs to be corrected. While the situation across the CCAs is better for promotion to Superintendent Customs Preventive, attempt should be made to equalize the opportunity here as well. With respect to promotion to Appraiser the prospect across the CCAs is more or less equal. It may therefore be necessary to consider moving the vacant posts from one CCA to other. This point may also be taken care of in the ensuing Cadre Re-structuring.

4. Merger of the three cadres of Inspector (CE), Inspector (PO), Inspector (Examiner) into one common cadre of Inspector (Indirect Taxes& Customs): The introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) w.e.f. 1 st July 2017 has caused the nomenclature of Central Excise / Service Tax Department to be changed. At present, the posts of Inspector (CE), Inspector(PO),Inspector( Examiner) are being filled up through the same examination conducted by the Staff Selection Commission(SSC) andthrough promotion.The Central Board of Excise & Customs vide B.M.B. No. 72/95 dated 16.01.1996 (BMB-1) had decided to merge the three cadres. It is again proposed that prospectively recruitment should be made for the single cadre at the level of Inspector to be renamed as Inspector (Indirect Tax & Customs). The same officer will be exposed to functioning in the different wings of the Department viz. Customs, GST and Central Excise. Such merger will completely eliminate the possibility of Inter-stream disparities, will provide for single feeder cadre for promotion into Group A obviating the necessity of having ratios for promotion and will streamline cadre management. On promotion to Group A, the exposure of the officer to various wings of the Department at the level of Inspector and Superintendent, will enhance his efficiency as Group A officer.

 5. Weightage in seniority to the officers appointed to Assistant Commissioner level on promotion from Executive Gazetted Group- ‘B’: Recruitment Rules (RR) of other Ministries for organised Group- ‘A’ Service have also been examined for the purpose of giving benefit to stagnating cadre of Executive Gazetted Group- ‘B’. In this regard, it has been noticed that the Indian Civil Account Service provides for weightage in determination of seniority to the officers promoted from Group B under certain conditions. As per Rule-11 (2) of the Indian Civil Accounts Service Group- ‘A’ Rules notified by GSR No. 694(E) dated 6/11/2006 (RR-1) and draft Amendment Rules put on the website of Ministry of Finance, Dept. Of Expenditure, Comptroller General of Accounts vide letter dated 6/7/2016 (RR-2), provides that ‘Senior Accounts Officer on their promotion to JTS of the service will be given 2 years weightage in seniority and placed en-block below the junior most Direct Recruits of that year’.The provision is: SCHEDULE-II [See Rule 5(1) & (2) and Rule 10(1)] S. No Name of the Post/Grade/Time Scale Method of Recruitment Field of Selection and the minimum qualifying service for promotion. 1. Junior Time Scale Pay Band-3 of Rs15600- 39100 with Grade Pay of Rs 5400/- (i) (i) By direct recruitment on the basis of Civil Service Examination-as per rule 5(1)(i). (ii) (ii) By promotion in consultation with UPSC by selection-as per Rule 5(1)(ii). Senior Accounts officers, Group B of the Central Civil Accounts Service with 5 years combined regular service as Senior Accounts officer in Pay Band-3 of Rs 15600-39100 with Grade Pay of Rs 5400/- (Group B) and Pay & Accounts officer in Pay Band-2 Rs 9300- 34800 with Grade Pay of Rs 5400 (Group B) as on 1st April of the Year. 22 Similar provision can also be considered in respect of the Group ‘B’ Gazetted Executive grades, while fixing seniority after promotion to the grade of Assistant Commissioner.

6. Deputation of Superintendent Central Excise in State Governments for GST work: Goods and Services Tax (GST) has been implemented with effect from 1st July 2017. The officers of Central Excise (Supdt. Central Excise) have experience in the field of Service Tax. Deputation to the State Governments can be considered from the Cadre of Superintendent Central Excise. Such deputation should be considered on the basis of one grade higher than the existing grade in the parent Department. Vacancies arising from deputation will create more avenues for promotion to the level of Superintendent Central Excise in the Department.

7. Grant of Non Functional Upgradation for Executive Gazetted Group B: The Recruitment to the Inspector grade posts, viz. Inspector/Preventive officer / Examiner in CBEC, Inspector of Income Tax in CBDT and Assistant of CSS is made through common examination viz. all India Combined Graduate Level Competitive Examination conducted by the Staff Selection Commission. These posts are in the Grade Pay of Rs 4600 in Pay Band-2 (Level-7 in the Pay Matrix in 7th CPC) and are analogous posts. Therefore, it is recommended that NFU can be considered for delay in promotion from Inspector/Preventive Officer/Examiner to Superintendent Central Excise/Superintendent Customs (P)/Appraiser. A similar provision can be made for delay in promotion from Executive Gazetted Group B to Group A. Such delay may be computed in relation to grant of promotion at the comparable level in Central Secretariat Service (CSS) level. In this regard, a proposal vide CBEC F.No. A- 26017/84/2014-Ad.IIA has been made and considered in 2014, which is again being proposed for reconsideration. ***************

Suggestions/feedback/comments on above report may kindly be sent to ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com.

Love,
Ravi Malik,
Secretary General.