ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL EXCISE
GAZETTED EXECUTIVE
OFFICERS
President:
Address for communication:
Secretary General:
A.
Venkatesh
240, Razapur, Ghaziabad-201001 (U.P.)
Ravi Malik
Mob.7780255361
mail Id:ravimalik_sweet@yahoo.com,
Site: cengoindia.blogspot.in Mob.9868816290
Vice Presidents: Apurba
Roy, P. C. Jha (East); A. K. Meena, Somnath Chakrabarty (west); Ashish
Vajpayee, Ravi Joshi (North); B. Pavan K. Reddy (South); K.V. Sriniwas, T. J.
Manojuman (Central) Joint Secretaries: Ajay Kumar, R. N. Mahapatra
(East); B. S. Meena, Sanjeev Sahai (West); Harpal Singh, Sanjay Srivastava
(North); M. Nagraju, P. Sravan Kumar (South); Anand Kishore, Ashutosh Nivsarkar
(Central)
Office Secretary: C.
S. Sharma Treasuer: N.
R. Manda Organising Secretary: Soumen Bhattachariya
(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. 54/AIB/P/18
Dt. 22.02.18
COURT MATTER
To,
(1)
Sh. Hasmukh Adhia,
Revenue Secretary,
North Block, New Delhi.
(2) Sh. Ajay
Mittal,
DOPT
Secretary,
North Block, New Delhi.
(3) Ms. Vanaja N.
Sarna,
Chairperson, Central Board of Excise & Customs,
North
Block, New Delhi.
Sub: Verdict given in OA No. 684/2018
by Principal Bench of Hon’ble CAT on 09.02.18.
Sir/Madam,
With due regards, it is to submit
that the said OA was filed by the Association to remove the disparity in the
Pay Scale of promotional post for Central Excise/CGST Superintendents with a prayer
to permote the applicants and other similarly situated Central Excise/CGST
Superintendents and promotee Assistant Commissioners to Senior Time Scale
bringing them at par with other similar posts including Narcotics Control
Bureau, CSS etc.
2. It is
further submitted with due regards that the most of group
‘B’ gazetted officers in the Central as well as State governments are being
promoted directly to a
Senior Time Scale (STS) post with Grade Pay of Rs. 6600/- in PB-3 (Level-11)
including NCB,
Directorate of Enforcement in our
own department of Revenue, CSS, MPA, MEA, DANICS, DANIPS, CPWD, Railway Board,
CSSS, AFHQ, Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Forest services, Police services, Foreign
Services, Engineering services, State services etc., while
Central Excise Superintendents are being promoted (if any) merely to a Junior Time Scale (JTS) post with
Grade Pay of Rs. 5400/- in PB-3 (Level-10).
3. As far as the Superintendents of
NCB are concerned, there also exists an established parity and relativity
between the Superintendents of NCB and Superintendents of Central Excise as the
nature of duties, mode of recruitment, functions and responsibilities of these
posts are the same. The Superintendents of Central Excise/CGST are also working
as Superintendents in NCB since the creation of NCB. NCB was also a part of
CBEC under the Department of Revenue and remained its part till 18.02.03. The
Superintendents of NCB were sharing common seniority with the Superintendents
of Central Excise for promotion to the same post of Group ‘A’ (i.e., Asstt.
Commissioner) till 18.02.03. The Allocation of Business Rules, 1961 were
amended vide Notification No. I/22/1/2003-CAB dt. 18.02.03 [S.O. 193(E)] to
include the NCB in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Even after that, NCB is being
monitored by the CBEC/Department of Revenue and the Superintendents of Central
Excise/CGST are till now performing their duties as Superintendents of NCB.
4. The mode of recruitment of the
Inspectors in CBEC and Intelligence Officers in NCB is also common. The posts
of Superintendents in CBEC and NCB are also filled-up through promotion from
the Inspectors/Intelligence Officers. The High Power Committee formed by the
then Finance Minister also accepted that the Superintendents of Central Excise
and the Superintendents of NCB are at par. Further, the Sixth Pay Commission
had categorically observed vide Para 7.15.20 of its report that
the duties & responsibilities attached to these posts whether in Central
Excise or in the Narcotics Control Bureau are similar and recommended for
parity of Inspector of the Central Bureau of Narcotics with the Inspector of
Central Excise.
5. Further; the Central Excise
Inspectors, Inspectors of NCB and Assistants of the Central Secretariat
Services (CSS) etc., being analogous posts, are recruited through a common
entrance examination conducted by the Staff Selection Commission and in a
common scale of pay. Once upon a time, the pay scale of the Assistants was
lower than the pay scale of the Central Excise Inspectors but was upgraded at
par later on. Like it, the pay scale of the Section Officers was also lower
than the pay scale of the Central Excise Superintendents once upon a time but
was upgraded at par later on. Eventually, the Inspectors are promoted to the
rank of Superintendent whereas the Assistants are promoted as Section Officers.
The posts of Central Excise Superintendent and Section officer of CSS are
analogous, yet the similarity ends here.
Section Officers are promoted directly to the Senior Time Scale post
with a grade pay of Rs. 6600/- (Level-11) and reach upto the level of Joint
Secretary in the grade pay of Rs. 10000/- (Level-14) whereas the Central Excise
Superintendents are promoted (if at all), to the Junior Time Scale post merely
with a grade pay of Rs. 5400/- (Level-10). No need to submit that the Central
Excise Superintendents are at loss of at least one level in MACPS due to the
non-grant of direct promotion to STS post in comparison to other
counterparts.
6. It is further submitted that the
Superintendents in Narcotics Control Bureau were also granted the enhanced pay
scale as well as non-functional time scale on completion of 4 years of service
based on the precedent of the grant of the same to the Superintendents of
Central Excise.
7. It is also worth to submit that
the Superintendents are not only discharging all functions relating to
assessment, investigation & intelligence and issuing Show Cause Notice but
have also been conferred with the judicial responsibilities of adjudication and
also recording statements of various persons in terms of Section 14 of the
Central Excise Act, 1944 and Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962. The statements tendered before the Central
Excise Superintendent have a legal binding and are treated as a valid piece of
evidence by various courts including the Hon’ble Supreme Court just like the statements
tendered before a Magistrate. Adjudication Orders are also being prepared by
them for the Commissioner level officers. However, though the Central Excise
Superintendents are performing more responsible work functions as compared to
other group ‘B’ gazetted counterparts yet they are facing the worst career
prospects instead of being given better treatment. They are being maltreated
despite of being the ‘backbone of the government revenue’. In the actual terms,
though they are the ‘backbone of the government’ on account of being responsible
to earn the finance for the government yet they are being totally ignored in
every matter.
8. Not only the promotion directly to
STS post, the counterparts of Central Excise Superintendents are also given
benefit of seniority in group ‘A’ at many places in lieu of the service
rendered by them in group ‘B’. At many places like various services in
Railways, Administrative Services, Police Services, Forest Services, State
Services etc., the group ‘B’ gazetted officers are allowed the weightage of
minimum of 4 years at the time of entry into group ‘A’ also giving them the due
benefit of seniority in lieu of the service rendered by them in the group ‘B’
and promotion to STS post. For example, the officers of Provincial Services in
Southern States enter into IAS in a grade pay of Rs. 6600/- (Level-11) within 8
years with 4 years of seniority benefit while the most of the Central Excise
Superintendents are unable to enter into IRS in a lower grade pay of Rs. 5400/-
even after serving for 35-40 years. They enter (if any) into IRS in a grade pay
of Rs. 5400/- (level-10) only and retire at same level without any weightage
for seniority in group ‘A’.
9. The rationale behind such a provision of weightage or
direct promotion to STS group ‘A’ is based on the fact of the promotee officers
having gained rich job experience at the time of working as group ‘B’ officer
as compared to direct recruit group ‘A’ officers. But very unfortunately, the
Central Excise Superintendents are not being given the said benefit despite of
being served for the longest period in group ‘B’ as compared to any other
category of the group ‘B’ employees of the Govt. of India.
10. Before the enactment of Indian Customs & Central
Excise Service Group ‘A’ Rules, 1987, the group ‘B’ gazetted executive officers
in CBEC were allowed five increments in their group ‘A’ pay scale on promotion
to group ‘A’ since senior time scale was not available at that point of
time. It is also worth to submit that
the common entry counterparts of CSS are not only being promoted directly to a
STS post (Level-11) from Section Officer (analogous to Superintendent and
Level-8) but also reaching the level of Joint Secretary (Level-14). The
position in CPWD is even more interesting where an officer with a grade pay of Rs.
4600/- (Level-7) is being directly promoted to a post with a grade pay of Rs.
6600/- (STS) and further directly to a post with the grade pay of Rs. 8700/-
(Level-13) from a post with a grade pay of Rs. 6600/-. Thus, they don’t need to
serve on a post at Level-8, Level-9, Level-10 and Level-12 for promotion to the
Level-13 after entry into a post with merely a grade pay of Rs. 4200/-
(Level-6).
11. IAS, IPS & IFS (Forest) are
the most elite services in the country and the group ‘B’ officers are provided
weightage even on promotion to these services in lieu of the service rendered
in group ‘B’. But nothing such happens to the Central Excise Superintendents at
the time of entry (if any) to IRS, the same also being one of the elite
services of the Govt. of India.
12. Like
CSS, there is a provision of direct recruitment in Group-B non-gazetted and
Group-B gazetted posts in CBEC. Hence like CSS , the Group-B gazetted officers
of Central Excise and Customs are required to be promoted directly to a post
having senior time scale and the Group-B gazetted officers completing 1½ of
qualifying service be promoted to STS
posts as it was done in CSS during 1999. CBEC also recommended to VIth CPC for
direct promotion of Group B gazetted officers to STS posts, separate service,
time scale after every 7 years etc. vide F.No.A.26017/147
/06-Ad.II.A Dt. 04.01.07 for these officers but Commission kept mum perhaps not
making study of the same. The CBEC has again
recommended to the Deptt. of Revenue vide OM F. No.A-26017/154//2015-Ad.IIA Dt.
22.02.16 to promote group B gazetted executive officers directly to STS post
after publication of the report of 7th CPC.
13. The Hon’ble CAT has directed to take a decision on the
representation of the Association by passing a reasoned and speaking order
within a period of three months from the date of receipt of copy of this order.
14. In view of the above, it is requested
that Central Excise/CGST Superintendents and promotee Asstt. Commissioners may
also kindly be promoted directly to a senior group ‘A’ post (STS), i.e., Deputy
Commissioner like many other counterparts of them including NCB, CSS etc. and also be given due weightage of the
service rendered in group ‘B’.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
Encl: Verdict
given in OA No. 684/2018.
(RAVI MALIK),
Secretary General.
